I had never heard of “postseason paternity leave” until today. Can’t remember it really being an issue. I dunno. Maybe it’s come up. I’m old and memories fade.
It’s been invoked for the NLCS, however, as the Washington Nationals announced today that they have placed reliever Daniel Hudson on postseason paternity leave, replacing him with Wander Suero. Hudson will be allowed to be away from the team for a minimum of one day and a maximum of three days. Once he’s back Hudson will take Suero’s place on the Nationals’ active roster.
Hudson was pretty dang good for the Nats this year, allowing only four earned runs in 25 innings of work (1.44 ERA) after coming over from Toronto at the deadline. Hudson appeared three times in the NLDS and didn’t allow a run in two and two-thirds. Suero, meanwhile, appeared in 78 games for Washington in 2019, striking out a fair amount of batters but being pretty hittable and allowing too many walks, sticking him with a 4.54 ERA. He pitched one game in the Division Series but the Nats were poised to leave him off the NLCS roster.