Cavalli sets sights on end of his rehab while again joining Nats in Miami

MIAMI – Almost exactly a year ago, Cade Cavalli walked into the visiting clubhouse at loanDepot Park and was reunited with his Nationals teammates for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery that ended his 2023 season in spring training.

At that time, he was in street clothes, having just made the trip down from the team’s facility in West Palm Beach where he had begun his lengthy rehab, and quickly changed into his Nats gear to be a part of the team again with a wide smile across his face.

On Friday, Cavalli made the same walk into the Nats clubhouse, only this time he was already in his Nats workout gear, which was covered in sweat from his latest bullpen session. And he still had that same wide smile across his face (although this time with a little more facial hair).

“It's been great. I'm extremely grateful to be where I'm at in the process,” Cavalli said of his rehabilitation in front of his locker with a No. 9 jersey hanging inside. “Just fully healthy and feeling very close to normal. And we got lives (live BP) on Monday for the first time, so I'm really looking forward to that. It'll be fun seeing batters.”

Cavalli, the Nats’ first-round pick in 2020 from the University of Oklahoma, has been throwing 60-pitch bullpen sessions and was scheduled to throw 75 in his latest one before facing live hitters for the first time. His fastball has been consistently hitting 96 mph, which is what it was averaging pre-injury in his one and only major league start to date on Aug. 26, 2022.

“The ball is coming out the same as it was prior to the injury,” he said. “So I'm feeling normal in that way. Then it's just, coming back from surgery, your body is gonna hurt a little bit more than when it did prior just because those muscles were built and callous for it. But that's what we're doing now and getting there: Getting the muscles ready to go. So it's just a little bit more soreness than the normal. Other than that, we're pretty much back to normal.”

“It's awesome. He threw really well,” manager Davey Martinez said. “I talked to Hickey. He said the ball’s coming out really well. So I wanted to get him here. He's really close, he's been in West Palm. So to get him here and get him with the guys and watch him throw a bullpen was good. And it's good for him, too, because he's put a tremendous amount of work in. He's done great. And we're getting closer. So I'm excited about his progress. I know that somewhere along the line, whether it's towards the middle or the end of this summer, he'll be on the mound for us if everything goes well. So we're excited about that.”

The Nationals have set a June target date for their top pitching prospect to return to major league action. Cavalli himself confirmed that is still the goal, while adding that mid-May is the target to start a minor league rehab assignment before making his second big league start.

“If everything goes well, we can see him coming back here sometime at the end of June, maybe July,” Martinez said. “But everything has to go well. Like I said, we're at the point now where he's feeling really good. And I know he's itching to get back, but we want to make sure that everything's good with him.”

While the right-hander is starting to ramp up his pitch count, he knows he still has to reel it in at times because he’s not full-go yet. But that time is coming and he’s itching for it to get here.

“I think you got to hone in on a little bit more because I'm still a month and a half away,” he said. “So not stepping on it too early, waiting for the right time to really press on the gas. There's a lot of patience, especially when you're feeling extremely normal. You're enticed to try to see what you can do on a pin every now and then you gotta pull the reins back a little bit and understand we got time left. There's gonna come a day when I'm able to step on it.”

One of those days will be Monday, when Cavalli faces live hitters on a mound for the first time since he hurt his elbow during a March 14, 2023 spring training start against the Mets in Port St. Lucie.

What’s that going to be like after 13 months of not throwing then light throwing and only recently throwing off a mound?

“Oh man, I don't know,” he said with a laugh. “I haven't seen them in a long time. So I'm going to be pretty amped up and ready to tackle them for sure.”

Like last year, Cavalli spends his downtime watching his teammates on TV. Even when he’s not physically with them, he’s one of their biggest supporters from far away. And for this weekend, he can support them in person.

“It feels so good seeing these guys again,” he said. “I've just really enjoyed sitting at home and watching them compete. I've just been sitting on the couch dying to get back with them and get rolling with them.”

While Cavalli’s rehab nears its end, he’s getting back to tinkering with his repertoire. He’s added a sinker to his arsenal and will continue to incorporate his other pitches into his sessions bit by bit.

“Added a sinker in and that's been fun playing around with,” he said. “Just feeling that ball come out the right way and trying to get that going. So that's been fun to play with.

“So live on Monday and then I believe on Friday again. The first one will be all heaters, 20 heaters. And then the next 'pen, we're going to add the changeup in and then just kind of keep adding them in each live session until we get to the game.”

The games will come. More live BP sessions will come. The return is almost here. But for now, even almost a year after he walked into the same clubhouse having just had his brace removed from surgery, those aren’t the goals.

“Being back fully,” Cavalli said. “That’s the goal.”

Crazy how much difference a year can make.