Brad Hand joins a Nationals clubhouse with lots of familiar faces originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Nationals officially announced on Tuesday their one-year deal with reliever Brad Hand, arming themselves with an accomplished left-hander out of the bullpen capable of closing out games.
It was a surprising move for Washington, which hadn’t been connected in trade rumors to the 2020 AL saves leader during the offseason. However, as Hand revealed in a Zoom press conference with reporters Tuesday afternoon, he already had a few connections with players in the Nationals’ clubhouse.
“I live down here at West Palm Beach so I’m real close to the spring training complex,” Hand said. “I work out at the Cressey [Sports Performance gym] down here so there’s a few Nationals guys that go in there that I’ve known from just working out in there.
“I know Max [Scherzer] from down here and then I saw [Patrick] Corbin this morning actually in there and then [Austin] Voth is in there and then there’s a bunch of minor-league guys that are in the organization that are down there. It’s funny, me and Max were actually during quarantine playing catch on the side of the road down the street here so I’ve known him just from him moving down here and seeing him at the gym a little bit.”
Scherzer lives with his family down in Jupiter, Florida, during the offseason. Both he and Hand reportedly participated in the secret baseball games between MLB stars last spring while the season was on hold. Now, the two All-Star pitchers will be teammates looking to get the Nationals back to the postseason after they missed out on October baseball last year.
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In addition to the players who train at Cressey, Hand also knows catcher Yan Gomes after they played together on the Cleveland Indians in 2018. Hand was traded by the San Diego Padres just over a week before the trade deadline and the pair grew close despite only sharing a clubhouse for a few months.
“I’ve always enjoyed throwing to him and he was one of the first guys I texted when we came to terms on a deal so I’m very excited to get to work with him again,” Hand said. “He’s a good friend and he’s great back there, knows how to call a game, one of the better catchers in the league.”
