Nationals Claim Matt Waldron

The Nationals announced that right-hander Matt Waldron was claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays.  Connelly Early was moved from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL in the corresponding roster move.

It’s the second time in under a month that Waldron has changed teams via the waiver wire.  The Padres designated the knuckleballer for assignment in late July and the Jays claimed Waldron a week later.  After four appearances for the Blue Jays, Waldron found himself in DFA limbo again, and he’ll now head to a Washington team sorely in need of arms to cover innings in the bullpen or even in the rotation.

Waldron has struggled to a 7.54 ERA over 37 total innings with San Diego and Toronto, though his 4.11 SIERA better reflects Waldron’s lack of batted-ball luck (a .361 BABIP) or with runners on base (59.4% strand rate).  He has a very solid 5.9% walk rate that looks even better considering Waldron’s use of the knuckler, though he isn’t missing many bats with an 18.3% strikeout rate.  This is down from the 20.3K% that Waldron posted over 192 2/3 innings with the Padres from 2023-25, and he also had a career 4.86 ERA heading into this rough year.

Acquired in a pre-deadline deal with the Red Sox for Curtis Mead, Early hasn’t pitched since tossing four shutout innings for Boston (ironically, against Washington) on June 30.  Early is still in the fairly stages of a throwing progression and wasn’t going to be activated before the end of August anyway, so the move to the 60-day IL doesn’t impact his recovery timeline.