Washington Nationals Intriguing Young Star Predicted to Win Closer Role
Most teams are reticent to jettison reliable veteran closers. But that's exactly what the Washington Nationals did when they opted not to tender closer Kyle Finnegan a contract for next season.
In doing so, the Nationals allowed him to hit free agency and take his 88 career saves with him. In each of the past three seasons, the right-hander saw his save total increase, even though his innings pitched remained basically the same.
In 2024 he earned his first All-Star Game selection and finished the season with a career-high 38 saves and a 3.68 ERA.
Why would the Nationals let such a reliable closer go? It may be because they believe they already have their future in-house.
MLB.com asked its staff to put together one prediction for each team, and for the Nationals the staff predicted that 24-year-old left-hander Jose A. Ferrer would win the closer’s job.
Ferrer made his Major League debut in 2023 and missed a considerable portion of last season after he suffered a left lat strain. But when he patched, he was impressive.
He ended up recording his first career save, finished with a 3.38 ERA and gave up just one home run in 32 innings. He did that in 31 appearances in 32 games and also went 1-0.
But it's his stuff that might be his best asset. Per MLB.com his fastball, a four-seamer, averages 98.3 mph, which is in the 97th percentile among all pitchers.
Those numbers are considerable improvements from his debut season in 2023. While he went 3-0 and had five holds, he missed on his two save opportunities and finished the season with a 5.03 ERA. He struck out 25 in 34 innings and gave up four home runs.
Notably, he walked 13 and 34 innings in 2023 and reduced his walk rate to six in 32 innings in 2024.
His live arm and improving control could be why the Nationals were prepared to let Finnegan go. There is a considerable age difference, as Finnegan is 33 years old. He was also set to make more than $8 million in arbitration in his last year of team control. Ferrer has just two years of service time and four more years of team control.
Washington may have valued that cost control, along with Ferrer’s considerable improvement, over one more year of Finnegan.
Washington has invested considerable effort in preparing Ferrer for this moment. The Nationals signed him as an international free agent in 2017 and he needed six years to get through the minors, missing 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022 he was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game and the Nationals placed him on their 40-man roster later that year to protect them from the from the Rule 5 draft.
