The 30 year old outfielder will fight for a roster spot in spring training
The Nationals picked up veteran outfielder Franchy Cordero on a minor league deal with a spring training invite. The 30 year old has spent parts of seven seasons in the big leagues. Last year he was over in Japan, playing for the Saitama Seibu Lions.
While Cordero is not a favorite to make the team, he will have a chance to fight for the fourth outfield spot with Alex Call and Robert Hassell. He brings a different element to those two, with big time raw power. When Cordero gets a hold of baseballs, he can absolutely smoke them. In 2021, he hit a ball 118.6 MPH.
He has never been able to fully put things together at the MLB level due to strikeout issues. His career strikeout rate is nearly 35%. However, with a good spring he could break camp. He would really need to impress to beat out guys on the 40 man roster like Call, Garrett, or Hassell, but he got an invite to spring training for a reason.
Most likely, Cordero will serve as solid organizational depth, who could be called up midseason in the event of injury, or if he rakes at the triple-A level. Mike Rizzo has a history of shrewd non-roster invites, so maybe Cordero can be the next in line.