Nationals do Mariners a great kindness with first major Harry Ford decision

There may come a day when the Washington Nationals put Seattle Mariners fans on edge by anointing Harry Ford their starting catcher. But it is not this day.

Though Ford ostensibly began spring training with a chance to win the Nats' everyday backstop gig, that possibility went up in smoke when they optioned him to Triple-A on Wednesday. He'll get regular reps there, while replacement-level maestro Keibert Ruiz hangs onto his job in D.C.

Hey, that's life when said maestro is only into the fourth year of an eight-year, $50 million contract. And the Nationals still believe highly in Ford, with manager Blake Butera referring to MLB Pipeline's No. 71 overall prospect as "a huge part of our future."

To be clear, the fear here has nothing to do with how Ford could have been the Mariners' catcher of the future. They have this guy named Cal Raleigh back there, and he's pretty good.

The nightmare scenario has more to do with the lopsided outlooks of Ford and the guy for whom he was traded, Jose A. Ferrer. Whereas Ford still has star catcher upside, Ferrer is still out to prove he's not Gregory Santos 2.0.

Nationals' Harry Ford decision kicks Mariners' worst-nightmare down the road

Albeit with the caveat that it's only spring training, Ferrer has been…well, kind of awful in the Cactus League.

In seven appearances, he's given up seven runs on seven hits and three walks. The slider and changeup are playing just fine with whiff rates in the 60s, but his sinker has been torched for a .500 batting average. It's averaged 96.7 mph, 1 mph below Ferrer's norm from last year.

It's not a good first impression, and it only adds to the general sense of unease surrounding the lefty. It isn't hard to see why the Mariners are high on him. But at the end of the day, he still only has a 95 ERA+ to show for 142 appearances in the majors.

Ford, meanwhile, is fresh off giving the Mariners nightmare fuel with another strong showing in the World Baseball Classic with Great Britain. He's now played in a total of 11 WBC-affiliated games, and he's a .308 hitter with six home runs in those.

Ironically, Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic highlighted how Ford's time in the WBC contributed to his new MLB team only getting brief looks at him this spring. It may be part of the reason he got optioned, though Nusbaum also alluded to "rougher edges" in Ford's game.

That part will come as no surprise to Mariners fans who followed Ford's development after the team took him with the No. 12 pick in the 2021 draft. His scouting report was consistent on him being good at getting on base and uncommonly athletic for a catcher, but with an iffy presence behind the dish.

Look, nobody was going to win or lose the Ford-Ferrer trade in spring training. Especially since Ferrer is only 26 and under club control for four more years, this thing is going to take years to play out.

For now, though, it'll do for a silver lining that the Nationals haven't gained the inside track while Ferrer is stinking the joint up in Peoria.