This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato’s Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
The Nationals have spots to fill in their bullpen for the 2025 season, and they looked to the Rule 5 Draft to potentially address one of them. The Nats selected righty reliever Evan Reifert from the Rays organization with the No. 5 overall pick.
Reifert spent all of last season in Double-A (2-0, 1.96 ERA, 41 1/3 innings), and he was on track to pitch in Triple-A with the Rays this season. Now, he will have the chance in Spring Training to earn a place on Washington’s Opening Day roster and achieve his goal of reaching the Major Leagues.
If he doesn't make the Nationals' roster and stay there all season, Reifert will have to be offered back to the Rays.
What Reifert (Nationals’ No. 26 prospect) said
“It means a lot. Obviously, this is something that I've dreamed about as a kid and I've always known that I've wanted to be a professional baseball player. It’s huge getting this opportunity here now with the Nationals. I’m extremely fortunate and blessed. I couldn’t be happier to be a part of this organization here now, so I’m looking forward to it.”
What Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said
“He’s got two plus pitches, one extreme swing-and-miss pitch with the slider, and he posted extremely good numbers at the Double-A level. We’re going to give him every opportunity to make the team and stick on the team and to help impact the bullpen.”
What Nationals manager Dave Martinez said
“We’re young, and this is another piece that we could hopefully use. We like the arm. He’s got a wipeout slider. And he has pitched in the back-end of the bullpen in Double-A and done really well. He was striking out 14 per nine. The biggest thing was his command, and he seemed to clean that up a little bit, we know he’s worked on some different things. So we’re excited to have him and see what happens.”
What Rays assistant general manager Kevin Ibach said
“Evan’s a heck of a talent. I think we saw it in the Arizona Fall League a few years ago, when it seemed like he was striking everybody out there. When we had Spring Training at Disney a few years back, he was making big league hitters look pretty silly up there. So he’s got all the arm talent in the world. Had some setbacks, health-wise, over his career, but I think he ended the season in a really good place in [Double-A] Montgomery.
“We had planned on him going to [Triple-A] Durham this year and competing for that bullpen role there. He’ll be in a good spot to go try to make a team out of Spring Training. But we wish him the best, and he’s certainly a guy that we have high hopes for.”
What MLB Pipeline wrote
“The 6-foot-4 right-hander’s 82-85 mph slider is the star of the show, and he pitches like it, throwing it 52 percent of the time at Double-A in 2024. Its sharp vertical drop out of a lower three-quarters delivery befuddles hitters, and they whiffed on 70 percent of their swings against the breaking ball last year. It’s so effective at backfooting that Reifert even throws it plenty against lefties, whom he held to a .117 average in ’24. Reifert’s fastball comes with a velocity around 94-97 mph, but is more ordinary by comparison. It can still sneak up on hitters sitting on the breaking stuff.
“Reifert has experienced serious control issues at times in his career, though his walk rate with Montgomery was a more modest 9.9 percent. He’s at his best when he isn’t nibbling and lets natural movement get his pitches to the edges of the zone. The slider alone will give him a terrific chance at sticking in Washington’s bullpen, and he has high-leverage potential if the command holds.”