As was announced a couple of days ago, Andrés Chaparro was the corresponding roster move for sending José Tena back down to Rochester (so that the Nats had more than one person with real experience at first base on the active roster). He also provides another right-handed bat to a roster that is heavy on lefty options - the rest of the righty options on hand right now are Brady House (beating everything into the ground like John Henry), Dylan Crews (recently returned from three months on the injured list), Paul DeJong (hot right now, but liable to strike out a ton), Riley Adams (hitting okay for a catcher since he took over the starting job), and Jacob Young (sporting a 60 OPS+). There’s also a couple of switch-hitters in Josh Bell and Drew Millas, but…yeah, Chaparro might help balance the lineup a little bit more, particularly against southpaws.

Another (fifth) day, another rocky Jake Irvin start. This time, he had a good first inning (one single) but imploded in the third, allowing two doubles, a single, a walk, and a home run by Mark Vientos to cap it all off for a five-run Mets frame that very quickly made the game feel out of reach. It felt that way because, as has become his custom, Mets starter David Peterson carved up the Nats, cruising through his first seven innings on eighty pitches while allowing just two hits to the recently recalled Andrés Chaparro. Peterson ran into a little bit of trouble in the eighth thanks to a leadoff triple from Dylan Crews (some serious laissez-faire Juan Soto outfield play didn’t hurt in getting Crews to third) followed by a walk of Chaparro. Still, Brady House graciously prevented it from becoming a true rally by grounding into his second double play of the game (his fifth in 45 games, already tied for fourth on the team), so Crews wound up scoring the Nats’ only run in their eventual 8-1 loss.

What to do about Brady House? There is some history in his minor league profile to suggest that he will figure something out at the plate in 2026, but the Statcast profile is pretty grim right now. While his fielding has overall been very strong and better than almost all of the two dozen or so third basemen that the Nats have cycled through since Tony Two Bags departed, House has swung early and often, refusing to walk (5, against 46 strikeouts) and hitting just three balls past outfielders - his two home runs in Milwaukee and a double to the left field gap in San Francisco. All that adds up to a .234/.251/.310 slash line that is uninspiring. Hopefully, he can start swinging a little less and barreling the ball a little more - and soon.

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