Hellickson glad to be back, hopes to pitch deeper into games

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Jeremy Hellickson knew he pitched well for the Nationals last season. He knew he was sick of bouncing around from team to team every year. He knew the Nats wanted another accomplished starter for the back of their rotation.

Hellickson's return to Washington made all the sense in the world. But he, like so many other free agents during this winter of discontent, had to sit at home and wait for the call.

"I really wasn't expecting this offseason to be like last, but it got to that point in the middle of January that I started feeling like I did two offseasons ago," the right-hander said. "It just sucks. It's not a good feeling. You know you can help a lot of teams and a lot of rotations out there."

The call from Mike Rizzo finally came, and last week Hellickson agreed to a one-year deal with the Nationals that guarantees $1.3 million with an additional $4 million in incentives. He could breathe a sigh of relief at last, returning to his preferred destination.

"I was always hoping I would," he said. "It wasn't looking like it early in the offseason. There wasn't a whole lot going on. But I started talking to Riz toward the end of the offseason. I was hoping I'd be back, and it ended up how I wanted. I'm just happy to be back."

This actually represented an early signing by Hellickson's standards. He didn't join the Nationals last spring until late March, and that was on a non-guaranteed, minor-league contract. This time, he was able to report to West Palm Beach with the rest of the pitchers and catchers and know he won't be playing catch-up.

"Just showing up last year with about five days left in spring, I didn't really get to get to know the guys like you usually do in spring," he said. "It was fun to get to know them during the season. And the staff, from the training staff to the clubhouse guys, are awesome. It's just nice coming back to familiar faces for the first time in four years. Last year, I just wanted to come to a place where we were going to win. And I feel like we've got some unfinished business from last year. I wanted to get back over here and finish that."

When he was on the mound last season, Hellickson pitched quite well. His 3.45 ERA and 1.073 WHIP were second-best in the rotation, trailing only Max Scherzer. The issue was that he wasn't on the mound as much as he or the Nats would have preferred.

Hellickson made only 19 starts, twice requiring trips to the disabled list for freak injuries suffered while covering bases (a strained hamstring in June, a sprained wrist in August). Within those 19 starts, he totaled only 91 1/3 innings, failing to average even five frames per outing.

Some of that was by design; looking at Hellickson's career struggles the deeper he pitched in games, the Nationals decided regularly to pull him before he could face a lineup three times. It's unclear whether they'll stick with that plan again this season, but it's perfectly clear what the pitcher prefers.

"Like I said last year: Whatever we need to do to win games," Hellickson said. "But I think letting me go a little longer will help keep the bullpen fresh later in the season. I think the games I pitched, we just killed those guys. Coming out after 60 pitches, and those guys would get crushed. I think if anything, if they let me go a little deeper in games it'll help keep those guys fresh the whole year. I think that would be a big part of stretching me out. But we really haven't had too much dialogue on it."