Nationals Designate Kyle Nicolas For Assignment

The Nationals have designated righty Kyle Nicolas for assignment, the team announced Friday. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to newly acquired left-handed reliever Reiver Sanmartin, who just came over in a trade with the Giants.

Nicolas, 27, was acquired from the Orioles in early July after they’d designated him for assignment themselves. He’s pitched a nearly identical number of big league innings (105 1/3) to the man to whom he’s losing his roster spot (105 2/3) but with shakier recent results. Nicolas had a nice showing with the 2024 Pirates, but the former No. 61 overall draft pick (2020) has been rocked for 27 runs in 45 1/3 innings (5.36 ERA) over the past two seasons.

Although Nicolas throws quite hard, sitting better than 97 mph and at times reaching triple digits, he doesn’t miss bats like one would expect for a pitcher with such high-end velocity. He’s fanned only 21.5% of his major league opponents, and most of the whiffs he garnered came in his rookie campaign back in 2023. He’s punched out just 19.6% of his opponents over the past two seasons — and he’s done so while walking a whopping 14.8% of the batters he’s faced.

Nicolas posted a 3.29 ERA and fanned 29.1% of his opponents in 27 1/3 innings with the Nationals’ Triple-A club in Rochester this season. That sounds good until also weighing the jarring 18.7% walk rate he issued. He’s pitched 138 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level, missing plenty of bats but also doling out free passes at a 16.6% clip.

Nicolas will be out of minor league options in 2027, so any team who claims him or trades for him would need to carry him on next year’s Opening Day roster or else designate him for assignment. The Nats have five days to look around for a trade partner before they’d be obligated to place him on waivers, which is another 48-hour process. His DFA will be resolved in no more than one week’s time.