PLAYER REVIEW: DEREK LAW

Age on Opening Day 2025: 34

How acquired: Signed as minor league free agent, February 2024

MLB service time: 5 years, 81 days

2024 salary: $1.5 million

PLAYER REVIEW: KYLE FINNEGAN

Age on Opening Day 2025: 33

How acquired: Signed as free agent, December 2019

MLB service time: 5 years

2024 salary: $5.1 million

Josiah Gray was the Nationals’ Opening Day starter this season, and on the heels of an All-Star selection the previous year, the right-hander looked like a critical part of the club’s pitching plan in both the short and long term.

Cade Cavalli was the Nationals’ top pitching prospect since the day they used their 2020 first round pick on the right-hander, and though his career hit a roadblock following Tommy John surgery in March 2023, everyone expected him to return to the big leagues sometime this summer and re-establish himself as a key part of the team’s rotation.

Neither Gray nor Cavalli, of course, was part of the Nats’ active pitching staff at season’s end. They combined to make all of two major league starts this year, both by Gray before he suffered an elbow injury in early April.

Which begs the question: Do either of these guys still fit into the team’s plans, either in the short or long term?

The easy answer is yes. The Nationals absolutely believe both will be significant contributors for them, with Cavalli ideally pitching a lot for them in 2025 and Gray ideally returning from his Tommy John surgery and internal brace procedure in time to make a handful of September starts.

PLAYER REVIEW: TREVOR WILLIAMS

Age on Opening Day 2025: 32

How acquired: Signed as free agent, December 2022

MLB service time: 8 years, 27 days

2024 salary: $7 million

PLAYER REVIEW: PATRICK CORBIN

Age on Opening Day 2025: 35

How acquired: Signed as free agent, December 2018

MLB service time: 12 years, 105 days

2024 salary: $35 million ($10 million deferred to be paid between November 2024-January 2026)

PLAYER REVIEW: MITCHELL PARKER

Age on Opening Day 2025: 25

How acquired: Fifth round pick, 2020 MLB Draft

MLB service time: 1 year

2024 salary: $740,000

PLAYER REVIEW: DJ HERZ

Age on Opening Day 2025: 24

How acquired: Traded with Kevin Made from Cubs for Jeimer Candelario, July 2023

MLB service time: 99 days

2024 salary: $740,000

PLAYER REVIEW: JAKE IRVIN

Age on Opening Day 2025: 28

How acquired: Fourth round pick, 2018 MLB Draft

MLB service time: 1 years, 152 days

2024 salary: $745,600

PLAYER REVIEW: MACKENZIE GORE

Age on Opening Day 2025: 26

How acquired: Traded with CJ Abrams, James Wood, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, August 2022

MLB service time: 3 years

2024 salary: $749,600

We’ve spent the last two weeks here running through all of the prominent position players on the Nationals, reviewing their 2024 performances and looking ahead to how they might (or might not) fit into the club’s 2025 plans. And we’ll transition to the pitching staff beginning Monday, first looking at the starters and then the primary relievers.

But to wrap up the position-player portion of this annual exercise, we still need to examine one more position on the roster: Backup catcher. And because two different players held that role this year, it seems appropriate to lump them in together and examine the overall state of the position.

Riley Adams has been the Nats’ main No. 2 catcher for three years now, and his amount of playing time has been remarkably consistent. He took 155 plate appearances over 48 games in 2022, then 158 over 44 games in 2023, then 130 over 41 games this season. And what’s been the biggest takeaway out of all that? He has neither hit consistently enough or shown enough behind the plate to warrant a permanent spot on the roster.

That certainly was the Nationals’ point of view this year, one in which they twice optioned a slumping Adams to Triple-A Rochester, including for the season’s final six weeks. The 28-year-old finished with an unimpressive .224/.292/.336 slash line, with five doubles, a triple, two homers and only eight RBIs. In the field, he ranked in the bottom third of all major league catchers in blocking, framing and pop time, and he threw out only three of 34 basestealers.

“I’ve said this before: Riley, when he consistently hits the ball, he can really help us against left-handed pitching,” manager Davey Martinez said after Adams’ second demotion this summer. “And he’s working on his catching again.”

