Law activated off IL, Hassell finally reaches Triple-A

The Nationals are getting their most durable reliever back for the season’s final month.

Derek Law, the workhorse setup man who landed on the injured list two weeks ago with a flexor strain in his right elbow, was activated Monday and will be available for tonight’s series opener in Miami.

Law was confident all along his IL stint would be short, and indeed he was back throwing within a week of being shut down. He threw 20 pitches to live hitters Saturday and pronounced himself ready to return. The Nats acquiesced, activating him without first requiring a minor league rehab stint.

Even with the time missed, Law still leads all National League relievers with 75 2/3 innings pitched. If he returns to his normal work rate, he would become the Nationals’ first reliever to reach 90 innings pitched since Tyler Clippard in 2010. And if he can throw 17 2/3 innings in the season’s final 25 games, he will eclipse Saul Rivera’s club record of 93 relief innings pitched in 2007.

Needing to clear a spot on the active roster for Law, the Nats optioned right-hander Orlando Ribalta to Triple-A Rochester following Sunday’s game. The rookie has struggled in four big league appearances over the last several weeks, allowing five runs and 10 hits in only 3 1/3 innings.

Ribalta, who enjoyed big numbers in the minors this season prior to his promotion, was summoned to record the final out of the ninth inning Sunday after fellow rookie Zach Brzykcy retired only two of the seven batters he faced in his major league debut. Ribalta proceeded to allow the first five batters he faced to reach base before finally recording the one out necessary to end the Cubs’ seven-run inning during a 14-1 rout.

Sunday’s struggles aside, the Nationals bullpen managed to hold up surprisingly well in Law’s absence. That continued an impressive trend in which a new-look group with limited experience performed quite well following the July trades of setup men Hunter Harvey and Dylan Floro.

Nats relievers finished the month of August with a 2.86 ERA and 1.232 WHIP, striking out 87 batters while walking only 32. They were boosted by the performances of Jacob Barnes (1.69 ERA in 15 games), Tanner Rainey (2.25 ERA in 12 games), Jose A. Ferrer (3.27 ERA in 13 games) and Eduardo Salazar (0.00 ERA in 13 games).

* Robert Hassell III made his long-awaited Triple-A debut Monday night, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout in Rochester’s 3-1 loss to Worcester. Disappointing debut aside, the outfielder’s promotion to Triple-A was a noteworthy development in its own right.

One of the five prospects acquired from the Padres in the August 2022 blockbuster trade for Juan Soto, Hassell was considered one of the best young hitters in the minors at the time. His path to the big leagues, though, has been stunted by injuries.

Hassell played the final few months of the 2022 season with what he eventually learned was a fractured hamate bone in his right hand. He struggled to regain his form in 2023 and finished with a disappointing .221/.324/.645 slash line in 121 games between Single-A Fredericksburg and Double-A Harrisburg.

Hassell came to spring training this year and expressed confidence he was finally healthy again and ready to produce. But he wound up missing two more months this summer with a wrist injury, finally returning Aug. 7 via a rehab assignment with Single-A Wilmington. He played the last two weeks for Harrisburg, then got the long-awaited promotion to Rochester on Monday.

Still only 23, Hassell will finish out the season at Triple-A and hope to make an impression next spring in big league camp, seeing if he can force his way into a suddenly crowded Nationals outfield that includes top prospects James Wood and Dylan Crews at the corner positions and Gold Glove Award candidate Jacob Young in center field.