Andrés

Chaparro

García takes a seat with Andrés Chaparro getting a chance to face Cleveland southpaw Joey Cantillo. The 26-year-old first baseman went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and four RBI during Monday’s series opener where the Nationals clobbered six home runs during a blowout win. He’s hitting .314 (16-for-51) with three homers and nine RBI over his last 15 games.

Mead has plenty of history at third base, but he’s definitely below average at the position and it wasn’t entirely clear whether the Nationals would be willing to use him there after demoting Brady House. It’s the 12th start this year for Mead; he’d started at first base 11 times and second base once. If Mead can hold his own at third base, then it would make sense for the Nationals to play him there against lefties, allowing Andrés Chapparo to play first base as Luis García Jr.'s platoon partner.

It will be Chaparro who is up to take Brady House’s spot in the infield. Chaparro is hitting .260/.336/.465 with six home runs and 24 RBI in 35 games at Triple-A this season. He has also cut his strikeout rate down to 18 percent and improved his zone contact to almost 88 percent. His hard-hit rate has taken a dip, but he can play either corner infield spot and gives the Nationals another option alongside Jose Tena and Jorbit Vivas.

Chaparro’s stay on the roster lasted seven hours, as the Nationals weren’t going to continue to play with only 12 pitchers. They’ll bring up a reliever prior to Tuesday’s game.

Chaparro returns in a bench role for the Nationals after getting into three contests last month at the outset of the season. The 26-year-old has homered three times in 18 games at Triple-A Rochester. He can be safely ignored in fantasy leagues for now.

The Nationals needed to clear a spot on the active roster for Curtis Mead, who was acquired from the White Sox on Sunday, and Chaparro wound up being the odd man out. He’ll return to an everyday role at the Triple-A level until injury or ineffectiveness strike at the big league level.

With the Cubs throwing left-hander Matthew Boyd, it will be Andres Chaparro starting at first base. This isn’t a huge surprise, but it’s a little disappointing considering how poor the Nationals’ lineup is. There was some hope that they would view García Jr. as enough of a key hitter to play him against some lefties, but that may not be the case. The remainder of the Nationals’ Opening Day lineup is: James Wood LF, Andres Chaparro 1B, Brady House 3B, Daylen Lile DH, Joey Wiemer RF, C.J. Abrams SS, Nasim Nunez 2B, Keibert Ruiz C, and Jacob Young CF

Chaparro homered off lefty reliever Tanner Banks, which is the kind of thing the Nationals would want him to do if they carried him as a platoon first baseman and DH. The 26-year-old would seem to be in line for a roster spot right now, but the Nationals should be on the hunt for any upside guys DFA’d at the end of the spring.

Bernabel heads to Washington after slashing an underwhelming .252/.288/.410 with four homers and just a 17 percent strikeout ratr across 146 plate appearances for the Rockies last season. The 23-year-old corner infielder represents a worthwhile low-risk gamble for the rebuilding Nationals but departing high-octane Coors Field is a hit to his fantasy upside. He’ll presumably have a chance to compete with an in-house option like Andrés Chaparro for playing time between first base and DH next season. His path to regular at-bats evaporates if the Nationals move Luis García Jr. to first base permanently.

Bell has been a force of nature over the past week, batting .391 (9-for-23) with four homers and 15 RBI over his last seven games. The 33-year-old veteran slugger takes a seat in this one with righty Mike Burrows toeing the rubber for Pittsburgh. It’ll be Andrés Chaparro getting an opportunity at the cold corner with franchise building block James Wood at DH.