The Nationals announced that right-hander Max Kranick has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. The club had a 40-man vacancy that Kranick has now filled. The Nats also placed catcher Drew Millas on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 12, with a left index finger fracture. Fellow catcher Harry Ford will be recalled to take the place of Millas, per reporting from Nats.Talk and Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic.

On Sunday, the Nats recalled first baseman Abimelec Ortiz and designated left-hander Matt Krook for assignment. That opened a 40-man spot and also left the Nats with a split of 14 position players and 12 pitchers. Ortiz was optioned after that game, getting them to 13-12. Kranick’s reinstatement gets them to 13-13 and also fills the 40-man roster.

Kranick, now 28, hasn’t yet appeared in a game as a National. He was just signed a couple of months ago while still recovering from a flexor tendon surgery he underwent last year. He has been on a rehab assignment for the past month and is now ready to return to the big leagues.

His major league track record has largely been defined by injuries. He debuted with the Pirates in 2021, putting up an unimpressive 6.28 earned run average over nine starts. He then required Tommy John surgery the following summer, which put him on the shelf for most of the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Bucs put him on waivers going into 2024 and Kranick was claimed by the Mets. A hamstring strain put him on the IL to start the year, then the Mets outrighted him in May.

He pitched well enough in the minors that the Mets put him back on the 40-man in October of 2024. He spent most of the first half of 2025 in the Mets’ bullpen, tossing 37 innings with a 3.65 ERA. His 16.9% strikeout rate was well below average but his 3.4% walk rate was tiny. He mostly threw a 95.6 mile-per-hour four-seamer and an 89.9 mph slider, though he also mixed in a curveball and sweeper.

He required flexor tendon surgery in July, wiping out the remainder of his campaign. The Mets non-tendered him at season’s end. He remained unsigned until the Nats scooped him up in May on a deal with an $800K salary for 2026. There’s also a 2027 club option, which will be either worth $850K or $50K north of the new league minimum salary, whichever figure is greater. Even if that club option were to be turned down, he can be controlled via arbitration through 2029.

The Nats have one of the weaker bullpens in the league, as their relievers have a collective 5.07 ERA this year, which is better than just three other clubs. Kranick will try to pitch well enough to hold a job in that group. If it doesn’t work out, he is out of options.

Turning to the catching moves, this is the same finger Millas fractured in August of last year. As seen in this clip from MLB.com, Austin Wells of the Yankees swung at a pitch and made contact with Millas’s glove hand. Millas required surgery and missed the rest of the year. He has been on the active roster this year but perhaps the finger hasn’t been 100%. Nusbaum’s piece linked above says the finger has been purple and swollen throughout the campaign.

While he’s out, the Nats will get a look at Ford. Acquired in the Jose A. Ferrer trade in December, Ford has been on many top 100 prospect lists in recent years. He had debuted with the Mariners last year and could have broke camp with the Nats but he didn’t have a great spring and got sent to Triple-A instead.

Since then, the Nats have been getting a resurgent season from Keibert Ruiz while Ford has been scuffling in the minors. Ruiz had an awful .235/.266/.345 showing over the 2024 and 2025 seasons but has bounced back with a .275/.302/.465 line here in 2026.

Ford, meanwhile, has a .223/.370/.335 line in Triple-A this year. However, he has been better lately, putting a cold start behind him. Per Nusbaum, he was playing through a shoulder injury earlier in the year and has picked things up since getting over that. He had a .208/.339/.270 line through June 17 but has slashed .277/.462/.553 since.

Ruiz is signed through 2030 as part of an extension he signed with the club back in 2023. He’ll make $30MM over the next four seasons. It’s unclear how the organization feels about him now. That deal was signed by the previous front office regime. President of baseball operations Mike Rizzo was fired last year and replaced by Paul Toboni. One of Toboni’s first moves was to trade for Ford.

With Ruiz in better form now, there’s an argument for the Nats to try to sell high, since the deal looked underwater just a few months ago. Though if they feel he can maintain the kind of form he has shown this year, the money on the contract isn’t too onerous on an annual basis. For now, Ruiz and Ford will share the catching duties, perhaps using the designated hitter slot to give at-bats to both guys.

Photo courtesy of Tim Vizer, Imagn Images