Blankenhorn is next up for evaluation in left field

Afforded the opportunity to expand their roster now that the calendar has shifted to September, the Nationals chose to add an outfielder with some prior big league experience and a reliever who has already made several stints in D.C. this season.

The Nats promoted outfielder Travis Blankenhorn and right-hander Amos Willingham from Triple-A Rochester, adding the one extra position player and one extra pitcher allotted by Major League Baseball for the season’s final month.

This is the fourth time the Nationals have called up Willingham, who has allowed 14 runs and 24 hits in 14 innings as a big leaguer. He may not stick here for long, with MacKenzie Gore set to return from bereavement leave in the coming days and Tanner Rainey nearing completion of his rehab assignment from last summer’s Tommy John surgery.

Blankenhorn, who spent the entire season in Rochester to this point, should get a more extended look as the Nats try to evaluate several players who are trying to force their way into the club’s long-term plans before top prospects Dylan Crews, James Wood, Brady House and Robert Hassell III make their major league debuts.

A 27-year-old outfielder with 26 games of prior big league experience with the Twins and Mets, Blankenhorn was a non-roster invitee to spring training and then spent the last five months at Triple-A, where he hit .262/.360/.517 with 23 homers and 75 RBIs across 455 plate appearances.

Minnesota’s third-round pick in the 2015 draft, he felt like he turned a corner this season, becoming better at pitch recognition and staying disciplined when it came to deciding when to swing and when not to swing.

“Obviously, whenever I can stay in the strike zone as best I can, I think that’s when I’m at my best,” he said. “I would say that’s one of the main goals for me.”

Manager Davey Martinez is wasting no time throwing Blankenhorn into the mix; he’s batting fifth and starting in left field tonight against the Marlins. And he should continue to get playing time as a left-handed corner outfielder, with perhaps a few starts at first base sprinkled in.

“Look, he put up some unbelievable numbers at Rochester for us,” Martinez said. “We really felt like he deserved a chance to come up here and play. I wanted to put him in there right away, keep him going. And he’s hit in the middle of the order down there, so we’ll continue to put him up there.”

Blankenhorn joins a growing list of position players the Nationals have called up from Triple-A this summer, following the likes of Blake Rutherford, Jake Alu, Jacob Young and Drew Millas. Most are second- or third-tier prospects, but all are getting a chance to prove themselves at the major league level while the organization waits for some bigger names to be ready for the leap.

“I kind of want to see everybody,” Martinez said. “We’re in a position right now where we’d love to win games, but we also want to build for the future. Watching some of these young guys play … you see how their future lies with us. They’re all going to get an opportunity to play.”

To clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Blankenhorn, the Nationals released reliever Rico Garcia, who had been on the 15-day injured list.

Under MLB’s new collective bargaining agreement, teams are allowed to expand their rosters only to 28 for the season’s final month, as opposed to the previous longstanding expansion to up to 40 players. Teams can continue to move players up and down throughout September, though, and it’s likely the Nats will make several more changes over these final weeks.