Nationals continue to evaluate candidates’ last position in the rotation. Manager Dave Martinez confirmed to reporters, including Mark Zuckerman of Masnsports.com, that four pitchers will rotate on the opening day if they are healthy: Mackenzie Gore,,,,, Michael Soroka,,,,, Jake Irvin and Trevor Williams. Nats hasn’t revealed the order in which these pitchers will catch the ball, but the more meaningful development is that there is only one rotational seat to grab.
There appear to be three candidates for this work. Mitchell Parker and DJ Hertz The emergence of the rookie season. NATS adds former NPB Southpaw Shinnosuke of Ogasawara Free agency deals for an affordable two-year, $3.5mm. These three are left-handed in their 20s with the goal of breaking camp for the first time in their Major League Baseball career.
Parker is the most experienced person. Washington called out 6’4″ Southpaw in mid-April. He got stuck in rotation for the rest of the season. Parker made 29 starts and scored 4.29 in 151 innings. He striked up slightly below the average 20.6% with a walking percentage of 6.7%. Parker didn’t have huge stuff, but it looked like a part of a solid back-end directing artist.
Hertz’s profile is the opposite. He missed nearly 13% of the products of bats. Herz’s strikeout rate was 27.7%, continuing the trend he showed throughout his minor league career with swings and turnovers. His minor league walk count doesn’t point to the long-term future of rotation, but he showed amazingly reasonable control (9.4% walk rate) in the top 19 MLBs. He turned to 4.16 ERA via 88 2/3 frames.
Ogasawara’s profile is closer to Parker’s. In his nine seasons in Japan, he allowed 3.62 runs per nine. Last season, Ogasawara worked on 3.12 ERA in 144 1/3 frames of Chunichi Dragons. His strikeout efficiency was 13.6% below average, which explains his modest trade. He has less than 4% batsman, so he’s a good strike, but it’s unclear whether his stuff will show up in major league games.
No one in this trio has a particularly impressive campground. Parker’s results are the best. He allowed four runs in 7 1/3 innings and hit seven innings without walking. Ogasawara surrendered 11 runs (7 gains) in 9 1/3 frames. Herz allowed eight free passes (6 gains) with only 3 2/3 innings. While not worth reading in a few spring training appearances, Parker’s greater experience seems to have left him with nothing in his job entering the camp. If so, it is hard to say that Hertz and Ogavala have shown enough ability to surpass him.
