Efficient Parker makes case, Finnegan makes spring debut, Call departs with back spasms

JUPITER, Fla. – This was pretty much assumed all along, but Davey Martinez confirmed it this morning: There’s only one open spot in the Nationals’ Opening Day rotation. The precise order has yet to be announced, but MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Michael Soroka and Trevor Williams will begin the season as the team’s top four starters.

Which leaves one more job for a trio of young left-handers: DJ Herz, Mitchell Parker and Shinnosuke Ogasawara. And what will the Nats base their final decision on?

“I want to see these guys – it’s going to happen during the season sometimes – in high-leverage situations, how they’re going to handle it,” Martinez said. “And it’s about throwing strikes, pounding the strike zone.”

So consider what Parker did this afternoon in what wound up a 9-9 tie with the Marlins a much-needed step in the right direction. Though the left-hander gave up a pair of solo homers with a stiff wind blowing out at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, he otherwise was quite efficient, needing only 48 pitches (33 of them strikes) to complete four innings.

“Just being able to get out of the innings without throwing a lot of pitches was definitely a good thing,” said Parker, who threw an additional 16 pitches in the bullpen afterward to build up his total count. “That’s what we did good at last year. I’m hoping to carry that over to this year.”

Though he made 29 big league starts last season (10 more than Herz, 29 more than Ogasawara), this was actually Parker’s first start of the spring. He had been relegated to relief duty in two previous outings, both times following Ogasawara.

Parker insisted that didn’t throw off his routine much, but it had to bring at least some level of comfort today to know he would be on the mound for the first inning for the first time this year.

Was this one enough to guarantee him another start?

“I think he’ll get another start here in five days,” Martinez said. “He threw the ball really well.”

This is where things do get tricky, though. The Nationals have no more split-squad games scheduled until March 23, the final day of camp. Ogasawara, who starts tonight against the other half of the Marlins in West Palm Beach, will need to pitch again in five days, same as Parker. Only one can start.

And then what of Herz, who is scheduled to start Thursday against the Rays in Port Charlotte but then needs to slot into a regular spot in the rotation as well?

“There’s a few good candidates out there, so it’s going to be a tough decision,” Martinez said. “Some of these guys are deserving of it because of what they did last year, but it’s a competition and we’ll see how it goes.”

* Kyle Finnegan made his spring debut this afternoon, two weeks after re-signing with the Nationals for $6 million, and wasn’t exactly crisp during his appearance.

The 33-year-old closer faced five batters and retired only two, though one of the Marlins who reached did so on a throwing error by third baseman Paul DeJong. He did surrender a double to deep right-center by Agustin Ramirez, then a single to right by Xavier Edwards and was pulled with two outs and his pitch count up to 19.

“The results were a little messy today, but as far as checking boxes of feeling good physically and executing some things I’ve been working on, I was able to do that,” he said. “The first one’s always like, let’s just get through it. And then as the spring goes on, you start dialing it in.”

That should also show up in Finnegan’s fastball velocity, which averaged 96 mph today, down a tick from last season.

“Which is at this point pretty good for me the first game,” he said. “I would say today I wasn’t fully letting it go. I was just going through some things I’ve been working on, and it felt good.”

Finnegan also threw eight splitters, several of which he liked. He threw some sliders in the bullpen and was pleased with their shape but didn’t use that pitch in the game today.

* Alex Call departed today’s game after only two plate appearances, well before the Nationals’ other starting position players. According to Martinez, he was dealing with back spasms.

“He wanted to keep playing,” the manager said. “I said: ‘Let’s get it worked on and see if we can get you better.’”

Call delivered a game-opening double down the left field line off Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, then also came through with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third. He’s now batting .368 (7-for-19) with four doubles, six RBIs, nine walks and only one strikeout this spring, solidifying his standing as the likely fourth outfielder to begin the season (provided he’s healthy).