It’s been a while since the Nats have made a move, but that should change soon. There are some obvious moves that could occur, such as signing a first baseman or trading MacKenzie Gore. One move that isn’t so obvious, however, is trading Jacob Young. It’s far from certain, but it would be something I would keep an eye out for.
To be clear, there are no rumors surrounding a Young trade. This is just something I think could make sense. There are no rumors now, but you could say the same about Jose A. Ferrer before he was dealt. Young’s limited skill set could be more useful to a contender than a rebuilding team.
As we all know, Jacob Young is an elite defender in midfield. Over the past two seasons, Young has amassed 34 outs above average. That’s the third most in all of baseball since early 2024, behind only Bobby Witt Jr. and Pete Crow Armstrong. There are no questions about the glove.
Young not only scores very well, but also has a sense of drama. In 2025, Young made some of the craziest catches I’ve ever seen. His play against the Mets, where he kicked the ball into his glove to make the catch, was wild. MLB named it the 11th best play of the season. Young had multiple plays in their top 100.
On the offensive side of the ball, however, things aren’t so pretty. He wasn’t great offensively in 2024, but did enough to make him quite valuable. An average of .256 And .647 OPS isn’t great, but thanks to his defense, Young put up 2.7 fWAR in 2024. However, he took a step back in 2025, hitting .231 with a .583 OPS. There were long stretches where Young felt like he was automatically dropping out.
He’s a slap hitter who just put the ball on the ground in 2025. This lackluster attacking profile prevents him from being a true everyday player. To his credit, Young has worked on his offensive game this season. He went to Driveline, where he worked on improving his swing mechanics. Hopefully those hours in the facility will pay off, but that is far from a guarantee.
Frankly, Young is probably more valuable as a role player on a contending team than as an everyday starter on a bad team. That’s why a transaction makes a lot of sense. With James Wood, Dylan Crews, Daylen Lile, Christian Franklin, Robert Hassell and Young, the Nats have a lot of outfielders. They also claimed Joey Wiemer earlier today. This could make Young expendable.
His defensive profile and team control make him an attractive target for teams looking to improve their outfield defense. One team that really stands out to me is the San Francisco Giants. Oracle Park is a big stadium, so a defensive specialist in midfield could be attractive to them.
The Giants’ outfield defense was not good last season, so they could be looking to make some improvements. Jung Hoo Lee is currently the Giants’ midfielder. He’s a good player, but I think Young could be a good partner for him.
Lee performed very good against right-handed pitching and hit .276 with a .774 OPS. Meanwhile, Young has been too better against left-handed pitching in his career. Lee and Young could be an impressive midfield platoon in San Francisco.
The Giants have a nice one too deep farm system for the Nats to explore. If the Nats wanted an arm ready for the big leagues, they could ask for Blake Tidwell or Carson Whisenhunt. There are also young people with high upside in the system, such as Jacob Bresnahan, Keyner Martinez and Alberto Laroche.
There are also some offensive pieces that I like, like Parks Harbor and Bo Davidson. If the Nats want a big-league player, guys like Luis Matos or Hayden Birdsong also make sense. Both guys have shown great flashes but haven’t put it all together yet. Birdsong intrigues me because he has all the stuff in the world, but still needs development.
There are a lot of combinations here and there is a need for the Giants. That’s why I like them so much that they fit. A fake package could be something like Bresnahan and Parks Harbor for Young. I also like the idea of trading Young for Birdsong.
Once again, the Giants aren’t the only team that could make a move for Young. There is also a good chance that Jacob Young will not be traded. I think this move is more likely than it seems now. Many of the Nats offseason moves come out of nowhere. This could be next.
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