Nationals add 26-year old pitcher who used to be a hitter for the Dodgers
originally appeared on The Sporting News
Sauryn Lao has traveled quite the baseball journey.
His next stop: the Washington Nationals.
The 6-foot-2, 26-year old right-handed pitcher has been called up to the Nats from Triple-A Rochester.
Washington claimed Lao off waivers from the Seattle Mariners earlier in September.
The Nationals are calling up Sauryn Lao from Class AAA Rochester and sending Orlando Ribalta down. They acquired Lao off waivers from Seattle earlier this month.
— Spencer Nusbaum (@spencernusbaum_) September 17, 2025
That's not the most interesting part of the travels, though.
Lao was a hitter until 2023.
When he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers out of the Dominican Republic at 16, Lao was a corner infielder.
He hit a career-high 11 home runs with 21 doubles and a .244 average at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga in 2021.
In 2022, though, he hit just .179 with almost no power.
So in 2023, Lao took to the mound.
He moved quickly up the minor league ladder, although the Dodgers never brought him to MLB.
Seattle added him to their organization before the 2025 season, and after a 3.39 ERA at Triple-A Tacoma, he got two games in Seattle, although he allowed three earned runs in 3.1 innings.
In three outings for Triple-A Rochester since the Nats claimed him, Lao has a 1.59 ERA.
And now he'll get his second crack at the big leagues, this time for the Nationals.
Lao turned 26 in August and is relatively new to pitching. It already looks like a good position change made a couple years ago, and he'll get the chance to keep showing that he belongs.
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