Washington Nationals All-Star Reliever Tracking Toward Opening Day Roster

This Washington Nationals reliever got a late start, but the franchise believes he’ll be ready for opening day later this month.

Sep 13, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals pitcher Kyle Finnegan (67) delivers a throw during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park. | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

It’s been roughly 10 days since the Washington Nationals re-signed last year’s All-Star closer, Kyle Finnegan. So far, so good when it comes to his progress.

On Friday, the right-hander crossed the next milestone off the list by throwing to hitters in live batting practice for the first time. He threw just 22 pitches, but that was more than enough for him to know that is body is where it should be with less than three weeks to go before opening day at Nationals Park.

“I wouldn’t say you’re 100 percent in ‘let’s get all these guys out’ mode,” he said to reporters afterward, including MLB.com. “You’re more thinking about yourself and how your body’s moving and if the pitches are doing what you want them to do,” Finnegan said. “From that perspective, I felt really good.”

It’s not as if the 33-year-old has been sitting around and doing nothing this offseason. He detailed his offseason routine, which included throwing bullpens and using dummy hitters to simulate throwing to batters. MLB.com reported that the plan is for Finnegan to be ready to contribute for opening day.

But it’s nothing like spring training. But, even with some readiness, the Nationals have been taking care with Finnegan since he signed a one-year deal worth $6 million, which came three months after the Nats non-tendered him at the roster deadline to avoid paying him a potential $9 million in arbitration.

Without him, the Nationals made moves to ensure they had some coverage. Jose A. Ferrer became the likely in-house closer candidate. Washington also signed Jorge López to move into that potential role. But he only has 31 career saves. Ferrer has none.

Neither has Finnegan’s credentials, and when considering he ended up back in Washington one must wonder why saving $2 million was worth the trouble?

He led the Nationals in saves with 38 last season and made his first All-Star Game appearance with the National League.

But even though Washington released him, the two sides remained in contact and Finnegan found a soft market for his services in free agency.

Much has been made about Finnegan’s downturn at the end of last season. Yes, his ERA in August and September was 4.12 and batters hit .333 against him. But, in the 19 games he pitched he finished 16 of them, Washington went 14-5 and he locked down 10 saves. He blew only one save.

He finished the season with a 3-8 record and a 3.68 ERA. The 33-year-old right-hander has a career record of 22-26 with 88 saves and a 3.56 ERA. He has 288 strikeouts and 117 walks since he was promoted to the Majors in 2020.