Bold Prediction Sees Japanese Star Fill Final Washington Nationals Rotation Spot
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The Washington Nationals are going to have an interesting camp battle on their hands this spring.
After they decided to bring back Trevor Williams and sign Michael Soroka to a short-term deal, there are now multiple options they can choose from to fill their starting unit.
Both Williams and Soroka were brought in with the promise of being named a starter to begin the year, so they are projected to slot behind the incumbent top-of-the-rotation duo of MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin.
That leaves one spot open, and one that Mitchell Parker, DJ Herz, Cade Cavalli and newly-signed Japanese star Shinnosuke Ogasawara will be battling to fill.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said they brought Ogasawara in from Japan to compete for a starting role since that's how they view him, and if he has a good showing during camp, they'll be more than willing to give him that fifth spot.
With Spring Training right around the corner, projections are coming from everywhere, and Andrew Lang of Talk Nats offered a bold one that has the Japanese southpaw winning the job.
He doesn't offer a reason why, but the 3.62 ERA Ogasawara produced across 161 games in Nippon Professional Baseball certainly points to him being an effective pitcher.
How his game translates to the MLB will be seen.
Much of that will be determined in camp, with Washington potentially using him out of the bullpen to begin his Major League career if necessary.
But if Ogasawara does break into the Opening Day starting rotation, there would be some questions surrounding how Parker, Herz and Cavalli would be used going forward.
While Cavalli is coming off an injury and could use some more time to recover to get used to being on the mound facing live hitters again, both Parker and Herz had strong showings during their rookie campaigns last year and seem to be future starters for the Nationals.
They both still have multiple minor league options remaining, so giving them more work at Triple-A to start the season wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but not facing big league hitters could further delay their development.
All this is speculation, though.
Somebody will have to go win this job, and whoever performs the best during the spring will be given the first opportunity to lock things down.
