The Seattle Mariners acquired left-handed reliever Jose A. Ferrer in a trade with the Washington Nationals on Saturday.
Seattle sent catcher Harry Ford and minor league pitcher Isaac Lyon to Washington for Ferrer, who set career highs with 11 saves and 21 holds in 72 appearances this year.
The 22-year-old Ford is one of baseball’s top prospects, but the Mariners already have All-Star slugger Cal Raleigh at catcher. Ford made his major league debut in September, going 1 for 6 in eight games.
Seattle won the AL West this year for the first time since 2001. It made it to the AL Championship Series before it was eliminated by Toronto in seven games.
The addition of the 25-year-old Ferrer gives the Mariners another big arm in front of closer Andrés Muñoz.
Ferrer had a 4.48 ERA, 71 strikeouts and 16 walks over 76 1/3 innings this year. He ranked among the big league leaders with a 97.7 mph average fastball velocity and 64.3 ground-ball percentage.
Ferrer made his major league debut with Washington in 2023. He is 8-4 with a 4.36 ERA and 12 saves in 142 career games.
The trade was announced on the eve of baseball’s winter meetings in Orlando, Florida. It’s the first player move of any significance for Paul Toboni since he was hired as the president of baseball operations for the Nationals in September.
Ford was selected by Seattle with the No. 12 pick in the 2021 amateur draft. He batted .283 with 16 homers and 74 RBIs in 97 games for Triple-A Tacoma this year.
He became a mini-celebrity in Britain after he played for the country in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Ford joins a Washington franchise that hasn’t posted a winning record since its 2019 World Series championship. The Nationals went 66-96 this year and finished last in the NL East.
Lyon, 21, was a 10th-round pick in this year’s amateur draft out of Grand Canyon University. The son of former major league pitcher Brandon Lyon had a 7.30 ERA in 12 1/3 innings over four starts for Class A Modesto.