What Should Washington Nationals Do With Nasim Nunez in 2025?
The Washington Nationals wrapped up an improved 2024 season, as they were able to have a lot more wins than in the year prior.
In 2024, the Nationals focused on developing their young core of players and that has started to pay off. This campaign was all about seeing some of the young talent come up to the Majors and make an impact, and even though they only won 71 games, the new young core of Washington did just that.
Most of the attention for the Nationals has gone to their lineup, as a lot of their elite level prospects have been there. In the infield over recent years, the development of CJ Abrams and Luis Garcia Jr. has been huge for the franchise, as Abrams was named to the All-Star team this year.
In the outfield, there is a lot of talent as well, but it's still just a tad unproven, as James Wood and Dylan Crews were both called up for this campaign.
Another young player that saw some time for Washington was Nasim Nunez. The Nationals took Nunez in the first round of the Rule-5 draft, as he played in the big leagues for 51 games in 2024. Recently, Mark Zuckerman of MASN spoke about what role Nunez could play on the team in 2025.
“The Nationals probably will still want Nuñez to get consistent playing time as the everyday shortstop in Rochester next year. But if, for some reason, they decided to move on from utility man Ildemaro Vargas, or if something else happened that created a hole at one of the middle infield positions, they might be more willing to consider him for a big league job now than they were at the start of the 2024 season.”
Now that Nunez is able to, going to the minors and getting a lot of at-bats there makes the most sense for the organization. Since they have Ildemaro Vargas as a veteran utility man, sending the young infielder to the minors to get more reps and playing time would be beneficial for him.
While Nunez is certainly an MLB-caliber defender, he will need to improve his hitting, which makes getting more at-bats logical.
If the prospect does start in the minors, the Nationals should be alright in the infield with Vargas’ ability to fill in and play multiple positions.
Even though Nunez may never develop into a star, his ability to be an elite defender at shortstop could come in handy in the future with Abrams not being the best defender currently.
