If the Nationals want to point to only one clearly positive development from their just-completed season, the answer is simple: Improved pitching, especially in the rotation, especially from a group of young starters.
MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and DJ Herz may not have been dominant – though all exhibited moments of dominance along the way – but collectively they made 113 starts, pitched effectively (4.20 ERA, 1.297 WHIP) and established their place in the club’s 2025 plans.
“The biggest thing is obviously our young pitching,” manager Davey Martinez said last weekend. “Seeing some of these guys come up who we thought wouldn’t be here yet doing what they’ve done, they’ve done really well.”
Indeed, only Gore and Irvin were part of the Opening Day rotation. The three other slots went to designated No. 1 starter Josiah Gray and veterans Patrick Corbin and Trevor Williams. Gray made only two starts before going on the injured list with an elbow issue that ultimately required Tommy John surgery. Corbin made his usual 32 starts with his usual inflated ERA. Williams enjoyed a major turnaround from the previous year but still missed 3 1/2 months with a flexor strain.
So the unexpected positive developments involved Parker and Herz, a couple of rookie left-handers who figured to get a shot at some point later in the season but wound up in D.C. much earlier than expected and then held onto their jobs once they arrived.
Gore, touted for years as a potential future ace, showed that promise during multiple sustained stretches, one at the start of the season, the other at the end. In between, he battled command issues, lost a bit of his velocity and struggled to keep average starts from turning into bad ones. In the end, the 25-year-old finished with a 3.90 ERA and 181 strikeouts, numbers no Nats starter had achieved since 2019.
Irvin, a surprise emerger in 2023, took another step forward with a consistently effective first half that made him an All-Star candidate before he faded in the second half and finished with a 4.41 ERA over 187 2/3 innings (highest by any Nats starter since 2019).
What were those guys proudest of at season’s end? Their durability. The Nationals used only nine starting pitchers this year, fourth-fewest in the majors. They used only eight in 2023, tied with the Blue Jays for fewest in the sport.
“I’ve had injuries in the past, and I know how hard it can be to make every start healthy. So, definitely very excited about that,” Irvin said. “We have three guys on our staff who made 32 starts. We have another guy who made 29. That’s just a testament to the people we have in this clubhouse, and I’m not talking about the players. I’m talking about the athletic training staff. All those people that help us between each start to make sure we’re ready to go every fifth day.”
The Nationals bullpen, while erratic at times, also showed real improvement this season. That group delivered a collective 4.14 ERA, one year after seeing that number soar to 5.02. Kyle Finnegan saved 38 games and earned his first All-Star selection. Setup men Hunter Harvey and Dylan Floro pitched well enough to be flipped at the trade deadline for promising young players.
And even with those two gone in August and September, the Nats didn’t suffer thanks to the workhorse performance of veteran Derek Law (2.60 ERA in 90 innings) and the emergence of young lefty Jose A. Ferrer (3.38 ERA, 1.031 WHIP in 32 innings after returning from injury).
What led to the across-the-board pitching improvement this season? A reduction both in the number of walks the staff issued and the home runs it surrendered.
The Nats walked 592 batters in 2023, ranking 24th in the majors. This season, they walked only 473 batters, good for 11th in the sport. And after serving up an MLB-worst 245 homers in 2023, they allowed only 168 this year, seventh-best in the sport.
The reduction in home runs was a product of more consistent location down in the zone (plus an adjustment by Williams to rely less on his 90 mph fastball). The reduction in walks may have been the result of a mindset adjustment more than anything else.
General manager Mike Rizzo made it clear how he felt about all the free passes his team gave away last season when pitchers showed up for spring training this year and saw signs plastered all over the bullpen declaring: “I don’t care how fast you throw ball four.” Suffice it to say, Rizzo was pleased with the end-of-season improvement.
“I think it can’t be understated,” he said. “I think that we made that a focal point this year, that you have to attack, you have to go after it. The (difference in) batting average between 0-1 and 1-1 is drastic. So it’s not only a competition thing, it’s a performance thing. It’s an analytical thing. Throw strikes, you have a better chance of pitching deeper in the game. You have a better chance of winning games.”
The improvements were appreciated, but nobody was fully satisfied with the end result. The Nationals still ranked 23rd in ERA this year. The 12 teams that made the postseason all ranked in the top half of the majors, each of them sporting a staff ERA under 4.00.
That’s the next, critical step for the Nats to take. They will need continued improvement from their young arms next season. And it stands to reason they’ll be seeking reinforcements this winter, especially an experienced starter who could join this rotation and perhaps lead it to new heights.
“You know my stance,” Rizzo said. “We’ve never had, and we will never have, enough starting pitchers.”