Meneses elected free agency Monday, Bobby Blanco of MASNSports.com reports.
The Nationals booted Meneses from their 40-man roster, and he has opted to test out free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment. Meneses was a solid regular for the Nationals from 2022-23 but bottomed out with a .593 OPS in 2024 and spent much of the season in the minors.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Optioned to Rochester
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The Nationals optioned Meneses to Triple-A Rochester on Thursday.
Through 313 plate appearances, Meneses has slashed just .231/.291/.306 -- his worst season at the plate in his three-year MLB career -- and he'll now attempt to right the ship in the minors. Meanwhile, the Nationals will likely turn to Harold Ramirez or Ildemaro Vargas to start at first base until Joey Gallo (hamstring) is able to return from the injured list.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Drives in three Monday
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Meneses went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI in Monday's 7-6 extra-inning loss to the Padres.
All three of Meneses' hits drove in a run to erase the Padres' early 3-0 lead. He's been hitting well lately, going 15-for-46 (.326) with 10 RBI and five extra-base hits over his last 13 games. Meneses is at a .246/.302/.327 slash line for the year while adding three home runs, two stolen bases, 40 RBI and 18 runs scored over 275 plate appearances. He had a slow start in 2023 as well, but he'd need a big second half to get up to his level from last year (.275/.321/.401).
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Homers, drives in three in win
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Meneses went 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBI in a 4-0 win over the Marlins on Saturday.
Meneses opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first inning then hit a two-run home run in the eighth. Meneses has enjoyed a modest five-game hit streak in which he has gone 7-for-15 with a homer and six RBI. Meneses had been losing out on playing time recently but is making the most of his opportunities since Joey Gallo (hamstring) hit the injured list Wednesday. On the season, Meneses is slashing .244/.305/.332 with three home runs and 36 RBI over 243 plate appearances.
Meneses will start at first base and bat sixth in Wednesday's game against the Tigers.
Meneses had been on the bench for each of the Nationals' previous three games, but he'll get the first opportunity to enter the lineup in place of Joey Gallo (hamstring), who landed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday. After turning in a .722 OPS in his first full season in the big leagues in 2023, Meneses has taken a big step back thus far in 2024, slashing just .232/.292/.296 with a miniscule .064 ISO across 226 plate appearances.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Back in lineup, but losing work
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Meneses will start at first base and bat fifth in Wednesday's game against the Dodgers, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.
Meneses will draw back into the starting nine for the series finale, but he seems to be the odd man out of the lineup of late, at least against right-handed pitching. He hadn't started in any of the previous three matchups versus righties, with Joey Gallo occupying first base and Jesse Winker serving as Washington's designated hitter in each of those contests. The reduction in playing time comes after Meneses has provided lowly .522 OPS though his first 57 plate appearances of the season.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Resting Saturday
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Meneses isn't in the Nationals' lineup for Saturday's game against the Athletics, Andrew Golden of The Washington Post reports.
Meneses went 1-for-4 during Friday's loss to the A's and will now receive his second day off in Washington's last three games. Jesse Winker will instead serve as the Nationals' DH, moving Eddie Rosario to left field while Jacob Young starts in center.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Likely to DH again this season
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Meneses appears set to spend most of his time at DH after the Nationals added Joey Gallo and Eddie Rosario to the roster this offseason, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports reports.
Rosario, who signed a minor-league deal with the team last week, is the favorite to win the starting left field job, which would bump Gallo to first base and Meneses to DH. There are a few complicating factors that cloud the playing-time outlook for Meneses, however. Jesse Winker, also in camp on a minor-league deal, is batting .350 (7-for-20) with a 5:4 BB:K, while Meneses is batting just .214 (6-for-28). Stone Garrett (lower leg) will also need at-bats once he's healthy, and top outfield prospects Dylan Crews and James Wood could also push their way onto the big-league roster over the summer. After a sizzling 56-game MLB debut in 2022, Meneses' production swooned last season, as he managed only a .722 OPS with 13 homers in 154 games. If the 31-year-old can't deliver better numbers at the plate in 2024, he could fall out of a regular role.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Cranks pinch-hit homer
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Meneses went 1-for-1 with a three-run homer in Tuesday's win over the White Sox.
Pinch-hitting for Blake Rutherford in the seventh inning, Meneses launched a clutch three-run homer off Bryan Shaw, putting the Nationals ahead 4-2 en route to a 4-3 victory. The homer was Menses' first in 37 games, with his last coming Aug. 8. While he's hit only 12 homers this year, the 31-year-old Menses is still slashing a solid .279/.326/.406 with a team-high 84 RBI to go with 67 runs scored through 610 plate appearances.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Not in lineup Tuesday
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Meneses is not in the lineup Tuesday versus the White Sox.
