The Nationals announced today that they have activated right-handers Stephen Strasburg and Cade Cavalli, catcher Riley Adams, and outfielders Stone Garrett and Victor Robles from the 60-day injured list. In a corresponding move, left-hander Matt Cronin was designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster stands at 40. The IL activations were required by today, as players cannot be on the 60-day IL during the offseason.
Cronin, 26, was the club’s fourth-round selection in the 2019 draft. From 2019-22, the left-hander put up solid numbers while advancing from Single-A all the way to Triple-A, capped off by a strong 2022 season where Cronin posted a 2.42 ERA with a 26.9% strikeout rate in 52 innings of work. That sort of dominance out of the bullpen figured to make Cronin an attractive potential bullpen piece for the rebuilding Nationals headed into 2023, particularly after the Nationals added him to the 40-man roster this past offseason in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Unfortunately, that’s not how things turned out this year. Cronin dealt with pain in his shoulder throughout the year that limited him to just 14 1/3 innings of work during which he struggled to a 5.02 ERA. Back in August, it was revealed that the issue causing the pain was a herniated disc in his back. Cronin underwent surgery to repair the issue and missed the remainder of the 2023 campaign. It’s not clear when Cronin is expected to be healthy enough to return to the mound at this point. Given Cronin’s youth (he only turned 26 back in September) combined with his previous success and status as one of the Nationals’ top 20 prospects (per Baseball America) entering this year, it would hardly be a surprise if a rival club with space on their 40-man roster decided to claim Cronin in the coming days, particularly if he figures to be able to return to the mound in 2024.