Voth sees improvement in one-inning debut

There wasn't much for Austin Voth to hang his hat on in 2020, and he'd be the first to admit it. The right-hander endured through a pretty miserable summer, which at one point included an 0-5 record and an 8.26 ERA.

But sometimes all it takes is one positive moment to lift a downtrodden athlete's spirit. Like that one gorgeous drive a hack golfer hits off the 18th tee at the end of an otherwise awful round, one solid outing for a pitcher at season's end can do wonders for his confidence.

So it was for Voth, who in the opener of a doubleheader against the Phillies on Sept. 22 tossed a seven-inning complete game, allowing one run on three hits. It was the first time he had reached the seventh inning in the major leagues, let alone completed it. And it allowed the 28-year-old to head home for the winter with a better taste in his mouth than he might otherwise have had.

"For sure," he said Monday in a Zoom session with reporters following his 2021 spring debut. "I thought that was maybe my best outing last year. I was kind of searching for a little while, and just having that start helped me finish the season strong. Yeah, that was good for me."

One nice start in late September didn't whitewash the other 10 starts he made during the season. It was a ragged year for Voth, and if the Nationals had any other viable alternatives he almost certainly would've been removed from the rotation at some point along the way.

Now he finds himself competing for a spot in either the opening day rotation or bullpen, once again competing with Joe Ross and Erick Fedde for jobs, most likely needing to show something impressive this spring to leapfrog those fellow right-handers on the depth chart.

In that regard, Monday's debut was a good first step in the right direction, though anyone who blinked might've missed it. Voth faced three Astros batters in the top of the first and retired all three, getting Carlos Correa to ground out to third and Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel to line out to right. He needed all of seven pitches to do it.

After pondering over his wayward 2020 season and trying to figure out what went wrong, Voth identified two mechanical issues. He's trying to stand taller as he delivers the ball, not letting his back leg collapse as much as it did last year. And he's trying to make sure his left arm doesn't dip down as he reaches back to throw, a bad habit he believes contributed to his struggles.

As he's done in the past, Voth spent time this winter at Cressey Sports Performance. He believes the work he did there and improved mechanics helped create some extra "zip" on his fastball during Monday's start.

He also believes those throwing sessions in front of other professional pitchers and their families who gathered at Cressey helped give him a taste of what it would be like to pitch with fans in the stands again as he did Monday.

"Just having more people watching you, and putting maybe a little bit more pressure on you rather than if you were just throwing a bullpen in front of three people, it creates more adrenaline," he said. "It creates a better environment of what you're going to be pitching like in game scenarios."

Voth was one of 10 Nationals pitchers who took the mound during Monday's game, all but one of them pitching a full inning, and all but two of them keeping the Astros from scoring. The only blips: Kyle Finnegan, who surrendered a two-run homer to Steven Souza Jr. in the fourth, and Jacob Condra-Bogan, who didn't retire any of the five batters he faced in the ninth and watched them all eventually score to give Houston a come-from-behind 7-6 win.

At the plate, the Nationals got production from a number of players. Josh Harrison, Ryan Zimmerman and Yadiel Hernández hit back-to-back-to-back homers off sidearm righty Steve Cishek in the third inning. Harrison added another RBI on a bases-loaded single in the fourth. And Carter Kieboom had a pair of hits (including a triple) in his spring debut.

"He had good at-bats," manager Davey Martinez said of Kieboom. "He played both sides of the game really well. I liked the fact that he was able to stay behind the ball and drive some balls to center field, which was really nice."

After two wild games to open the exhibition season that saw the opposition rally to tie or win in the ninth inning, the Nationals don't have a scheduled game today. With originally scheduled games against clubs outside of Florida's East Coast canceled to reduce travel and the potential for cross-contamination, there are six such off-days now on the Nats schedule.

Two of those will be true off-days, with players instructed not to report to the complex for workouts. The other four days, including today, will feature mandatory team workouts.