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Mariners Trade Harry Ford To Nationals


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Harry Ford (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Harry Fordâ€s path to an everyday role in Seattle had been clogged for some time, making it feel almost inevitable that the young catcherâ€s long-term future would ultimately take shape elsewhere.

On Saturday evening, that turning point finally arrived. The Mariners traded Ford—their 2021 first-round pick—to the Washington Nationals, along with righthander Isaac Lyon, in exchange for reliever José Ferrer.

With Cal Raleigh firmly entrenched as the Mariners catcher of the present and future, Ford’s best hope in Seattle was to serve as a backup. Raleighâ€s breakout, capped by one of the best seasons by a catcher in recent memory, cemented his status as Seattleâ€s long-term cornerstone, a reality made official when he signed an extension before the season began.

With Raleigh, Fordâ€s opportunity for a full-time role simply never materialized.

Now, heâ€ll get the chance to carve out that future in Washington. For the Mariners, they added an experienced but still quite young reliever who won’t even reach arbitration until after this upcoming season. He won’t be a free agent until 2030.

Nationals Acquire

Harry Ford, C

Age:22

Ford has long been lauded for his on-base and contact skills and his excellent athleticism for a catcher. But he’s also faced plenty of concerns about whether he can develop into an average defender behind the plate.

Ford was slated to rank sixth on the Mariners’ Top 10 Prospects list (and he will appear as such in the print edition). He is still only 22-years-old, so there’s further time for him to develop but he’s viewed as a below-average defender who needs to improve his framing. He has improved his blocking and he did show above-average pop times in Triple-A. As a hitter, Ford has always posted excellent on-base percentages. He does not chase pitches out of the strike zone and he has solid contact skills. While he can post above-average exit velocities, his swing is not geared for power. He struggles to pull the ball in the air. Ford has always run extremely well for a catcher, but he did slow down in 2025. He posted average to fringe-average run times.

Ford made his MLB debut in August season. He was with the team during their playoff run, getting one pinch-hit at-bat. This is a trade that fits both for Ford and the Nationals. With Keibert Ruiz’s struggles, the Nationals have an opening for a long-term catcher. Ford goes from a team where he was stuck behind a star to a team where he should have an opportunity to prove he can be a big league regular.

Isaac Lyon, RHP

Age:21

Lyon, the Mariners’ 10th-round pick in 2025 out of Grand Canyon, is a fastball-slider righthander who works east and west relying on his very low three-quarters arm slot to give hitters an unusual look. Everything he throws is aimed to be low in the zone. He is the son of Brandon Lyon, who spent parts of 12 years as a big league reliever who racked up 79 saves. At GCU, Isaac went 3-4, 4.19 with a 22.4% strikeout rate to 5.9% walk rate in 86 innings as a start. He’s a fastball-sweeper righthander who relies on excellent run on his sinker and who will likely need to find some more velocity as a pro. He sits 90-91 mph right now with a low-80s sweeper and changeup.

Mariners Acquire

Jose A. Ferrer, LHP

Age: 25

The Mariners rode one of the leagueâ€s strongest bullpens in 2025 to help drive their deep postseason run. But as the offseason began, the unit had been thinned to just one lefthanded reliever. The addition of Ferrer gives Seattle much-needed lefthanded depth, adding a pitcher who has been steady and dependable across his three seasons with Washington. Ferrer also brings four years of club control, a valuable asset for a team intent on keeping its bullpen both effective and cost-efficient. The 25-year-old relies on a three-pitch mix featuring a sinker, slider, and changeup. In 2025, he produced a 21.9% strikeout rate while walking just 4.9% of the hitters he faced, finishing the season with a 4.48 ERA over 76.1 innings. Ferrer throws hard (96-98 mph) and he avoids barrels, mainly because he does an excellent job of spotting his changeup and slider on the edges of the zone.

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Baseball

Harry Ford traded to Nationals, Jose A. Ferrer traded to Mariners

SEATTLE — The Mariners have landed their coveted lefty reliever, but in doing so, they are also parting with their top catching prospect and now must address what to do at Cal Raleighâ€s backup spot.

Seattle is sending Harry Ford, their first-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft and No. 4 prospect, to the Nationals in exchange for hard-throwing lefty Jose A. Ferrer, who the club hopes will become the much-needed second southpaw in their ‘pen. Also going to Washington is right-handed pitching prospect Isaac Lyon.

TRADE DETAILS
Mariners acquire: LHP Jose A. Ferrer
Nationals acquire: C Harry Ford (No. 4 prospect), RHP Isaac Lyon (unranked)

The move comes one day before the industry descends upon Orlando, Fla., for the annual Winter Meetings, where more transactional activity across the sport is anticipated.

At first glance, it’s a curious decision by Seattleâ€s front office, given that Ford has long been believed to be a big part of the team’s longer-term plans — and because the club does not have any other catchers on its 40-man roster other than Raleigh now that veteran backup Mitch Garver is a free agent.

Yet the fact that the Mariners were willing to part ways at this stage suggests how much they value Ferrer — and perhaps that they believe they can backfill their backstop depth elsewhere.

Ferrer, 25, saw his role enhanced to the ninth inning at the end of last season after the Nats dealt Kyle Finnegan away at the Trade Deadline. The Dominican Republic native racked up 11 saves and compiled a 4.48 ERA (92 ERA+, where league average is 100). Those numbers donâ€t exactly stand out, yet underlying metrics suggest that thereâ€s a lot for Seattleâ€s pitching brain trust to work with.

Per Statcast, Ferrer ranked in the 94th percentile in fastball velocity (97.7 mph average), 95th percentile in walk rate (4.9%), 93rd percentile in barrel rate (4.8%) and 99th percentile in ground-ball rate (64.3%). Those figures would be a significant improvement from Celeb Ferguson, who the Mariners acquired from the Pirates ahead of last seasonâ€s Trade Deadline to be their second leverage lefty to pair with Gabe Speier. However, Ferguson was hit hard down the stretch and saw his role diminish mightily in the postseason.

As for Ford, he played sparingly in his first taste of The Show, largely because he was the No. 3 catcher on a team in a pennant race — and their No. 1 was in the midst of a historic season. Ford played in just eight games down the stretch as a September callup, but he was on the Mariners†postseason roster both against Detroit and Toronto in the ALDS and ALCS. Overall, he went 1-for-6 over a full September on the roster.

Ford was the Mariners†top selection in 2021 as the club was emerging from its rebuild — and well before Raleigh blossomed into one of the sportâ€s best players. He quickly resonated with the fanbase for his lofty prospect status, but more so his leadership, relatability and philanthropic work away from baseball. In Washington, heâ€ll have a far bigger runway to more playing time.

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