Nationals Closer Jose Ferrer Building Impressive Case for Job Next Season

The Washington Nationals believe Jose A. Ferrer is their closer for the rest of this season. That could be the case next season, too.

Washington Nationals relief pitcher Jose Ferrer (47) celebrates after defeating the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

When the Washington Nationals trade closer Kyle Finnegan at the deadline in July, the hope was that one of their current relievers would step in and fill in the void. The Nationals didn’t settle on a closer right away. But, while on a west coast road trip, interim manager Miguel Cairo handed the ball to left-hander Jose A. Ferrer.

That was on Aug. 9 at San Francisco. Ferrer recorded his first save of the season, tossing nearly two innings of two-hit baseball. At the time, Cairo said “That’s my ninth-inning guy,” when he was asked where Ferrer was now the closer.

Well, since then, the 25-year-old set-up man has been lights out when it comes to either closing a game or just getting the Nationals out of a jam. That was the case on Monday when he took the ninth inning in Monday’s game against the Marlins, recorded a save and helped Washington win, 2-0.

Jose A Ferrer’s Impressive Month

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That afternoon in San Francisco or Monday’s inning in Washington wasn’t an anomaly for Ferrer. Since Finnegan’s departure, he’s been nearly impossible for opposing hitters to deal with. It didn’t look that way in his first post-Finnegan appearance on Aug. 3. Against Milwaukee, he gave up three hits and two earned runs in one inning, as he struck out two and walked one.

Since then? Ferrer has been flawless from the perspective of allowing runs. In his last 10 appearances, he hasn’t allowed a run, earned or unearned. He’s claimed two wins and four saves while pitching 12.1 innings. He struck out 13 and walked one. In fact, Ferrer didn’t allow a walk in nine games from Aug. 6-31. Even with the Milwaukee appearance, he went 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA in August.

Ferrer’s save was well-timed on Monday. By saving the game, he helped Andrew Alvarez win his first Major League game. Alvarez became the first pitcher in Nationals history, dating back to 2005 when the franchise moved from Montreal, to throw at least five scoreless innings in his MLB debut, according to Baseball Reference. It also preserved a shutout, making catcher CJ Stubbs the first Nationals catcher to catch a shutout in his Major League debut.

For the season he is 4-3 with a 4.09 ERA in 62 games, with 57 strikeouts and 13 walks in 66 innings. He has 20 holds and five saves in seven chances.

Jose Ferrer’s Nationals History

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The former international signee made his Major League debut with Washington in 2023. While he went 3-0 and had five holds, he missed on his two save opportunities and finished the season with a 5.03 ERA. He struck out 25 in 34 innings and gave up four home runs.

Last season Ferrer was in line for a bigger role in the bullpen, but he was limited to 31 appearances thanks to a lat strain. But when he was on the mound, he proved a capable set-up man for Finnegan, who was an All-Star last season.

He ended up recording his first career save, finished with a 3.38 ERA and gave up just one home run in 32 innings. He also went 1-0 and has six holds. His velocity came around, too. Per MLB.com his fastball, a four-seamer, averaged 98.3 mph, which was in the 97th percentile among all pitchers last season.

Washington invested considerable effort in preparing Ferrer for this moment. The Nationals signed him as an international free agent in 2017, and he needed six years to get through the minors, missing 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022 he was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game, and the Nationals placed him on their 40-man roster later that year to protect him from the from the Rule 5 draft.