Five years later, Nats still searching for Rendon's replacement

Anthony Rendon’s long-awaited return to D.C. over the weekend served as a reminder how lucky the Nationals are not to have re-signed one of the stars of the 2019 World Series run, assuming he would’ve experienced the same injuries and drop in production here as he has in Anaheim.

But it also served as a reminder how the Nats have spent the last five years searching in vain for Rendon’s long-term replacement at third base.

A mindboggling 20 different people have played the hot corner for the franchise since 2020. Some (Carter Kieboom, Trey Lipscomb) were supposed to be the future at the position. Some (Jeimer Candelario) were productive stopgaps who were traded at peak value. Some (Starlin Castro, Maikel Franco, Nick Senzel) were unproductive stopgaps who lost all value during their time here. And some (Ildemaro Vargas, Josh Harrison, Asdrubal Cabrera) were and are still quality utilitymen pressed into more regular playing time because of the struggles of others.

What have they all had in common? An inability to seize the job for themselves and ensure the organization no longer needed to find its third baseman of the future.

The Nationals arguably are in no better shape now at third base than they were five years ago. Sure, there’s a highly touted prospect, a former first round pick, waiting to make his major league debut in the near future. But can anyone say with certainty Brady House will be the next Rendon and not the next Kieboom?

House, the 11th overall pick in the 2021 Draft, has played 21 games for Triple-A Rochester through Sunday. He’s batting .256 with three doubles, two homers, 14 RBIs, three walks, 24 strikeouts and a .638 OPS. He only recently turned 21, so he’s hardly a finished product yet. But he isn’t exactly knocking down the door and forcing the Nats to call him up before season’s end. And if he doesn’t make it to the majors in 2024, are we to assume the job will be his on Opening Day 2025 regardless?

The Nationals hoped Lipscomb might perform well enough to hold down the fort for a while and give House time to fully develop. But the versatile 24-year-old, after an eye-opening spring, simply hasn’t shown an ability to hit major league pitching yet. Over four separate stints in the bigs this season, he has batted .207 with an abysmal .239 slugging percentage. And the numbers only continued to go down during his latest stint, one in which he was given every opportunity to play every day but failed to make the most of it.

General manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez finally decided they’d seen enough for now and demoted Lipscomb to Triple-A on Saturday. That opened the door for them to get a look at another young infielder, this one having just been acquired last week from the Guardians as part of the Lane Thomas trade.

Jose Tena may not be the long-term answer at third, but the 23-year-old merited a look. And he responded Saturday night by becoming the first player in franchise history (including the Expos) to deliver a walk-off hit in his team debut. Alas, Tena then took a sharp grounder off his right thumb during Sunday’s game and had to be removed, his thumb bleeding. Martinez revealed afterward X-rays were negative, but Tena’s nail was badly cut. An IL stint didn’t appear to be in the works, but club officials may have decided they can’t afford to take a chance.

So, next up is Andres Chaparro, the 25-year-old corner infielder the Nationals acquired from the Diamondbacks for Dylan Floro. A source familiar with the decision confirmed the club plans to call Chaparro up before Tuesday’s game in Baltimore, a move first reported by The Washington Post.

Chaparro has only played first base and served as DH in 10 games with Rochester, but he was primarily a third baseman prior to the trade. And over 1,052 Triple-A plate appearances the last two seasons with three different organizations, he has launched 48 homers with 51 doubles and 173 RBIs.

Is he the Nationals’ long-term answer at third? Probably not. But with those kind of power numbers, why not at least get a look?

If and when he does debut, he’ll become the team’s 21st different third baseman since Rendon left town. The search for his heir apparent continues, the Nats hoping to finally solve this long-pressing question sooner rather than later.