{"id":796324,"date":"2026-07-12T22:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T22:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796324\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T22:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T22:34:10","slug":"nationals-recall-abimelec-ortiz-for-mlb-debut-designate-matt-krook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796324\/","title":{"rendered":"Nationals Recall Abimelec Ortiz For MLB Debut, Designate Matt Krook"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nationals announced that they have recalled first baseman Abimelec Ortiz<\/a> from Triple-A Rochester. Ortiz will be making his major league debut when he gets into a game. Left-hander Matt Krook<\/a> was designated for assignment to make space on the active roster. With Krook\u2019s designation, the team has an open spot on their 40-man roster.<\/p>\n

Ortiz was acquired along with four other prospects when the Nationals dealt MacKenzie Gore<\/a> to the Rangers in January. MLB.com counts Ortiz as one of Milwaukee\u2019s Top 30 prospects<\/a>, and he\u2019s earned that reputation with his production at Triple-A this year. In 304 plate appearances there, he\u2019s hit 16 home runs while striking out less than 20% of the time and walking at an above-average 10.2% clip. All told, Ortiz\u2019s line of .235\/.332\/.481 amounts to a 107 wRC+ despite a .243 average on balls in play, so he\u2019s proven himself well against Triple-A pitching.<\/p>\n

Ortiz has played 46 games at first base this year and another 26 as a DH. He\u2019s also played 441 innings in right field dating back to 2024. Ortiz is currently blocked at first base by Luis Garc\u00eda Jr.<\/a>, whose 135 wRC+ makes him one of the Nationals\u2019 best hitters this year. Right field and DH are the clearer paths to playing time at the moment. Apart from his usual right field, James Wood<\/a> has served as the DH in 19 games this year. Ortiz could theoretically cover for Wood in the field if the latter needs a half-day off, or slot in as the DH himself when Wood plays the field.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible that Ortiz, who hits left-handed, could form a platoon with the righty-hitting Dylan Crews<\/a>. In 185 plate appearances this year, Crews has just a 73 wRC+. That includes a\u00a035 wRC+ in 126 PA against right-handers compared to a 156 wRC+ in 59 PA against southpaws. The long-term arrangement will need to be sorted out after the All-Star break. With Ortiz\u2019s promotion, the Nationals have 14 position players and 12 pitchers on the active roster. They\u2019ll need to option a position player in order to carry eight relievers in their bullpen. If they want to give Ortiz an extended look, Crews can be optioned down to Triple-A.<\/p>\n

Krook was claimed off waivers from the Athletics on July 4th. He appeared in three games out of the Nationals\u2019 bullpen, allowing two earned runs in 2 2\/3 innings. Adding in his previous work with the Athletics, Krook has a 12.79 ERA in just 6 1\/3 big league innings this year. Since debuting in 2023, he\u2019s thrown just 14 2\/3 big league innings with poor results. He\u2019s been serviceable at Triple-A this year, posting a 3.72 ERA with an above-average 30.9% strikeout rate in 29 innings for the Athletics\u2019 top affiliate.<\/p>\n

Krook has been designated and outrighted in the past, so he has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency if he clears waivers. It\u2019s also possible that he\u2019ll get claimed by a club looking for no-cost bullpen depth, as was the case when the Nationals took him from the Athletics.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nationals announced that they have recalled first baseman Abimelec Ortiz from Triple-A Rochester. Ortiz will be making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[261174,64,63,174738,591,85],"class_list":["post-796324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-abimelec-ortiz","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-matt-krook","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}