Nationals Rotation Lacked Depth Behind Ace MacKenzie Gore in 2025
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In a season of individual growth by the Washington Nationals' future core, their biggest weakness was the rotation. At 66-96, the Nationals finished in last place and the biggest reason for that was the lack of starting pitching behind their ace MacKenzie Gore.
Washington tried plenty of different starting pitchers, but there wasn't anybody who could reliably get outs. The two starters that threw over 160 innings both had negative bWAR, and they did not have a single starter that was even league average by ERA+.
They're a rebuilding team that is still pretty far away and there weren't any pitchers from within that were going to come save the day. Instead, they relied on a reliever-turned-starter and two rookies towards the end of the year. The rotation as a whole had a 5.18 ERA, the second worst in baseball.
Washington Nationals 2025 Rotation in Review
Season-Ending Rotation: LHP MacKenzie Gore ( 5-15, 4.17 ERA, 30 G, 185 K, 64 BB, 1.353 WHIP), RHP Jake Irvin ( 9-13, 5.70 ERA, 33 G, 124 K, 62 BB, 1.428 WHIP), RHP Cade Cavalli (3-1, 10 G, 4.25 ERA, 40 K, 15 BB, 1.479 WHIP), RHP Brad Lord (5-10, 4.34 ERA, 48 G, 19 GS, 108 K, 43 BB, 1.293 WHIP), LHP Andrew Alvarez (1-1, 2.31 ERA, 20 K, 10 BB, 1.114 WHIP).
Other Notable Starters: LHP Mitchell Parker (9-16, 5.68 ERA, 33 G, 103 K, 58 BB, 1.433 WHIP), Trevor Williams (3-10, 6.21 ERA, 17 G, 65 K, 21 BB, 1.536 WHIP), RHP Michael Soroka (3-8, 4.87 ERA, 87 K, 24 BB, 1.131 WHIP).
Season Notes
MacKenzie Gore was a first time All-Star this season. He led Nationals pitchers in bWAR with 3.0 bWAR, but dealt with ankle and shoulder injuries that shortened his season. He set career highs in K/9 (10.4) which has been his calling card. Gore once again led the league with 12 wild pitches.
Jake Irvin threw the most innings on the team with 180, but also allowed a league leading 114 earned runs and 38 home runs. It was by far his worst season as a big leaguer, posting a -0.4 bWAR and career low 6.2 K/9.
Mitchell Parker was second on the team with 164.2 innings. He had a team worse -1.2 bWAR, which was also among the worst in baseball. His 25 home runs allowed was bottom 20 in all of baseball. Towards the end of the season, Parker lost his spot in the rotation and was demoted to the bullpen.
Trevor Williams threw 82.2 innings posting an ERA above six and a negative bWAR (-0.6). His FIP was all the way down at 4.16, so he did get unlucky during his 17 starts. He went down in July with an elbow injury that will require surgery, but not Tommy John.
Brad Lord, a rookie, had started games periodically, but was fully transitioned to the rotation at the end of July. As a starter, he threw 92 innings, striking out 73 and allowing a 4.99 ERA. He was a starter in the minors, and Washington wanted to see what they had.
Cade Cavalli, a former first round pick, started one game in 2022, but didn't return to the big leagues until this season. He was impressive in 48.2 innings, striking out 40 and posting a 4.25 ERA. He lost his prospect pedigree, but Cavalli has always had good stuff.
Andrew Alvarez arrived towards the end of the season and was brilliant down the stretch. He was the first Nationals rookie to go five shutout innings in his debut and really put himself in position to fight for a rotation spot.
Michael Soroka was solid for the Nats in his first season starting more than 10 games since 2019. He was traded at the deadline.
Under Contract or Team Control
Gore, Irvin, Parker, Alvarez, Cavalli, Lord, Mitchell, Josiah Gray
Because the Nationals are so young, all of their pitchers are only in their third or fourth year and are still on their rookie contracts. Gore will have his spot in the rotation locked down, but the other five will need to spend Spring Training throwing their best ball and proving they belong.
Josiah Gray will more likely than not also have a rotation spot. He missed all but two games in 2024 and last threw 159 innings in 2023.
Free Agents
Trevor Williams
Williams will be the only notable starter for the Nationals who is a free agent at the end of the year. With a plethora of young options, coupled with Williams' elbow surgery, it's extremely unlikely he is re-signed by Washington.
An Early 2026 Rotation
Gore (opening day), Gray, Cavalli, Lord, Alvarez
Gore will continue to be the leader of this rotation and try to improve once again. He has a lot of potential, especially in the strikeouts department, so Washington is hoping to fully unlock him. Gray feels like the only other pitcher who's close to a rotation lock. Acquired in 2021, He was an All-Star in 2023 and had a 3.91 ERA, someone the 2025 team could have desperately used.
The other three spots are left up for grabs. The younger pitches, especially Cavalli, appear to have the upper hand on Irvin and Mitchell, who both struggled mightily this year. Though they could all win spots, they're likely to have short leashes if they don't continue to improve.
Looking further down the road, closer to the end of 2026, if not 2027, would be either Jarlin Susana or Travis Sykora, both of whom are top 100 prospects, but had surgery earlier in 2025. The Nationals might not want to rush them, but they were both terrific this past season.
