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The Washington Nationals unconditionally released third baseman Maikel Franco on Friday.

The move was made on Franco’s 30th birthday and ended his 103-game stint with the club. Franco batted .229 with nine homers and 39 RBIs.

Washington also activated shortstop Luis Garcia off the 10-day injured list and promoted right-hander Cade Cavalli from Triple-A Rochester. Cavalli is slated to make his major league debut in Friday night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds.

Franco is in his ninth major league season. He has 130 homers, 467 RBIs and a .244 average over 923 career games with the Philadelphia Phillies (2014-19), Kansas City Royals (2020), Baltimore Orioles (2021) and Nationals.

Garcia is batting .289 with four homers and 25 RBIs in 60 games. He last played on Aug. 12 due to a left groin strain.

Garcia, 22, is slated to move to second base with the Nationals intent on seeing CJ Abrams play shortstop. Abrams was one of the players Washington acquired in the trade that sent Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres at the trade deadline.

Cavalli, 24, was 6-4 with a 3.71 ERA in 20 starts at Rochester. He was a first-round pick (No. 22 overall) in 2020 out of Oklahoma.

–Field Level Media