Washington Nationals sign relief pitcher Will Harris from Astros

Will Harris (Google Images)

The Washington Nationals have signed relief pitcher Will Harris of Houston, Texas to a three year contact worth $24 million. In an announcement made on Friday according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle, Harris will now play for the team who beat Harris’s former team, the Houston Astros, in the 2018 World Series.

Harris pitched 68 games for Houston in 2019. One could argue he was simply spectacular despite not being named to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. In 60 innings pitched, Harris had a record of four wins, one loss, four saves and 62 strikeouts with an amazing earned run average of 1.50. He gave up 42 hits, 10 earned runs, 14 walks and had a sparkling WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 0.93.

In the 2019 World Series for the Astros against the Nationals, Harris gave up two earned runs (both solo home runs) and had one loss in four innings pitched and five games. He had an earned run average of 4.50, but pitched strong enough to impress Washington management.

It will be a return to the National League for Harris. Prior to his five seasons with the Astros from 2015 to 2019, Harris spent his rookie season with the Colorado Rockies in 2012, and then two seasons in 2013 and 2014 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

While with the Astros, Harris was an American League All-Star in 2016 and won a World Series in 2017. Harris’s all-star statistics from four years ago was a record of one win, two losses and an earned run average of 2.25 in 66 games. Then in the 2017 postseason, Harris gave up one earned run in four innings as the Astros won their first World Series in the history of their franchise.