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Pittsburgh Pirates Trade for Former Top Outfield Prospect
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- Pittsburgh Pirates Trade for Former Top Outfield Prospect
(Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)
The Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the most exciting young cores in MLB. The organization added to that fun, exciting group on Thursday, and added a former top prospect to the organization,
The Pirates agreed to a trade with the Washington Nationals in which Pittsburgh acquired Robert Hassell III for cash considerations or a player to be named later.
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This deal comes a week after the Nationals designated Hassell for assignment to open up a spot on their 40-man roster.
Hassell was outrighted, which means the Pirates do not need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move.
Hassell was the eighth overall pick during the 2020 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres , and a key return for Washington in the Juan Soto trade that took place in 2022. Heading into the 2023 season, Hassell was the No. 2 prospect in the Nationals' farm system and the No. 35 prospect in all of baseball.
Unfortunately, Hassell never lived up to that elite potential during his short stint with the Nationals' big-league team.
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The outfielder made his MLB debut in May of 2025 and ended up appearing in 70 games for the Nationals the rest of the season. In those 206 plate appearances, the left-hander hit .223/.257/.315 with a whiff rate of 28.8 percent and a strikeout rate of 30.1 percent.
Hassell's struggles have continued at Triple-A in 2026, as he's logged a 59 wRC+ and a .593 OPS.
The Pirates trading for Hassell is a very low-risk, high-reward move for the Pirates organization. He's still 24 years old and could potentially have a productive MLB career, especially with a new change of scenery and a hitting group that could pick up on something previously missed.
Hassell was assigned to the FCL Pirates upon being added to Pittsburgh's organization.
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Perhaps Hassell continues to struggle and never cracks the Pirates' big-league team. There's also a chance Pittsburgh's recent success with player development pays off and can help the still-young hitter find something at the plate.
This is a very interesting trade for the Pirates, and also signals that Pittsburgh's front office is increasingly willing to make aggressive moves to improve the roster.
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