Robinson makes 25-man roster; Carp, Hill reassigned to minor league camp

First baseman/outfielder Clint Robinson has made the Nationals' 25-man roster. But there are still decisions to he made before the team announces its roster for Monday's opening day game against the Mets. The deadline to set the roster is 3 p.m. Sunday.

After a 4-3 loss to the Mets in the final exhibition game Saturday afternoon, the Nationals reassigned outfielder/first baseman Mike Carp and left-hander Rich Hill to minor league camp.

Robinson beat out Carp to be a left-handed bat off the bench. It's the first time in his career that the 30-year-old Robinson has broken camp with a major league team.

Nationals manager Matt Williams broke the news to Robinson by calling him into his office and asking where his wife was. When Robinson replied that his wife was in Arkansas, Williams suggested that he should get her on a plane to D.C. in time for Monday's season opener against the Mets.

"I'm on cloud nine," said an excited Robinson moments after receiving the news. "Kind of speechless right now. Just got off the phone with my wife, she was really happy. Told her she needs to jump on a plane and get out here. I'm going to be in the big leagues."

Robinson was among the Nats' leaders with 29 total bases this spring, including two home runs, a triple and five doubles. He hit .320 (16-for-50) with eight RBIs. Robinson has only 13 at-bats in the majors during stints with the Royals and Dodgers, but is a career .302 hitter in eight seasons in the minors.

"It's amazing," said Robinson. "You work all offseason, the years in the minor leagues, just to get to this point. Just to be rewarded for having a good spring training means the world to me. I'm excited to be here."

At the end of the day, Carp's experience in the majors failed to give him the edge over Robinson, and Carp didn't help his cause by hitting .200 (8-for-40) with a homer and five RBIs this spring. The 28-year-old Carp has a career .254 batting average, 27 homers and 123 RBIs in 887 at-bats across six seasons with three clubs. That includes a strong 2013 campaign when he was a valuable reserve for the world champion Red Sox hitting .296 with nine homers and 43 RBIs as a left-handed bat off the bench.

Hill said after the game that he has been assigned to Triple-A Syracuse and that move seems to bode well for Xavier Cedeno to claim the final spot in the bullpen as a left-handed specialist. But Williams said he would wait until Sunday afternoon to make a final decision on his bullpen.

Cedeno was 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA in 12 spring relief outings encompassing 10 2/3 innings, but was out of options, meaning the Nationals would have had to expose him to waivers if they wanted to try to send him to the minor leagues.

Hill, a late addition to the spring camp as a non-roster invitee, struck out the only two batters he faced in the eighth inning today. During exhibition play this spring, Hill pitched eight innings, surrendering two runs on six hits with 12 strikeouts.