Washington Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman, Ian Desmond linked again

Once again, former Washington Nationals teammates Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond will be linked in baseball history.

Back in 2004, it was known that the Montreal Expos were playing their final season in Canada. Once the season was over, they would be heading to Washington DC, with a yet to be determined name. But there was still the matter of the MLB Draft. As a part of that draft class, the Expos selected Ian Desmond in the third round.

Then, in 2005, the now Washington Nationals had their first MLB Draft under that new moniker. Their first selection was Ryan Zimmerman, who was selected with the fourth overall pick. The hope was that he would be the new face of the franchise, a star that the team could build around.

Heading into this season, Desmond and Zimmerman were linked by history. Desmond was the last of the Expos draft picks playing in the majors, with Zimmerman, the first ever selection of what the franchise became, returning for one final season.

Those two players will be linked together in MLB history for another reason now. On Tuesday, Desmond and Zimmerman were amongst the players who chose to opt-out of the 2020 MLB season, joined by Mike Leake and Joe Ross.

It was a decision each player had to make for themselves. Desmond had a long, thought out explanation for his reasoning, going beyond the ongoing pandemic to the current societal and political climate. Zimmerman mentioned his three young children and high risk mother as his reasons to forgo the year.

Zimmerman and Desmond were long time teammates, playing together from 2009 through 2015, a period that saw the Nationals sink to the depths of the major league standings, but also begin their surge back to becoming a perennial playoff contender.

While their time as teammates ended in 2015, Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman are linked once again. It is fitting that the last active draft pick of the Montreal Expos, and the first ever selection of the Washington Nationals, are both sitting out the season together.