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By Jon Paul Hoornstra
Contributing Sports Writer
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Bryce Montes de Oca, a pitcher who made three big league appearances with the New York Mets in 2022, signed a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals. The Nats announced they invited Montes de Oca to their major league spring training camp.
Montes de Oca underwent Tommy John surgery for the third time in August 2024, which caused him to miss all of the 2025 season.
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Prior to the procedure, the 6-foot-7 right-hander had a 7.71 ERA in six games with the Syracuse Mets.
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Montes de Oca allowed four earned runs in 3.1 innings (10.80 ERA) in his only big league stint with New York in 2022. In March 2023, Montes de Oca underwent his second Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss all of the 2023 season and limiting him to 10 minor league innings in 2024 before his elbow issues resurfaced.
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The Nationals hope Montes de Oca can recapture the form that allowed him to strike out 56 batters, and allow only 24 hits, in 34 Triple-A innings in 2022.
That strong performance prompted the Mets to purchase Montes de Oca's contract from Syracuse in September 2022. Although his last two outings were shaky, Montes de Oca technically finished the season in the big leagues; the Mets placed him on the injured list with hamstring tightness just nine days after he was promoted.
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Montes de Oca initially underwent the elbow ligament-replacement procedure in 2013, when he was still in high school. That led him to fall to the 14th round of the 2014 draft.
Montes de Oca improved his draft stock in college at the University of Missouri. The Mets selected him in the ninth round of the 2018 draft.
Now, Montes de Oca will attempt to follow a path only one three-time Tommy John recipient has followed back to the majors — Jonny Venters, whose return to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018 followed a six-year absence and three surgeries. Venters made 62 big league appearances after his third surgery.
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