The Nationals signed the lefty yesterday, adding a surprise to their already crowded rotation Shinnosuke Ogasawara Enter into a two-year agreement. President of baseball operations Mike Rizzo spoke today to reporters, including MASN’s Mark Zuckerman and The Washington Post’s Spencer Nausbaum, about the club’s 2025 rotation plans and Ogasawara’s place within them.
Ogasawara, 27, had a 3.28 ERA in 596 innings with the Nippon Professional Baseball Chunichi Dragons over the past four seasons. While it was a solid performance, the left-hander’s lackluster 13.6% strikeout rate last year raised many eyebrows when he was sent out by the Dragons last month. Doubts about his ability to produce so little strikeout work in the majors led Ogasawara to sign a modest deal that guaranteed him just $3.5MM, well below the going rate for starters on the back end of free agency. Despite these concerns, Rizzo expressed confidence in Ogasawara as a starter, but when discussing the club’s rotation plans, he didn’t fully guarantee his rotation spot or even his active roster spot to start the season.
“We signed [Ogasawara] Become our major league starting pitcher,” Rizzo told reporters, including Zuckerman. “Of course, he’s got to earn that spot in the rotation. I think there’s going to be some serious competition for those five spots in the rotation with some good, young, talented players. If he’s not ready for the majors, Then we could always option him to 3A and bring him up at some point in the season, but we expect him to compete for a rotation spot and I think it’ll be an interesting matchup.
This most closely aligns with what Andrew Golden of The Washington Post reported on the status of the club’s rotation. Gold represents right-handers Michael Sorokaleft handed Mackenzie Goreand right-handers Jack Owen All three players will be locks in the Opening Day rotation if healthy. That leaves two rotation spots for veteran right-hander Ogasawara Trevor Williamsand young lefty Mitchell Parker and DJ Hertz Competition, but it’s worth noting that Williams himself said earlier this month that he would be part of the club’s Opening Day rotation. As a result, Ogasawara, Parker and Hertz are left to compete for only one spot. Ogasawara looks likely to be the favorite for the role in spring training, and while all three have options remaining, Golden said he and even Williams could be available if Parker and/or Hurts perform particularly well in training camp. Being pushed to the bullpen position.
Adding enough depth to the rotation to lessen their reliance on up-and-coming youth, while not hindering their approach, would be in line with the club’s overall philosophy this winter. As Nausbaum noted, Rizzo told reporters that given “where [the club is] Currently, clubs are wary of signing free agents with qualifying offers attached because of the loss of draft capital and international bonus pool funds. The club’s reluctance to target eligible free agents has led to the club bringing in some short-term reinforcements this winter.
That includes not only their three-man rotation; Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Bell, Amed Rosarioand Jorge Lopez. All of these veterans have a season or two of control, making them unable to block the young players and prospects the Nationals have been surrounding since they first began their lengthy rebuild in 2021. There will be an upswing, the rotation will have an interesting group of young players, and the outfield is currently expected to play the entire season James Wood and Dylan Cruise In the corner. Cade Cavalli, Robert Hassell IIIand Brady House is one of the club’s other notable prospects who have yet to establish themselves in the major leagues but may arrive at some point this season.
An unwillingness to hold back on top prospects and young players appears to have played a large role in the club’s offseason performance. The Nationals are one of the teams most frequently contacted in early winter Christian Walker before he eventually signed with the Astros. Of course, Walker received a qualifying offer from the Diamondbacks, which likely limited the Nationals’ interest in him and caused them to turn to Lowe and Bell. It’s also possible that the team’s desire to avoid holding back young players led them to not sign a second baseman. Gleyber Torres. Torres made it clear shortly after signing with the Tigers that the Nats were among the teams pursuing him, but they wanted him moved to third base to accommodate the 24-year-old Luis Garcia Jr. After he had a breakout season in 2024. You shouldn’t have any problems playing the ball in the right position.
