Nats reinstate Soto and Suero, Stevenson optioned

The Nationals have reinstated outfielder Juan Soto and right-hander Wander Suero from the injured list, and optioned Andrew Stevenson to the alternate training site in Fredericksburg, Va.

Soto has been out since July 23, but appeared in three summer training games, going 4-for-10 (.400) with two doubles and two RBIs.

"He will be available to pinch-hit today," said manager Davey Martinez during today's pregame Zoom call. "Just probably want to give him another day or two. We will see. He's getting there. I just want to make sure we keep him healthy. We got him back and we want to keep him healthy. He's going to hit today. He's going to take some more ground balls in the field, run a little bit more today and we will see where he's at."

What is unique and reassuring about Soto and his current situation is that most 21-year-olds playing major league baseball would want to get back out on the field immediately, especially this season, after missing the first 12 days and his team owning a 3-4 record. But Martinez says Soto is not hiding how his body feels.

"I talked to him last night and he really felt like he probably could use another day or two," Martinez said. "He said his legs felt a little heavy. His arm was a little sore. He tried to ramp it up. We gave him the last four days, he probably got about 20 at-bats. In that respect he doesn't feel that bad. But I want to make sure we keep him healthy. We just got him back. He missed a lot of time. We want to make sure that he's here now, that he's here to help us every day and that he doesn't get injured."

Martinez also let Soto know that his prized left fielder can play some games as the team's designated hitter if he wanted to save his legs or take a break. Soto was amenable to that idea.

"I told him, 'You got to understand, too, we do have a DH now. So, there are days if you need a day off we can plop you in DH,'" Martinez said. "'He said, 'Yeah, I forgot about that.' Even though he doesn't like it because he loves to play the field, we might have to DH him some days."

Suero made 78 appearances last season but has not played in a regular season game this year. Martinez is considering easing Suero back into games, maybe in lower-leverage situations.

"I might have to plop him in situations maybe earlier in the game until we get him going," Martinez said. "He's only thrown, like, four innings since he's back, so we got to be awfully careful with him as well. He threw yesterday to hitters, we had him out here. He threw the ball well. Hopefully, we don't need him today, give him the day and he's in there tomorrow. But if we need him today, he said he was good to go. "

Sean Doolittle has not been able to reach the fastball velocity that he has wanted in the first couple of weeks of the season, but Davey says he will not shy away from using his closer in games and see if he can ramp himself back up in real outings.

"We are going to put him in situations," Martinez said. "For me, we want to get his velo back up there, but we are going to use him. We talked to him yesterday. He's a big part of our bullpen, he always has been. But we got to build that confidence back up and get him out there when we can."

The prized offseason acquisition for the bullpen continues to rehab from a groin injury. Will Harris went to the injured list with a right groin strain, retroactive to July 29.

"He is doing better," Martinez said. "He tweaked his groin but he says he feels better. He's another guy that we want to get back, and when we get him back we want to make sure that he's completely healthy."

* Mets manager Luis Rojas said during his pregame Zoom video call that infielders Robinson Canó, Jeff McNeil and Amed Rosario all underwent MRI's this morning after getting into D.C. from their game Monday night in Atlanta. Their status for tonight's game is unknown. He said the team has activated outfielder Billy Hamilton, but the corresponding move has yet to be announced.