Washington Nationals at Miami Marlins: Grapefruit League GameThread

Washington Nationals’ prospect Joan Adon was added to the club’s 40-man roster after the 2020 campaign, to protect him from selection in the Rule 5 Draft, and Assistant GM, Player Personnel, Mark Scialabba, said at the time the now-23-year-old pitcher was on the come.

“He is a power arm that attacks the zone with his fastball, change, and slider,” Scialabba told FBB’s David Driver late in September 2019.

“[Adon] does a really good [job] of pitching up and down with his fastball and his change has become a weapon he can use against right and left-handed batters.”

Adon posted a 4.97 ERA in 17 starts and 87 innings at High-A ball in 2021, a 6.43 ERA in three starts and 14 IP at Double-A, and he struck out seven batters over four scoreless innings in his Triple-A debut, giving up two hits and three walks, before he was called up to make his final start of the year in Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park in his MLB debut.

In 5 ¹⁄₃ IP against the Boston Red Sox, Adon struck out nine of the 24 batters he faced, and gave up six hits, three walks, and two runs, both earned, which, he said, provided him with additional motivation for him to get back to the big leagues.

“It obviously gives me a lot of motivation to keep working hard,” the right-handed starter who signed out of the Dominican Republic for $50K in July of 2016 said.

“Keep working hard in the offseason, and get ready for next season, and hopefully start the year with the team up here at the big league level.”

In two games and 5 IP out of the bullpen this spring before tonight, Adon has given up five hits (two home runs) and four earned runs, walking two and striking out five.

Adon gets the ball to start tonight’s game.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE GAME WITH THE MARLINS: