Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ pitching depth and the plan moving forward…
Washington Nationals’ starters Jake Irvin (33) and MacKenzie Gore (32) got up to 30 starts this past season, “… while Mitchell Parker [29] fell just short in his rookie season.” The three starters, Irvin (27), Gore (25), and Parker (25), give the club, “… a strong foundation moving into the 2025 season and beyond,” as the club wrote in their 2024 Season in Review.
Add in Patrick Corbin (32 GS; also, now a free agent), and the, “… Nationals joined Kansas City, New York (AL), and Seattle as the only four clubs in Major League Baseball to have at least four pitchers make at least 29 starts,” this past season.
MacKenzie Gore, Wicked 85mph Curveball. pic.twitter.com/eQcXp60ZAg
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 28, 2024
As for some other 2024 pitching numbers the Nationals highlighted:
• Parker (133) and [DJ] Herz (106) were two of 16 rookies in Major League Baseball to record at least 100 strikeouts…
• The Nationals were one of four clubs with two players in the top 16 along with Los Angeles (NL), Oakland and Pittsburgh…
• Parker’s 133 strikeouts were the most in Nationals history (2005-pres.) by a rookie, ahead of John Lannan’s 117 strikeouts in 2008.
• From Opening Day through June 16, the starting rotation ranked second in Major League Baseball with 0.84 home runs allowed per 9.0 innings and ranked fifth in the National League with a 3.77 ERA.
MLB, meet Mitchell Parker.
The @Nationals‘ No. 21 prospect in his second big league start:
7 IP
3 H
0 R
0 BB
8 K pic.twitter.com/GrnxlyPdNR— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 21, 2024
“I love it,” manager Davey Martinez said in mid-September of all of the arms the Nationals have assembled at the big league level and what they’re building in terms of young arms.
“We’re excited about our starting rotation, and the guys yet to still come here,” he said.
“We’ve got some still-young guys that are preparing to help us pitch again, but with the guys that we’ve got here right now we feel like we can win.”
Over the final weekend of the season, Martinez said he was really excited about a future Nats’ rotation with some mix of 2020 1st Round pick Cade Cavalli (working back from Tommy John surgery in 2023), Josiah Gray (also recovering after TJS), Gore, Irvin, DJ Herz, and Parker, or a prospect on the way up who is able to kick down the door and earn a big league rotation spot in Spring Training or over the course of the season.
“We’re in a good spot with our young starters and still the guys we’ve got coming up, with Cade hopefully being healthy next year in Spring Training,” the manager said.
“We had this guy [Brad] Lord that did really well,” he added of the Nationals’ 2022 18th Round pick, who is now ranked 30th on MLB Pipeline’s list of the Nats’ top prospects.
“[Travis] Sykora (No. 2 overall acc. to MLB Pipeline, and currently the top ranked pitcher in the system), who’s pitched, as you know, really well.
Jarlin Susana tallies 8 K’s in another scoreless outing for the @FXBGNats.
In his past six games, the @Nationals‘ No. 10 prospect has registered 49 strikeouts and allowed just two earned runs over 30 IP (0.60 ERA) at Single-A. pic.twitter.com/qnM91wtoFy
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 4, 2024
“[Jarlin] Susana [No. 4] is developing really well. We’re really excited about our starting pitching.”
“We have a good stable of guys at the high minor leagues that are going to make an impact sometime in ‘25,” GM Mike Rizzo told MLB.com’s Bill Ladson late this past season.
“But we have great depth in the mid-to-lower minor leagues, too, that is going to be the next wave of guys, special guys, that are coming up.”
Cavalli, Jackson Rutledge, and 2022 2nd Rd. pick Jake Bennett (who is also recovering from TJS), got shout-outs from the GM in D.C. late this season, with Rizzo telling 106.7 the FAN’s Sports Junkies he’s thrilled with the pitching depth they have in the organization right now.
“I think that’s the biggest pro for me, the state of our pitching at the big league level, at the upper minor league level, and at the lower minor league level has never been better for us, never flourished as much,” Rizzo said.
“We’ve never had as much depth as we [have right now].”