Two Washington Nationals Rising Stars Accomplish Career Milestones

More good signs continue to come from this season for the Washington Nationals.

Sep 15, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore (1) throws a pitch against the Miami Marlins during the first inning at Nationals Park / Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images

At this point, every Washington Nationals fan knows their favorite team won't be competing in the playoffs this season, but that doesn't mean there aren't reasons to continue watching.

The most important thing for this franchise with roughly two weeks left in the campaign is their young players continue to develop in the Majors and work on things that can take their game's to the next level.

On Sunday, two of their more prominent youngsters were able to hit career milestones that proves just how bright the future is for the Nationals.

First, MacKenzie Gore was handed the ball.

When he went out there to open the game, that was his 30th start of the season which put a punctuation mark on the continued rise his career has had since coming over as a featured return piece of the Juan Soto trade package.

Last year, Gore had a 4.42 ERA across his then-career high 27 starts and 136.1 innings pitched. He has taken the next step this season with a 4.17 ERA over 153.1 innings.

It will be imperative that he continues to get better for Washington as he projects to be the ace of this staff going forward, even with all the other youngsters in their rotation.

The Nationals could get aggressive and add an established top-of-the-line starter this winter, but based on how well the left-hander has performed during his time with the franchise, he will be in the mix her for a long time.

The other milestone achieved was by James Wood, who hit two homers in the same game for the first time in his Major League career.

Based on how well he as played already during his short time in the The Show, it was only a matter of time before the super talented outfielder would hit this mark among others that hitters are measured on.

Wood began the year as Washington's No. 1 overall prospect. He graduated from that status following his promotion on July 1, and it seems like he is going to hold onto a roster spot whenever he is healthy and available.

These feats are common in the MLB, but for two of their rising stars to achieve these two statistical categories on the same day just shows how bright the future is for the Nationals.