Nationals' Historic Offseason Signing Will Make Rehab Appearance at High-A

The Washington Nationals have had a tough go of things throughout the 2025 season, and while they have a pipeline of promising prospects to rely on, they will take time to develop as well.

They have managed to get quite a few of their top minor league players up to the MLB roster in recent weeks, in an attempt to see what they have in each one and how they may perform at the next level.

While it is not exactly a sustainable development process, it has worked in some cases, and now the team at least has a few core pieces to build around.

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One of their more notable offseason signings came in the form of Shinnosuke Ogasawara, the first Japanese-born player the Nationals had ever signed.

He had quite a bit of hype surrounding him heading into the spring. Unfortunately, he struggled during spring training and was sent to Triple-A Rochester to work on his pitching. He then made three starts before suffering an oblique strain, which has held him out since April.

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Thankfully, he was able to make his first rehab start on June 14 with the FCL Nationals, throwing for two innings and picking up two strikeouts while only allowing one hit.

His second rehab start will now be with High-A Wilmington, as the team announced he will join them to work through his injury setback.

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If all goes well, hopefully he will make the jump to Double-A or back to Triple-A once he is healthy.

While he only had a small sample size so far, getting a better look at him throughout the remainder of the season would really help Washington gauge where he is in his development.

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