Nasim Nuñez is the Nationals' designated non-hitter

Barely a week after officially taking over as president of baseball operations for the Miami Marlins, Peter Bendix had roster moves to contemplate. November 14 was the deadline for major league clubs to select Rule 5 Draft-eligible players to their 40-man rosters. The Marlins had several borderline candidates—prospects who would draw interest in the draft, but whose flaws or inexperience might be strong enough to deter the rest of the league from picking them. 

Nasim Nuñez was the Marlins' most fascinating borderline guy, in my opinion. The 23-year-old had gradually ascended the minor league ladder with excellent shortstop defense, smart swing decisions and aggressive, efficient baserunning. He had the distinction of participating in the 2023 Futures Game and thrived in the spotlight en route to being named MVP of the exhibition.

However, unless he was drawing walks or finding the right holes with his grounders, Nuñez was doing virtually nothing at the plate. He had posted a career 89 wRC+ in MiLB competition by exploiting pitchers who couldn't throw strikes and fielders who couldn't make routine plays. His .054 isolated power (the gap between his batting average and slugging percentage) was the lowest among all minor leaguers with 1,500 plate appearances from 2019-2023.

It was clear that Nuñez's offensive profile would not translate to success in the majors, at least not immediately. The Washington Nationals rolled the dice on him anyway. It was the first time since 2017 that the Marlins had lost one of their players in the major league phase of the Rule 5.

 

 

 

 

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Nuñez got ample reps for the Nats during spring training that seemingly reinforced the general perception about him. He wasn't ready to handle a substantial major league role, but still made the club's Opening Day roster. Rule 5 restrictions require him to either be on the active roster or the injured list throughout the 2024 season, or else be offered back to the Marlins.

A month later, Nuñez will face the Marlins for the first time as a big leaguer. Actually, it would be irresponsible of me to assume that he'll play over the next four days. His role with Washington is...unique.

Nuñez has been active for all 24 Nationals games, yet he has made seven appearances, sometimes going a full week between them. Only once has his job involved hitting. That aversion to using him at the plate has limited him to 11 defensive innings (most of those coming in his lone start).

There is some recent precedent for this kind of prolific bench-warming at the major league level, such as Charlie Culberson on the 2023 Atlanta Braves. However, it's highly unusual to see a young, still-developing player being used so sparingly on a team that isn't near contention (Washington's playoff odds are even lower than Miami's, per FanGraphs). Barring injuries to the middle infielders ahead of him on the depth chart, Nuñez is on pace for only 14 plate appearances all season! What can he really learn when his playing time is so disjointed?

To be clear, the Nats are going through the hassle of "hiding" Nuñez in 2024 with the intention of handling him more conventionally in 2025 and beyond (once he can be optioned to the minors). Is he worth it?

The Marlins can only hope that their NL East rival grows weary of these circumstances at some point and returns him.