Nationals announce Opening Day roster

The 26-man roster that will take the field Thursday features seven infielders (including both Jorbit Vivas and José Tena), four outfielders, two catchers and 13 pitchers.

Photo by Billy Sabatini / ALL-PRO REELS

The Nationals’ Opening Day roster is set. Whether it looks the same one day, one week or one month from now remains to be seen.

The 26 players who will take the field Thursday in Chicago are the same 26 players who remained on the roster when the final cuts of spring training were made in recent days. That includes both Jorbit Vivas and José Tena, two left-handed-hitting backup infielders who are out of options.

The Nats acquired Vivas from the Yankees on Sunday in exchange for pitching prospect Sean Paul Liñan, a move that suggested Tena would probably get squeezed out at some point. But with the demotion of Christian Franklin to Triple-A Rochester, the club instead is going to begin the season with four outfielders and seven infielders.

Vivas and Tena join fellow infielders Brady House, CJ Abrams, Luis García Jr., Nasim Nuñez and Andrés Chaparro. The outfield rotation consists of James Wood, Daylen Lile, Jacob Young and Joey Wiemer. Keibert Ruiz and Drew Millas are the catchers.

The five-man rotation begins with Cade Cavalli, who makes his first career Opening Day start. He’ll be followed by Miles Mikolas on Saturday and Jake Irvin on Sunday, the club announced this afternoon. Foster Griffin is expected to start Monday night in Philadelphia, with Zack Littell inserted into the rotation once the veteran is deemed ready after signing late in spring training.

The eight-man bullpen includes five right-handers (Clayton Beeter, Cole Henry, Brad Lord, Gus Varland, Andre Granillo) and three left-handers (Cionel Pérez, PJ Poulin, Ken Waldichuk).

Be careful not to get too attached to any particular players, though. Club officials have suggested there will be plenty of changes along the way, especially in the bullpen, where matchups against specific opponents are likely to matter more than the names of the pitchers on the roster. Every reliever besides Perez has options and thus can be sent up and down as many as five times this season.