The Washington Nationals have made their first offseason move. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Washington Nationals have acquired first baseman Josh Bell from the Pirates in exchange for a pair of young pitchers which include: Eddy Yean and Wil Crowe. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported that the two teams were closing in on a trade.

Josh Bell is a 28-year-old switch hitter who plays exclusively first base. He’s hit 83 home runs since 2017, which puts him among the top 50 in that span.

In the field, Bell has performed well. Over the past five seasons, Bell has a fielding percentage of .991, and has only comitted 36 errors in 460 Games Played.

In 2020, Bell had 195 at bat appearences with eight homeruns, 22 RBI's, and an OPS of .669 and a slugging percentage of .364.

In 2017, Bell's rookie year, he finished third in voting for Rookie of the Year, and in 2019, he was selected to the All-Star Game.

Bell was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2nd round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft from Dallas Jesuit College Prep.

From the looks of this trade, it this is going to be a great addition to the team.

“We are thrilled to be adding a player of Josh Bell’s caliber to our team,” said Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo. “He adds a switch-hitting power bat to our lineup. And we know Josh will be an outstanding addition to our clubhouse and our community.”

He was Pittsburgh’s Minor League Player of the Year in 2014 and 2016, and participated in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures game in Minnesota in 2014.

We will have more information as it develops. Make surer that you are following The Nats Report on Twitter for the lastest.