Outfielder Travis Blankenhorn, the leading home run hitter of the Rochester Red Wings, is going back to the big leagues.
According to Andrew Golden of the Washington Post, the 27-year-old Pennsylvanian will join the Washington Nationals on Tuesday before their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Although not yet officially confirmed, it’s believed that Blankenhorn’s call-up is to fill the roster spot of outfielder (and brief member of the 2021 Rochester Red Wings) Lane Thomas, traded to the Cleveland Guardians for three prospects on Monday.
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With the trade deadline fast approaching on Tuesday, the Washington Nationals are sellers trading away established MLB players for minor league prospects they hope will one day help the franchise return to the postseason for the first time since their 2019 World Series title. This isn’t the first deal done by Washington in recent days that impacted the Wings — a trade Sunday of outfielder Jesse Winker to the New York Mets led to the callup of Rochester outfielder Alex Call.
Although two of the pieces in the Thomas deal (Cleveland’s former MLB.com No. 7 prospect Alex Clemmey and No. 23 prospect Rafael Ramirez Jr.) are in the lower minors, one of them will likely join the Red Wings in the coming days: infielder Jose Tena. The 23-year-old Dominican is tied for the International League in hits with 110, and has seen 21 games of action at the Major League level in his career. Tena is hitting .298 with a .353 on-base-percentage and .493 slugging percentage this season, including 17 home runs.
Tena’s offensive prowess will have to fill a big hole for Rochester with the promotion of Blankenhorn, who was among the hottest hitters in all of baseball over the past week. The left-handed hitter was 12-for-22 (.545) against Lehigh Valley in last week’s series with five home runs, including four in his last three games. Blankenhorn’s 24 home runs for Rochester this year are second in the International League and tied for 18th on the team’s single-season home run leaderboard. Overall this season, Blankenhorn has slashed .246/.328/.846 in 353 at-bats.
This isn’t Blankenhorn’s first trip to the big leagues: he’s played 36 career games in “The Show” for the Twins, Mets, and last season with the Nationals.
The Red Wings return to play on Tuesday at 6:45 P.M., when they begin a series with the Omaha Storm Chasers.
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