Washington Nationals Ace Raising Stakes in Potential Breakout Season

Is the ace of the Washington Nationals going to have a breakout season? He's starting to show more signs that this is a season to watch.

Apr 13, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore (1) delivers a pitch against the Miami Marlins during the first inning at loanDepot Park. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

As the Washington Nationals try to get to the .500 mark, there have been some impressive performances from their young core this season.

Coming into the year, the Nationals were hoping to see significant improvement after winning just 71 games in each of the past two campaigns. However, this is a still a very young team that is going to have some growing pains along the way.

While making the playoffs might not be realistic once again this year, improvements in the win column is.

So far, there have been some strong signs that young prospects are taking steps forward and will be building blocks for years to come.

In the lineup, James Wood is having a fantastic start to the season. With both power and speed, he might be poised for an All-Star appearance this year. Also, prior to getting injured, CJ Abrams was playing very well.

While the batting order might feature more young talent, Washington has also seen a couple of starters take a noticeable step forward as well in 2025.

Brent Maguire of MLB.com recently wrote about Nationals ace MacKenzie Gore as a former top prospect who is having a breakout season.

“The left-hander has shown consistent year-to-year improvements, and it looks like he is fully breaking out in his age-26 season," he wrote.

The former third overall pick by the San Diego Padres back in 2017 was a significant part of the package that sent Juan Soto out West, along with Wood and CJ Abrams. While it’s still early, that return is appearing to be impressive.

Last year, Gore arguably had his breakout season, totaling a 3.90 ERA and 181 strikeouts. However, with seemingly a significant amount of development from last season, this could end up being his true breakout campaign.

So far in 2025, the southpaw is 2-2 with a 3.41 ERA in five starts. However, there is reason to believe that there will be some more improvement to that ERA with a FIP of 2.19. Furthermore, he is currently striking out 14 batters per nine innings pitched this year, which is tops in the league.

The Nationals have to be pleased with what they have seen from Gore early on in 2025. The left-hander has been making improvements year over year, and now he finally might be showing his capabilities.

Having a young ace on the staff like Gore is encouraging for the future of the franchise.

As Washington tries to figure out when it is the time to strike and make some splashes in free agency, the development of their southpaw indicates that the time is coming up soon.