The Nationals announced that outfielder today Lane Thomas he was put back on the injured list with his fellow outfielder Victor Robles selected for assignment in the corresponding motion. The club’s 40-man squad was reduced to 38.
Robles, now 27, was once the club’s standout player and one of the top prospects in the entire league. According to the rankings from Baseball America, he was the Nationals’ #1 prospect in three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019. He was also on the BA top 100 league list from 2016 to 2019, reaching #5 overall in 2018. . The expectation at the time was that Robles had the potential to be a full-time contributor and a long-term part of Washington’s frontcourt.
Things were looking good in 2019, the year the Nats won the World Series. Robles hit 17 runs and slashed .255/.326/.419. Outside of long balls, his 5.7% walk rate has kept him on base and a wRC+ of 92 shows he’s actually been below average offensively overall. But because of above-average defense and 28 base steals, FanGraphs rated him as worth 3.7 wins over replacement in his age-22 season.
Given his youth, the Nats no doubt expected him to continue to develop as a hitter as he got older. Unfortunately, things turned out differently in the years to come. From 2020 to 2022, Robles appeared in 291 games with the Nats but hit .216/.291/.306 in that span with a wRC+ of 66. The team’s fortunes also faded at that time and they entered a rebuilding phase.
That left Robles with plenty of playing time to get back on track, but his health didn’t allow him to do so. He only played in 36 games last year because of back pain. He’s done well when he’s been in the field, hitting a solid .299/.385/.364, but he hasn’t done that in 2024. He spent nearly a month on the injured list due to a strained left hamstring and produced a brute. .120/.281/.120 line in 14 games played.
Robles was due for free agency after the 2024 campaign and the Nationals were hoping to play well this season, at least allowing them to throw Robles something at the deadline before he left them in free agency. Unfortunately, his performance did not inspire much confidence and they cut him from the list today.
Now they’ll have a week to trade him or move him off waivers, though any interest could be modest after years of poor performance and no injuries. He is earning $2.65MM this year, with about two-thirds of that still due. Maybe the Nats will try to eat some of that money to make a deal but it’s also possible that Robles will end up being released. He has enough service time that he can outright reject an assignment in favor of a free offer while keeping all of that money intact.
It has undoubtedly been a disappointing couple of years and the club didn’t have it in mind, given the future of the pedigree and the good start to his career. But for Robles himself, it’s never too late to find a second act somewhere. He just turned 27 last week and could be back on track with good health and the right opportunity.
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