Irvin sticking around with Nats for now

Jake Irvin had a solid major league debut Wednesday for the Nationals.

It wasn’t anything too spectacular, nor was it expected to be. A promising pitcher in his own right, he didn’t come with the pedigree of his former University of Oklahoma teammate Cade Cavalli. And his debut definitely didn’t come with the pomp and circumstance that surrounded the debut of Stephen Strasburg, who remains the last starting pitcher to make his major league debut with the Nationals and earn the win back in June 2010.

But Irvin’s start against the Cubs was still encouraging enough that the Nationals are going to keep him around for a little while longer, though not fully committing to him making another start in the big leagues.

“Yeah, we're gonna keep him around,” manager Davey Martinez said of Irvin during his pregame media session ahead of Thursday’s afternoon finale against Chicago. “We haven't decided yet what we're gonna do for that starter's spot. But if he's here till then, he'll get a chance to start again.”

The 26-year-old right-hander pitched 4 ⅓ innings last night and gave up just one run on two hits and four walks while striking out three, all looking. He threw 81 pitches, 45 strikes, after throwing 82 pitches, 52 strikes, in his previous start for Triple-A Rochester last week. That was his best start with the Red Wings before getting the call to Washington, striking out six and allowing two runs over 5 ⅓ innings.

Again, the big league debut wasn’t anything too incredible. But Irvin did a nice job settling down after a rough start, hitting Cubs leadoff hitter Nico Hoerner with the very first pitch.

Per Elias Sports Bureau (and thanks to the Nationals public relations staff), the last pitcher to do that was Greg Weissert on Aug. 25, 2022, when he hit Jonah Bride with his first pitch in his major league debut for the Yankees at the Athletics.

But Weissert’s debut was in relief. So Irvin was the first pitcher since 2000 to hit a batter with the first pitch he threw in his debut as a starting pitcher.

Pitch-by-pitch data is considered unofficial prior to that, but Nats PR was able to confirm that Dave Mlicki hit a batter on his first pitch as a starting pitcher on Sept. 12, 1992, for Cleveland at the White Sox. There were two other starting pitchers between Mlicki and the start of 2000 that hit the first batter he faced, but based on unofficially tracked pitching data, neither was on the first pitch. So it’s likely that Mlicki was the last to do this prior to Irvin.

Anyways, there isn’t much he can do now to earn another start with the Nats. The situation is out of his hands based on the team’s needs. Plus, the team wants to do right by him by keeping him on a starter’s schedule and having him stick to his in-between-starts routine.

“We're gonna watch how he bounces back,” Martinez said. “He'll throw a bullpen. We'll get him going. And like I said, look, if he's here, he'll start. But I want to make sure that he's OK. Like I said, this guy's had some injuries in the past. And I know his last outing yesterday, he threw 82 pitches. The one before he threw 82 pitches. So before that, it was always in the 60s. So we gotta make sure we take care of him.”

With no off-days until after the upcoming road trip, the Nationals will need a start in that spot on Monday for the series opener in San Francisco. One would think if Irvin sticks with the team, he’ll make that start so they could avoid the logistical nightmare of trying to fly someone else out west or deplete their relievers with a bullpen game. And Chad Kuhl, whose rotation spot Irvin took, isn’t eligible to come off the injured list until May 15.

“If it happens, it'll be the same rotation, yeah,” Martinez said. “We got no days off. So we gotta go.”