PLAYER REVIEW: TREY LIPSCOMB

Age on Opening Day 2025: 24

How acquired: Third round pick, 2022 MLB Draft

MLB service time: 95 days

2024 salary: $740,000

PLAYER REVIEW: JOEY GALLO

Age on Opening Day 2025: 31

How acquired: Signed as free agent, January 2024

MLB service time: 8 years, 130 days

2024 salary: $2.5 million

PLAYER REVIEW: JOSÉ TENA

Age on Opening Day 2025: 24

How acquired: Traded with Alex Clemmey and Rafael Ramirez Jr. from Guardians for Lane Thomas, July 2024

MLB service time: 93 days

2024 salary: $740,000

PLAYER REVIEW: LUIS GARCÍA JR.

Age on Opening Day 2025: 24

How acquired: Signed as international free agent, July 2016

MLB service time: 3 years, 142 days

2024 salary: $1.95 million

After putting together one of the best defensive seasons in Major League Baseball this season, Nationals rookie outfielder Jacob Young was named one of three finalists for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award in center field on Tuesday.

Young, 25, led all of Major League Baseball across all positions with 18 runs prevented and was tied for the Major League-lead with 20 outs above average, according to Baseball Savant. Both were the most in a season by any outfielder since 2019.  Among center fielders, Young had four more runs prevented and four more outs above average than his second-place counterpart.

Young also led all MLB outfielders with 15 outs on balls at a 25-50 percent catch probability and was tied for the Major League-lead with seven catches made with a 0-25 percent catch probability.

The speedy outfielder tied the quickest reaction time (feet covered in the first 1.5 seconds of opportunity) in the Statcast era (2016-pres.), matching Enrique Hernández’s mark of 4.7 feet from 2021. The next closest outfielder in 2024 produced just 2.4 feet.

According to FanGraphs, Young also led all National League center fielders (min. 1000.0 innings) in defensive rating with a 13.4 and was tied for the lead with 11 defensive runs saved.

Jacob Young is a Gold Glove Award finalist after his first full season in the big leagues, and the rookie center fielder stands a good chance of becoming the Nationals’ first winner of the award in a dozen years.

Young was officially named a finalist today, confirming he finished among the top three among all National League center fielders along with the Rockies’ Brenton Doyle and the Brewers’ Blake Perkins. Voting among NL managers and coaches already took place in late September, which accounts for 75 percent of the final tally. The remaining 25 percent is determined by a statistical component. Winners will be announced Nov. 3.

The Nats have had only two Gold Glove winners in their two decades in D.C.: third baseman Ryan Zimmerman in 2009 and first baseman Adam LaRoche in 2012. Young is well positioned to join that group and become the club’s first outfielder to be honored for defensive excellence.

The 25-year-old debuted late in the 2023 season and showed off some of his skills down the stretch. He actually didn’t make the Opening Day roster this season but was quickly recalled from Triple-A Rochester when Victor Robles suffered a hamstring injury. He wound up taking over the starting center field job and never gave it up, impacting several organizational decisions regarding other, longer-tenured players.

According to Baseball Savant, Young finished the season with 20 Outs Above Average, tied with Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez for most among all major leaguers, regardless of position. His 18 Runs Prevented led all big leaguers and represented the highest number posted in that statistical category since 2019.

PLAYER REVIEW: CJ ABRAMS

Age on Opening Day 2025: 24

How acquired: Traded with James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, August 2022

MLB service time: 2 years, 130 days

2024 salary: $752,400

PLAYER REVIEW: KEIBERT RUIZ

Age on Opening Day 2025: 26

How acquired: Traded with Josiah Gray, Donovan Casey and Gerardo Carrillo from Dodgers for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, July 2021

MLB service time: 3 years, 64 days

2024 salary: $6 million

PLAYER REVIEW: NASIM NUÑEZ

Age on Opening Day 2025: 24

How acquired: Rule 5 Draft, 2023

MLB service time: 1 year

2024 salary: $740,000

PLAYER REVIEW: ILDEMARO VARGAS

Age on Opening Day 2025: 33

How acquired: Signed as minor league free agent, May 2022

MLB service time: 5 years, 7 days

2024 salary: $1.1 million