PLAYER REVIEW: ROBERT HASSELL III
Age on Opening Day 2026: 24
How acquired: Traded with James Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Jarlin Susana and Luke from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, August 2022
MLB service time: 85 days
2025 salary: $760,000
Contract status: Under club control, arbitration-eligible in 2029, free agent in 2032
2025 stats: 70 G, 206 PA, 197 AB, 22 R, 44 H, 9 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 18 RBI, 4 SB, 0 CS, 8 BB, 62 SO, .223 AVG, .257 OBP, .315 SLG, .572 OPS, 62 OPS+, -2 DRS, -1 OAA, 0.0 bWAR, -0.5 fWAR
Quotable: “Numbers-wise, I think that will take care of itself, if I stay true to me. Which is: Line drives anywhere. Through the course of my minor league career and a little bit up here, the line drives have helped me. I’m sure most hitters can say that. And they’ll turn into home runs. I’d like to keep the strikeouts low. I’d like to put the ball in play. But I feel like I’m at my best when I’m hitting those low line drives, or at least thinking that way.” – Robert Hassell III
2025 analysis: After another eye-popping spring (.370/.408/.543), Hassell opened his season at Triple-A Rochester and waited for the call. He got off to a slow start but turned red-hot in May, batting .365 with four homers, 16 RBIs and a 1.006 OPS in 16 games. And when Dylan Crews landed on the IL with an oblique strain, the call from D.C. came.
Hassell enjoyed a two-hit debut May 22, then got hot during a subsequent West Coast trip in which he went 8-for-20 with his first major league home run. But pitchers began to figure him out, and he wasn’t able to make a quick adjustment. Through his first 21 big league games overall, he batted a mere .218 with only two extra-base hits. Even more concerning: He drew only one walk while striking out 21 times.
All of that prompted the Nationals to send Hassell back to Rochester in mid-June, a demotion he initially struggled with but ultimately used as motivation to get better. He made some changes to his swing, standing more upright and using a leg kick he deployed earlier in his career, and he saw positive results. During his 33-game stint at Triple-A, he produced a .954 OPS. And when the Nats dealt Alex Call to the Dodgers at the trade deadline, Hassell was recalled to Washington.
He spent the final two months of the season in the majors, splitting time with Jacob Young in center field. He had some moments along the way, whether at the plate or in the outfield. But his production was only moderately improved from his first stint, with a lack of power and a lack of walks notable in particular.
2026 outlook: Hassell has loomed as a second-tier prospect for the Nationals since his acquisition from the Padres three years ago. He doesn’t have the pedigree of Crews or James Wood, but he has the potential to be a good big league hitter and quality outfielder. It was merely a matter of him staying healthy after several nagging hand and wrist injuries, then making the most of his opportunity when it arrived.
The opportunity arrived this season, but it’s hard to say Hassell made the most of it. He certainly didn’t thrive the way Daylen Lile (another second-tier prospect) did. And because of that, he now would seem to enter 2026 as no better than the Nats’ fourth-best young outfielder, perhaps lower depending on Young’s future with the organization.
Which isn’t to say the Nationals should give up on Hassell. There’s still plenty of legitimate hitting potential in there. But he needs to do what he stated in the above quote and actually hit more line drives while striking out with less frequency. His 52.6 percent ground ball rate was sky high, and his power production was minimal, especially on non-fastballs (.207 slugging percentage). Meanwhile, his strikeout rate (30.1 percent) was way above league average while his walk rate (3.9 percent) was well below it.
New president of baseball operations Paul Toboni has a lot of things to figure out this winter, and high on the list is his plan in the outfield. Is everyone returning, or would he look to deal from one of the organization’s few areas of real depth? And how would Hassell fit into either of those plans: Is he still a part of a major league outfield rotation, or could he still have value as a trade chip?