SEATTLE (AP) — Even after hitting his first career home run, Robert Hassell III didn't have much time to hang around the clubhouse and talk about it.
His girlfriend was waiting.
Eager to meet her at the team hotel, Hassell hustled onto the Washington bus Wednesday night and — with the help of a Nationals staffer — fielded questions from reporters via cellphone.
“I don’t want to have her waiting too long,” Hassell said. “My apologies.”
Playing his sixth major league game, Hassell had three hits and two RBIs for the Nationals in a 9-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
The 23-year-old prized outfield prospect was drafted eighth overall by San Diego in 2020 and traded to Washington — along with James Wood, CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore — for Juan Soto and Josh Bell in a blockbuster deal at the August 2022 deadline.
Hassell was called up from the minors last Thursday but began the night batting .118 (2 for 17) with one RBI since making his debut. Before the game, Nationals manager Dave Martinez pulled Hassell aside and advised him to focus on the present rather than allowing himself to become over-amped.
“You want to try to do a lot,” Martinez said. “But, this game is tough enough. It’s tough enough.”
Hassell responded with by far his best performance yet. He hit an RBI single in the fourth inning and a solo homer in the eighth that made it 7-0.
The sweet-swinging lefty tried to focus on hitting balls to the opposite field. But when he got a pitch to jump on, he turned on a four-seam fastball from Mariners right-hander Blas Castano and drove it over the right-center fence for what Hassell called the best home run of his baseball career.
“This is the best one,” he said. “Something I’ve been waiting for, and you imagine what it’s like and all that, and it finally happened and I feel blessed.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Andrew Destin, The Associated Press
