Nats to start using six-man rotation

PHILADELPHIA – What has long been under consideration – and even to a lesser point expected – came to fruition this afternoon: The Nationals will start using a six-man rotation with Joan Adon getting inserted into the mix.

This has been a topic of conversation for some time now. It was almost more a matter of when not if.

And it makes sense for this young pitching staff. Josiah Gray and Jake Irvin are approaching their career highs in innings for a single season, and MacKenzie Gore has already surpassed his career high. And Irvin and Gore both have recent injury histories.

As for the veterans, Patrick Corbin has proven his durability as a starter throughout the course of a major league season. But Trevor Williams was used mostly as a reliever last year and has already pitched the most innings he has since 2019.

“We actually decided we're gonna go to a six-man rotation,” manager Davey Martinez announced during his pregame media session. “Adon's gonna be plopped in that spot. Just because with Jake Irvin, with Gore, even Josiah, I know he could finish out, he could throw a lot more innings, Trevor Williams who's been a reliever, we want to make sure that we keep their innings intact and understand what we're trying to do — not only for now but the future. So it made a lot of sense to us to bring Adon up here, give him an opportunity to pitch, but also stretch out our pitchers so that we can manage their innings a little bit better.

“It's something that we talked about for a couple of months now knowing that this time will come, but we thought this would be the best time. Especially this time of year. I've always said after the All-Star break, the time that they've had off coming back, we call the Dog Days, but it's kind of the grind of getting through August, we thought it'd be a good time to get another starter here and go to that six-man rotation.”

The timing worked out perfectly for the Nats with Adon’s strong start on Saturday, when he took a perfect game into the sixth inning and finished with a quality start and six strikeouts against the Reds. Martinez thought the 24-year-old, who pitched to a 7.10 ERA in 14 major league starts last year, earned a chance to continue starting at this level.

“It was great that he came up and did what he did,” Martinez said. “And like I said, he's done a lot better in the minor leagues. We've been keeping an eye on him all year. I think he's starting to understand the value of throwing strikes, getting ahead of hitters. They worked really hard on his changeup and his secondary pitches, and he threw them really well his last outing. So hopefully he continues to do that up here. I think he's another one of our young pitchers that it's time to really get him to understand how to pitch up here and about consistency. So he's gonna get an opportunity to come up here and do that every five or six days.”

This was a well-thought-out decision among the Nationals staff. It wasn’t just Martinez making a call on his own. A lot of people had input from the coaching and medical staffs, plus the pitchers themselves.

“We dug into a lot of different things,” Martinez said. “I talked to the medical staff, strength coaches, obviously (pitching coach Jim) Hickey, (bullpen coach) Ricky (Bones). We really tried to hone in on what will be the best for the guys. Stretching them out 10-12 days, I don't think that's necessarily a good thing because they gotta (ramp up) themselves. They're gonna sit and then they gotta figure out if we let them try to throw two bullpens. So I didn't really necessarily want to do that. But maybe shorter stints, six days, seven days, even eight days would definitely work.

“Like I said, we're gonna try to stretch them as far as we can to the end of the year. We'll see how it goes. We really will. Like I said, we're building a team for the future and for many, many years. And I want to make sure that, especially with guys like Jake and MacKenzie that both had been injured in the past, make sure we take care of them.”

What hasn’t been figured out yet is if there will be innings or appearance limits for any of the young starters. That might come later.

“I don't want to put a number on them yet,” Martinez said. “I just want them to go out there and compete and pitch. Then when we feel like it's time, then we'll have a conversation with multiple guys. But yeah, I don't want to just sit here and put a number on them.”

The skipper also wasn’t ready to announce the order of the new six-man rotation after this series against the Phillies. Gore is starting tonight and Corbin will start the series finale tomorrow. If they stay in order from this past weekend, Adon likely will start Friday's home opener against the Athletics, Irvin on Saturday and either Williams or Gray on Sunday.

“I'll let you guys know tomorrow how everything's gonna play out,” Martinez said. “We're going through that right now.”