Washington Nationals Opening Day Bullpen Candidate Shines in Spring Outing
The Washington Nationals are working through the process of finalizing their Opening Day roster, and the decisions made this week on the pitching staff could go a long way in determining how successful this young team ultimately is this year.
Manager Dave Martinez and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo have assembled a core of talented young hitters, but a thin starting rotation and bullpen could doom the Nationals to another distant fourth place finish in a loaded NL East division.
According to MLB.com's Chuck King, there are six pitchers remaining in Nationals camp for the final two spots in the Opening Day bullpen, and perhaps the most surprising candidate still remaining is Brad Lord.
“He's been impressive,” Martinez told King.
Lord delivered again on Tuesday, when he entered in the sixth inning of Washington's win over the Houston Astros after starter Trevor Williams exited.
A leadoff hit allowed by Williams came around to score, but Lord otherwise preserved the Nationals' lead on their way to a 4-3 win over the Astros.
Lord is competing both for a spot on the Opening Day roster and on the 40-man roster, which now has an opening after Tuesday when Washington returned Rule 5 draft pick Evan Reifert to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Drafted as a starting pitcher in the 18th round of the 2022 MLB draft out of the University of South Florida, Lord excelled in the minor leagues in 2024 before becoming a relief option this year.
He was so dominant as a member of Double-A Harrisburg that he earned a call-up to Triple-A Rochester. With Harrisburg, he went 8-1 with a 1.40 ERA with 75 strikeouts over 70.2 innings pitched in 12 starts.
His tenure with Rochester did not go quite that well, but he did not look out of place at all against the increased competition, going 2-3 with a 3.93 ERA in 12 more starts.
The adjustment to reliever has gone relatively smoothly for Lord, whose appearance Tuesday marked back to back days in which he pitched, after posting a clean inning against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday.
“It's a huge adrenaline rush,” Lord told MLB.com. “You don't get a whole week to mentally prepare, anything like that. So it's just kind of like, they call your name and it's an adrenaline rush to get ready and go out there and throw. So, I love it.”
The Nationals' bullpen is led by closer Kyle Finnegan. The organization acquired Jorge Lopez, Lucas Sims and Colin Poche in free agency this offseason to shore up the unit.
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Kyle Morton has covered various sports from amateur to professional level athletics. A graduate of Fordham University, Kyle specializes in MLB and NHL coverage while having previous bylines with SB Nation, The Hockey Writers, HighSchoolOT, and Sports World News. He spent time working the beat for the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes and is an avid fan of the NHL, MLB, NFL and college basketball. Enjoys the outdoors and hiking in his free time away from sports.