New Rankings Show Washington Nationals Pitching Youth Movement Making Impact
The Washington Nationals are likely aware of their weaknesses when it comes to their starting rotation. The organization probably doesn’t need an outside ranking to reinforce that.
But, here’s another one to prove the point that the starting pitching isn’t where it needs to be. The good news is that four of the five ranked starters are young and could become quality starters for the Nationals for the next several years.
The Athletic recently ranked the Top 150 starting pitchers in baseball, an exercise it goes through at various times during the season. The Nationals only had one pitcher in the Top 50 and another in the Top 100.
That pitcher in the Top 50 was Mackenzie Gore, who moved up from No. 49 to No. 43 in the rankings.
The site used a number of stats, including Stuff+, future projections, strikeout-minus-walk rate, recent performances and the expected future schedule for the final month.
Gore, a 25-year-old left-hander, is one of the young players the Nationals got in return from the San Diego Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell two seasons ago. He’s been consistent the past two seasons but he hasn’t taken that step forward to be considered among the best in the game.
He’s 8-11 with a 4.45 ERA this season. That’s right on his 7-10 record and 4.42 ERA from a season ago. As of Friday he’s pitching in the same amount of games (27) and thrown practically the same amount of innings (136.1 last year to 137.2 this year).
The Nats hope he’ll take the next step in his development in 2025.
Jake Irvin was the other Washington starter in the Top 100 at No. 98. He moved up from No. 112.
Irvin was the Nationals’ fourth-round pick in 2018 and he’s now a second-year Major League starter. He’s shown improvement from his rookie year of 2023 (3-7, 4.61) and this season (9-10, 3.80). He’s already made three more starts than a year ago and has set a career-high in innings pitched (156.1).
With Gore and Irvin, the Nationals may have a quality 1-2 punch down the line. But they’re not the only young pitchers on the list.
Rookie DJ Herz moved up from No. 132 to No. 111. The left-hander is starting to come around as he is 2-6 with a 3.84 ERA in 14 starts. He one-hit Atlanta over five inning in his last start.
Mitchell Parker was ranked No. 139. Another Nationals draft pick, he is 7-8 with a 4.26 ERA in his first full MLB season.
Patrick Corbin, the long-time Washington starter, was ranked No. 141. One of the last links to the 2019 Word Series team is 4-12 with a 5.50 ERA.
MATTHEW POSTINS