Dominic Smith will start at first base for the Nationals as Keibert Ruiz takes a turn in the DH role and Drew Millas does the catching. Meneses went 0-for-4 in Monday's series opener against Chicago and is slashing just .222/.271/.259 in 59 plate appearances since the calendar flipped to September.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Goes yard twice in nightcap
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Meneses went 2-for-5 with two home runs and three RBI in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader against the Phillies.
With the Nationals facing a 4-2 deficit in the seventh inning, Meneses took matters into his own hands, launching a two-run blast to left-center field off Jeff Hoffman before clubbing a game-winning solo shot off Craig Kimbrel in the top of the ninth. Meneses has gone yard four times in the last eight games, continuing a surge that started when the calendar flipped to July -- over his last 31 games, the 31-year-old is slashing .273/.326/.545 with nine of his 11 homers on the season.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Smacks clutch homer
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Meneses went 2-for-4 with a walk and a two-run home run in Friday's 6-3 victory over the Reds.
Meneses touched up starter Graham Ashcraft for a game-tying home run in the eighth inning, his ninth homer of the season. He endured a power outage over the final two weeks of July as Meneses continues to be rather streaky. The late bloomer has five hits -- including two homers -- over his last four games, and fantasy managers will have to hope this is the start of a hot stretch.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Getting day off
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Meneses is not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Mets, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.
It looks to be a rare day off for Meneses. The Nationals are giving Jeimer Candelario a start in the designated hitter spot and covering third base with Ildemaro Vargas.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Fourth homer in three days
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Meneses went 1-for-3 with a solo homer in Sunday's 7-2 win over the Rangers.
Meneses finished the first half of the 2023 campaign on a high note, clobbering four home runs during Washington's three-game series against Texas. Though his outburst was certainly encouraging for his post-All-Star break prospects, Meneses had only hit two long balls prior to the series. However, he went deep 33 times in 654 plate appearances between the majors and minors last season and has a 65th-percentile hard-hit rate during the current campaign, so a more homer-laden second half may be in the forecast. Through 83 games, Meneses is slashing .284/.328/.404 and is striking out only 20.2 percent of the time.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Productive in wild win
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Meneses went 3-for-5 with a walk, a double, two runs scored and three RBI in Friday's 12-10 win over the Royals.
The 31-year-old continues to tear it up in May. Over his last 20 games, Meneses is slashing .361/.398/.482 with 12 runs and 18 RBI, although he has only one homer during that stretch and just two on the season. Given his 81st percentile hard-hit rate and shockingly unlucky 4.4 percent HR/FB rate, it seems only a matter of time before Meneses starts sending more balls flying over the fence.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Going on paternity leave
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The Nationals will place Meneses on the paternity list Wednesday, Bobby Blanco of MASNSports.com reports.
Meneses will miss at least one and as many as three games to be with his wife as she gives birth to the couple's child. Utility man Jake Alu will be called up from Triple-A Rochester to take Meneses' spot on the 26-man active roster.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Four hits in win
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Meneses went 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored in Sunday's victory over the Pirates.
Meneses has been heating up after a sluggish start to the season, going 11-for-31 over his last seven games. However, the 30-year-old Menses has yet to hit for the power he demonstrated in his breakthrough rookie season, with just one home run and seven extra-base hits through his first 112 at-bats this year. He's now slashing .286/.316/.366 with 10 RBI and eight runs scored through 117 plate appearances.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Sleeper hitters for Week 6 (May 1-7)
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Joey Meneses' follow-up to his unbelievable 2022 debut has been quiet to this point, but he's begun to pick up the pace, batting .362 (21 for 58) in his past 13 games. The Nationals are one of just six teams with seven games this week and are facing some mashables in the Cubs and Diamondbacks rotations.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Homers, drives in four
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Meneses went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and four RBI in a 13-4 win over the Phillies in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. He also scored four runs and drew a walk.
Meneses had himself a day at the plate on Saturday, beginning with a three-run double with two outs in the second inning to put the Nationals up 4-1. He followed that up with a homer to lead off the fifth - his seventh long ball since the start of September, to go along with 22 RBI and 17 runs scored. It was also the rookie first baseman's 11th multi-hit game in that 27-game span.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Showcases power again Sunday
Rotowire
Meneses went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run in Sunday's 6-1 win over the Marlins.
The 30-year-old rookie put the Nationals on the board in the top of the first inning with the two-run drive to center field. The home run was his second in as many days and his 12th since being called up from Triple-A Syracuse in early August. With a .943 OPS through his first 200 big-league plate appearances, Meneses has likely secured a full-time role for the Nationals entering the 2023 season.
