Washington Nationals news & notes: MacKenzie Gore strikes out 10 in “weird” outing; Josiah Gray Opening Day starter

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ weekend in West Palm Beach, FL…

Going up against New York’s Mets last week in West Palm Beach, FL, MacKenzie Gore gave up two hits, three walks, and one earned run in 5 ²⁄₃ innings pitched.

Gore, 25, retired nine straight to start the outing (on just 32 pitches), before a single and three walks forced in the first run. A 4-3 double play got the lefty out of the fourth inning, and he got a 5-4-3 DP after a one-out hit in the fifth, then returned to the mound for two more outs in the sixth before he was done for the day, having thrown 80 pitches total.

Gore said afterwards he was happy with where his stuff was at three starts in as he built up towards the start of his second full season in D.C. and third season in the majors.

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

“Look, the stuff, we’re going in the right direction,” Gore told reporters, as quoted by MASN writer Mark Zuckerman.

“I think the stuff’s good. I think it’s moving the right way. Now, just keep executing at a higher level each start is the plan.”

Pitching out of the stretch as he did the one inning he got in a jam was something he had not done much early this spring, so he said he had to get comfortable again with men on base:

“We haven’t necessarily pitched out of the stretch much, and it’s different than the windup delivery-wise,” he said.

“So I just wasn’t good, and it didn’t feel good. And it obviously didn’t look good. But that’s what Spring Training is for.”

The day after the outing, the southpaw talked in an interview on the MLB Network about the ways he has developed since he was the 3rd overall pick in 2017, taken out of high school in North Carolina by San Diego’s Padres, who eventually dealt him to the Nationals in the Juan Soto (and Josh Bell) mega-deal at the trade deadline in 2022.

Coming off a 2020 season which was wiped out by the pandemic for Gore, he struggled in 2021, with blisters and mechanical issues leading him to reassess what had allowed him to be a top draft pick and highly-regarded prospect.

“I think Mac has learned a lot about himself, about his body, about his delivery, about his mind throughout this whole thing,” Padres’ farm director Sam Geaney said, as quoted by reporter Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune late in 2021. “He’s come out on the other end stronger.”:

“There’s a lot of people who’ve impacted him over the last year and half or so, who have helped him get to a point where he’s in a much better spot than he was when he was pitching with El Paso at the beginning of the year.”

“I really think the hiccup we had in ‘20-’21,” Gore explained in the MLB Network interview, “where I just wasn’t very good, I had to kind of figure out myself and learn how to just get better and learn my delivery and why I was good, and not good at times, and I really think — as bad as it was, it’s helped me as much as anything in my career.”

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Asked about mechanical changes he’s made since he was drafted, Gore talked about some tweaks he’s made along the way to get to where he is today:

“I had the really high hands when I was younger, and I wouldn’t necessarily say the best tempo in the delivery, and so kind of calmed the hands down, the legs still get pretty much to the same spot, but I had to kind of just make everything more efficient, just get better lines to the plate, really.”

He’s also learned to control his emotions a little better, as he did when he ran into trouble against the Mets last week.

“I can get annoyed pretty easy,” he acknowledged, “but I’m trying to do a little better job of that as I get older.”

His manager said he’s seen growth in that area.

“Last year if that would’ve happened,” Martinez said of the hit and three walks which got his starter in trouble, “… the wheels probably would’ve fell off.

“Today, I watched him and I watched his demeanor. … He kept his composure, and he got us out of that inning.”

Nationals’ GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo, in an interview with MLB Network Radio hosts Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette, talked about what he expects from the lefty in 2024, and what Gore needs to do to take the next step.

“I think just be more economical with his pitches,” Rizzo said. “He’s a strikeout guy. He likes to strike out guys. And guys who like to strike out guys, strike people out. He has to do that more economically. His stuff? You could compare his stuff with any lefty in the league. He’s got a plus-plus fastball, he was up to 98 this spring, and he’s got a big powerful curveball, he’s got a changeup that he’s incorporating more and more in his repertoire, and I think that — again, when he’s in the strike zone he gives us a chance to win, and I think the sky is the limit for this guy. Once that command — once he hones it in, he’s got good, general command last year, I think if he really hones that in, and commands those three pitches well, the sky is the limit. Because the stuff is there.”

Start No. 4 for Gore on Sunday was a “weird” outing for the pitcher, who struck out 10 in 4 ²⁄₃ IP, but gave up nine hits, two walks, and eight earned runs in a 96-pitch effort in 9-8 win for Washington.

Luke Voit homered off the Nationals’ starter in the top of the second, after Gore struck out the side in the first. He added three more Ks in a 1-2-3 third, gave up a walk, three hits, and two runs in the fourth, then hit a batter and gave up two doubles, three singles, and a total of five runs in the fifth.

“I felt the stuff was pretty good whole way through, but yeah, it got a little weird,” Gore said after the game. “I don’t know, but the stuff was good. I thought it was hot. We held the velo. We just gave up a lot of hits, so…”

The weird part?

“Well, we struck out 10 and gave up eight runs,” Gore told reporters. “That was … but no, I think the stuff is good, I like the shapes, where they’re at. We went through spring trying things that we wanted do, and we just stuck to the plan and did it today, and I felt good.”

He did get up to 96 pitches, which is a step in his progression towards the start of the 2024 season.

“That’s plenty,” he said. “I felt good though on pitch 96, so we went to 80 last time, and made that what, [16]-pitch jump? So feel good, and we’re in a good spot.”

“He said he was trying to mix some pitches, get the shape and everything,” But I told him: ‘Next time out, you’ve just got to hone in on who you are. We’ve got to get that pitch count down.’ His stuff is so good, I hate to look up there and see 90 pitches in the fifth inning. But what I loved was the ball was electric.”

“He said he was trying to mix some pitches, get the shape and everything,” manager Davey Martinez said after the game, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. “But I told him: ‘Next time out, you’ve just got to hone in on who you are. We’ve got to get that pitch count down.’ His stuff is so good, I hate to look up there and see 90 pitches in the fifth inning. But what I loved was the ball was electric.”

“I know he loves striking out guys,” Martinez added. “And that’s nice. But I need you to go out there and pitch 6-7 innings, get 21 outs. He understands that.”

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Josiah Gray was named the Nationals’ Opening Day starter on Sunday, with manager Davey Martinez making the announcement before the club’s Grapefruit League matchup with the Mets.

“He’s matured so much since the first day I saw him,” Martinez said, as quoted on MASN:

“Even through the struggles of last year, he’s a lot different. Coming into camp, he’s been so much different as far as growth-wise. Understanding who he is, working on things he needs to work on, not trying to reinvent the wheel. He knows he needs to go out there and attack and throw strikes.

“He’s been a lot different this spring. I’m proud of him.”

Here’s what Gray said about getting the nod for the season opener, via MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato:

“That’s awesome. He earned it,” rotation mate MacKenzie Gore said after his start Sunday.

“Really cool for him and his family, and it will be here soon.”