As the Nationals celebrate James Wood and CJ Abrams earning their second All-Star appearance, the organization designated former top prospect Robert Hassell III, for assignment to make room for reliever Eddy Yean on the 40-man roster before Sunday’s game.

Hassell, the No. 8 pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, was traded from San Diego — along with Wood, Abrams, right-handed prospect Jarlin Susana, former ace MacKenzie Gore and Luke Voit — to Washington in the 2022 Juan Soto trade.

Hassell struggled at the plate and didn’t play plus defense in center field — though he did have a plus arm and running ability.

After an electrifying major-league debut last season that saw Hassell score the winning run in an 8-7 win over the Guardians, and become the first player in team history to record a multi-hit game with a stolen base in his debut.

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The former top prospect would never reach those highs, posting a .572 OPS across 70 games in the majors last season.

He entered spring training having added 25 pounds of muscle to access more in-game power, but it never came together in Washington for Hassell. This season, Hassell was batting .215/.304/.289 over 63 games at Triple-A Rochester.

The Nationals’ outfield is pretty crowded going forward. Daylen Lile and Wood are entrenched in the corners. Jacob Young is a regular in center field, and Dylan Crews has proven capable of manning all three spots. Gavin Fein, also one of the prospects acquired in the MacKenzie Gore trade, profiles as an outfielder at the major league level.

Given the outfield crunch and Hassell’s subpar play, his hold on a 40-man spot became tenuous. But Hassell doesn’t have to look too far around the league to see players thriving after not succeeding with a team.

Third baseman Curtis Mead has been a revelation at third base for the Nationals this season after being a part-time player with the Rays and White Sox.

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The Soto trade was a coup for the Nationals who saw Wood, Abrams and Gore blossom into All-Stars for the club. Soto played another season with the Padres before being traded to the Yankees in 2024 ahead of his looming free agency — he signed a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets. They then traded Gore to the Rangers in the offseason for a hefty prospect package — Fein, infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald, outfielder Yeremy Cabrera, right-hander Alejandro Rosario and first baseman Abimelec Ortiz — that they hope forms a promising core to build around in the future.

If there’s any lesson to be learned from the Soto trade, it’s that not every prospect is going to develop as planned.