The Nationals announced that outfielder Robert Hassell III has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Rochester. As a player with less than a year of big league service time and no prior outright assignments, Hassell must accept the assignment and report to Triple-A.
Washington designated Hassell for assignment a week ago, a disappointing development in the former top prospect’s career. Hassell, who turns 25 next month, was one of six players the Padres sent to the Nationals for Juan Soto at the 2022 trade deadline. Some considered him the prize of that return, though he’s since been outdone by James Wood, CJ Abrams, and MacKenzie Gore.
Whereas those three have ranged from good to excellent in the Majors, Hassell took longer to reach the top level and wasn’t immediately successful. He reached Double-A for the first time in 2023 but struggled to an 84 wRC+ there. He rebounded with a 116 wRC+ at that level in 2024 before struggling again upon reaching Triple-A. In 2025, Hassell finally reached the Majors, though he only managed to bat .223/.257/.315 with a 58 wRC+ in 206 plate appearances. Having previously struck out and walked at better-than-average rates, he looked overmatched against big league pitching, striking out 30.1% of the time and only walking at a 3.9% clip.
More to come.
