Solís surprised, upset by demotion to Triple-A

PHILADELPHIA - Sammy Solís knew the Nationals were going to need to drop one of their nine relievers today to make room for starter Jeremy Hellickson. He just didn't expect to be the one who got dropped.

Solís, though, was the only one of those nine relievers on the current roster who still had a remaining option and thus could be sent to the minors without first passing through waivers. So the club made the decision to demote the guy who leads their staff and ranks second in the National League with 40 appearances this season.

"Didn't see that coming," a visibly agitated Solís said after packing his bags and preparing to leave the clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park. "Obviously we're going through scenarios in our head, knowing a move needs to be made. And being the only guy with options - with one option - didn't see it coming. But it's a business decision. Makes it easier on them: Send me down, don't have to cut anyone loose, now they'll make a decision a little later."

Solís was a rare player given a fourth option year, a byproduct of the significant time he missed due to injury before making his major league debut in 2015. That left him a more precarious position than fellow relievers Shawn Kelley, Justin Miller, Tim Collins and Matt Grace, all of whom would have needed to be designated for assignment (and thus exposed to all 29 other clubs on waivers) or released.

The Nationals do expect Solís to return later this season, and when he does they hope he'll have worked out some inconsistencies in his performance vs. left-handed batters (they have a .794 OPS against him, as opposed to the .619 mark right-handers have posted).

"I'm a big Solís fan, I'm not going to lie," manager Davey Martinez said. "But we need him to get better, consistently get better to get lefties out. That was the big decision. We talked about it. He'll go to Triple-A and work on some things that I think might help him. And hopefully he'll be back here soon."

The news was particularly upsetting to Solís because of the heavy workload he has put in through the season's first half. During a three-month stretch in which several others in the Nationals bullpen went on the disabled list or were unavailable due to their own excessive use, he made himself available and appeared in exactly one-half of the team's games to date.

"We started the year with four lefties in the pen that included (closer Sean) Doolittle, and got down to just me and Doolittle for a little bit," Solís said. "So I picked up the slack. And there were days I didn't feel great, a lot of days I didn't feel great. But the team needed it, so I'd throw myself out there. Velo's down a little bit right now; I think that's residual exhaustion from that workload. But I still feel fine."

With Solís heading to Syracuse, the Nationals may have to rely more on Collins and Grace for key encounters with left-handed batters. Or Martinez could choose to go with some of his more accomplished right-handed setup men.

"We have Collins, we have Grace," the manager said. "We have (Kelvin) Herrera, (Brandon) Kinztler, who typically gets lefties out. So there's a lot of options we have. But I used Sammy a lot, and I know that he's going to go down there and work. And hopefully he's going to get back here soon."

Martinez plans to talk to Syracuse manager Randy Knorr about a plan for using Solís, but the organization probably will try to minimize his workload to some extent, hoping that could make him fresher when he returns later this season.

"Any kind of rest is going to help," Solís said. "Especially with Randy Knorr down there. We know each other well and have worked together before. So he's going to have the reins on that he's going to hold me back. I'm sure I'll know when I'm going to pitch coming to the ballpark and such, and that does make it easier. And maybe we'll see a few more ticks in my (velocity). Getting a little more rest, maybe I'll get back to 94-96 I'm accustomed to.

"Right now I'm upset, but I'm sure I'll come out of this thing just fine."