House stays true to self in debut, begins settling into new home

WASHINGTON -- Brady House had planned his Sunday night. After the Red Wings game, he would drop off his girlfriend at the airport, get dinner and do laundry. A quiet end to the weekend for the 22-year-old third baseman.

As he was pulling out of the players lot, he received a phone call asking him to turn around to have a meeting with Triple-A Rochester manager Matthew LeCroy.

“I know we’re super proud of you from the work you put in,” LeCroy said in a video captured by the Red Wings. “I can’t say enough about how you work and how you play the right way. Did you take Mary Landis to the airport?”

“No,” said House, seated in the manager’s office. “I was just going out.”

“Well, good,” LeCroy replied. “Because you’re going to the big leagues.”

House earned his Major League promotion 65 games into his first season in Triple-A, where he was batting .304 with a .873 OPS and 13 home runs. The 11th overall pick in the 2021 Draft out of Winder-Barrow High School (Winder, Ga.), House is ranked as the Nationals’ No. 3 prospect and No. 90 overall, per MLB Pipeline.

“I had an idea, but obviously you don’t want to get yourself too excited in case it doesn’t happen,” House said Monday afternoon before the Nationals’ 6-4 loss to the Rockies. “So I was just trying to get ready for whatever that meeting was about.”

Following a celebratory moment with his teammates, House edited his plans. He packed up his belongings, stopped by the grocery store to buy fried rice and pulled pork for dinner, quickly ate it in the parking lot and then got on the road to Washington, D.C. Outfielder Daylen Lile (No. 9 prospect) -- who also was called up on Sunday and hit his first Major League homer Monday night -- followed behind in his car for the late-night journey.

House arrived in the early hours of Monday morning and was at Nationals Park that afternoon. He found his locker by the entrance of the clubhouse and his name in the starting lineup, batting sixth.

“I don’t think I know what it means right now because I’ve dreamed about it since I started playing baseball,” House said while still processing his emotions after the game. “To finally be able to make my debut, it’s an amazing feeling.”

House, who was drafted as a shortstop and transitioned to third base in the Minors, looked comfortable at the Major League hot corner. He saw immediate action. The first play of the game was a ground ball hit by Jordan Beck to third, which House cleanly fielded and threw to first baseman Andrés Chaparro. House successfully fielded four plays during the game.

“It typically happens, right, where you get your first big league game and we all said the same thing -- the ball’s going to be hit right to him,” said Nationals manager Dave Martinez. “But he stayed down on the ball, did everything right, made a good throw to first base. I’ve seen him do that in Spring Training, I’ve seen him in Rochester do that quite a bit. He looked really poised out there. We know that when the ball’s hit to him, he’s got a chance to make the play on it.”

At the plate, House went 0-for-3 with a walk. He swung at the first pitch of his first at-bat -- a 90.7 mph four-seamer from left-hander Carson Palmquist -- and flied out to right field. In his second at-bat, House showcased the plate discipline he had focused on in Rochester. He overcame an 0-2 deficit to work a full count and draw a six-pitch walk. House was called out on strikes vs. righty Juan Mejia in the sixth. In his final at-bat in the ninth, House battled an eight-pitch at-bat against right-hander Seth Halvorsen that included six fastballs over 100 mph, but he grounded into a double play.

“I felt like I was just trying to get my pitch and not expand to what everyone else wanted me to expand and swing at,” House said. “I feel like I kind of stayed true to myself tonight and looked for a pitch that I wanted.”

Among the crowd at Nationals Park on a misty Monday night were House’s mother, father and brother, along with his girlfriend and her mother and brothers. House's family and friends were able to book early morning flights from Atlanta and see him before he reported for his first day of Major League work. House took photos with them on the field after the game to commemorate the milestone.

“I don’t know if I could imagine as great of a day as I had,” House said. “... I’m so thankful that the 10 people who are here tonight, that they dropped what they were doing to come here. I’m very thankful that they care that much to do that.”