VIERA, Fla. — The Nationals made another round of cuts Friday morning, reassigning Emmanuel Burriss, Manny Delcarmen, Cutter Dykstra, Kila Ka’aihue, Steven Lerud and Derrick Robinson to minor-league camp.
Manager Matt Williams said all six players will report to Triple-A Syracuse to begin the season.
“They all performed really well,” Williams said. “They had a chance to get a lot of at-bats and a lot of playing time so good for them. But at this point our guys are going to start going longer and we need to make sure they get their proper at-bats too.”
Burriss and Delcarmen spent all of last season at Syracuse. Dykstra finished the year at Double-A Harrisburg. Ka’aihue will likely rejoin the minor-league ranks after spending the past year and a half playing in Japan. Lerud played for Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate last season. Robinson missed the 2014 season while recovering from shoulder surgery.
The Nationals now have 36 players remaining in big-league camp, including four who are still returning from injuries and could begin the season on the disabled list. Nate McLouth and Jayson Werth are recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, Denard Span recently had abdominal surgery and Anthony Rendon has a sprained MCL in his left knee.
As of Friday morning, seven non-roster invitees remain in Washington’s major-league camp: Mike Carp, Tony Gwynn Jr., Rich Hill, Rafael Martin, Clint Robinson, Ian Stewart and Dan Uggla.
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Whether any of those players make the Opening Day roster will largely depend on the health of the injured starters. To keep any non-roster invitees, the Nationals would have to add them to the 40-man roster and make corresponding moves.
Washington currently has 39 players on its 40-man roster.
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
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