The Nationals and first baseman Matt Mervis have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp in spring training. Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that Mervis and the Nats had a deal in place. Andrew Golden of The Washington Post specified that it was a minor league deal with a camp invite.
Mervis, 28 in April, hasn’t found much major league success yet. He has appeared in 78 big league games over the past three seasons, stepping to the plate 261 times split between the Cubs and Marlins. He hit ten home runs in that time but also had a subpar 7.7% walk rate and an awful 34.5% strikeout rate. He currently sports a career batting line of .165/.238/.322.
That lack of offense is deadly for his viability. He is one of the slowest players in the majors and can only play first base. He needs to hit to provide value.
The reason he has been given a few major league chances is because his minor league production is vastly superior to what he’s done in the big leagues. He first gained attention as a minor leaguer with the Cubs in 2022. That year, he went from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A, hitting 36 homers on the year.
Since then, even as he has floundered in the majors, he has continued hitting fairly well on the farm. From 2023 to 2025, he has stepped to the plate 1,058 times at the Triple-A level with various clubs. His 25.8% strikeout rate in that time is still a bit high but far better than his big league work. He has also drawn walks at a strong 11.9% clip and hit 56 home runs. He has a combined .257/.354/.510 line and 112 wRC+ in that span, indicating he’s been 12% above league average.
The Cubs traded him to the Marlins last offseason. The Fish outrighted him off their 40-man in June and released him in August. He then landed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks but didn’t get called up down the stretch and became a minor league free agent at season’s end.
The Nats are a sensible landing spot for him. Not only was he born and raised in the D.C. area but the first base spot is fairly wide open in Washington. They had Nathaniel Lowe as their regular at that position this year but released him in August. They mostly used Josh Bell the rest of the way. He became a free agent after the season and subsequently signed with the Twins.
As of now, Washington’s top first basemen are Andrés Chaparro and Luis García Jr. Chaparro has a .203/.268/.358 batting line in 205 big league plate appearances. García has mostly been a second baseman in his career but his poor defensive grades might get him bumped to first, where he has only 16 big league innings of experience. Even if he can stick at first defensively, he probably doesn’t have the bat for the position, with a career .266/.299/.410 line and 93 wRC+.
With that situation, the Nats clearly need upgrades. Since they are rebuilding, they probably won’t make a big splash there. As spring training approaches, they could perhaps take a low-cost flier on a free agent, depending on who remains unsigned. Guys like Ty France, Rhys Hoskins, Dominic Smith, Carlos Santana, Rowdy Tellez or Justin Turner are some theoretical possibilities.
For now, they have added some non-roster depth. They signed Warming Bernabel to a minor league deal not too long ago and have now brought Mervis into the fold as well. If Mervis can earn a roster spot, he still has an option season remaining and also has less than a year of service time. If he finally clicks in the majors with his hometown team, he can be cheaply retained into the foreseeable future.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images