The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve requested unconditional release waivers on righty Julian Fernández, whom they’d designated for assignment last week.
A release was always the likely outcome, given that Fernández was placed on the minor league injured list last month and remained there at the time of his DFA. Injured players cannot be passed through outright waivers, meaning the Nationals’ only alternative was to try to find a trade partner for an injured 30-year-old with minimal MLB track record. That didn’t pan out.
Fernández has pitched in parts of three big league seasons — 2026 included. He has just 15 2/3 frames in the majors, however, during which he’s been tagged for 14 runs (a dozen earned) on 15 hits and eight walks with 12 punchouts. Five of the 15 hits he’s surrendered have been home runs.
It’s been some time, but Fernández was once a prospect of some note. The Giants plucked him from the Rockies in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft after a big age-21 campaign in A-ball. It’d have been hard to carry him on the roster for the whole season anyhow, but Fernández wound up missing the entire year after suffering a UCL tear during spring training. He spent the year on San Francisco’s 60-day injured list and was then scooped up by the Marlins off waivers in the offseason. After Fernández missed the entire 2019 season as well, the Fish returned him to the Rockies, as he still hadn’t fulfilled his Rule 5 requirements.
Injuries and the canceled 2020 minor league season wound up keeping Fernández off a minor league mound for three years. He returned with a nice showing between Double-A and Triple-A in 2021 (2.53 ERA, 23.7 K%, 9.0 BB% in 42 2/3 innings) and made a brief big league debut that season. He struggled in the minors in 2022-23 with the Rockies and Blue Jays before spending 2024 pitching in Mexico. Fernández made a brief MLB return with the Dodgers and Nats last season as well.
Those ugly 2022-23 showings in the minors have skewed his numbers there, but Fernández posted a decent 4.17 ERA with a strong 28.5% strikeout rate and sharp 7.7% walk rate in 54 Triple-A frames last year. He was sporting a 3.27 ERA through 11 Triple-A frames at the time of his minor league IL placement.
Fernández might simply re-sign with the Nats on a minor league deal — that type of outcome is common in these situations — but he’ll have the opportunity to chat with the league’s other 29 clubs before making any sort of determination.
