Young Nationals Pitcher Flashing Major Breakout Potential With Surprising Start
The Washington Nationals got off to a rough start this season, losing five of their first six before completely turning things around. They've won four of the last five, including a home series over the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Before kicking off a road trip against the struggling Miami Marlins on Friday, the Nationals have another reason to feel good about themselves heading into the weekend.
A constant through both the poor start and the picked up results has been the performance of one of the starting pitchers who did not enter the year with massively high expectations.
After a strong spring training, left-hander Mitchell Parker was able to earn a spot in the rotation, and so far that decision has paid off.
He's off to a 2-0 start, including a dominant performance against the Philadelphia Phillies where he threw 6.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts.
Parker also got the ball against the Arizona Diamondbacks last weekend and was just as good, allowing only two hits and an unearned run in six innings.
With an ERA of 0.73 over the first two starts, Parker's emergence elevates the potential of the staff as a whole.
Parker was also a major factor in last season's rotation as a rookie, going 7-10 with a 4.29 ERA in 151 innings over 29 starts. He showed promise in the first half but faded a bit down the stretch, posting a 4.91 ERA in his final 12 starts.
Clearly, the young lefty took the offseason to assess what he was doing wrong and make major corrections to help maximize his potential.
Without overreacting to just two starts, Parker looks like he has taken the next step and will be a critical piece of this rotation going forward if he stays healthy.
He'll try to continue his hot start against the 6-6 Marlins in Miami on Friday.
