Washington Nationals Pitcher Giving Team Hope That Rebuild is on Right Track.
The Washington Nationals may not be playing baseball in October, but don't tell them that the rest of the games are not meaningful. This team may be out of contention but has plenty yet to prove, especially with the recent success of Washington's Jake Irvin and the rest of the pitching staff.
On Monday night, the Nationals put up a fight with the New York Mets, ultimately falling in extra innings 2-1 to a team grasping the final spot in the National League Wildcard race. This will be a familiar narrative for Washington the rest of the way, as all of their remaining 12 games involve an opponent who has yet to be eliminated from reaching the postseason.
Another familiar story for the Nationals this season, especially against their NL East rival, is the success on the mound from right-hander Jake Irvin. The right-hander pitched a gem during his start in the series opener on Monday. He made it through seven full innings without allowing a run before giving up an RBI double to Mets outfielder Tyrone Taylor for his only earned run allowed on the evening. He finished the night with 7.1 innings of work and four hits allowed. He picked up five strikeouts to only one walk and recorded seven whiffs for a 26% CSW.
It is the fourth time this season and the second time against the Mets that he pitched through seven innings in an outing. With Monday's start, he became the first pitcher since Philadelphia Phillies Zack Wheeler in 2021 to have two outings against New York of seven scoreless frames in the same season. The Bloomington, Minnesota native, playing his first entire season in the Majors, accomplished this performance on the road in what felt like a playoff atmosphere.
Irvin was on his game Monday night, even with his fielding. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the 27-year-old found himself in a bases-loaded jam and was forced to make a difficult play on a soft-contact groundball down the third base line from Mets infielder Mark Vientos. After making the brilliant throw to Nationals first baseman Juan Yepez, he shared a fired-up moment with his teammates before heading for the dugout.
if patrick mahomes did this, the media would go nuts pic.twitter.com/J9cMLGt7wl
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 17, 2024
"The stadium wasn't even at max capacity, and you could feel it. It was bumping," said Irvin. "And that's where we want to be. Especially for a lot of these young guys who haven't played in atmospheres like that yet."
Although many look to some of the big trades Washington has made over the past few seasons to bolster its farm system as to why the team's rebuild is on the right path, Irvin has developed his entire professional career in the Nationals organization. The right-hander was drafted in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Oklahoma and pushed through all levels of the minor leagues before ultimately making his MLB Debut in May 2023.
He now joins other young and promising pitchers who were brought into Washington, such as MacKenzie Gore and DJ Herz, at the top of a Nationals rotation that will look to compete as early as next season and return the organization to the postseason for the first time since that magical run in 2019.
Progress has been made this season. With 12 games remaining on the schedule, the team is only three games away from tying its season record from 2023. As for Irvin, the former Sooner is scheduled for two more starts this season to continue showing Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo and the rest of the front office the value he intends to bring moving into what should be a long competitive window.
