Washington Nationals Former Top Prospect Finally Blossoming Into Ace
The Washington Nationals are fighting to get back to .500 after what has been a rocky start to the season that has also produced some bright spots.
Coming off a series victory over the struggling rival Baltimore Orioles and now being faced this weekend with the monumental task of handling the red-hot New York Mets, it's not exactly going to be a breeze.
Baltimore has statistically the worst pitching in baseball while the Mets to this point have the best, setting up a stark increase in testing the Nationals lineup.
While the offense has been shaky at times throughout the 11-14 start, the starting rotation has actually performed fairly well and ranks in the top-10 in baseball both in ERA and WHIP.
There have been some surprises which have contributed to the hot start such as emergences from guys like Mitchell Parker and Brad Lord, but it's the step taken by Washington's ace that has made the biggest impact.
Former top prospect MacKenzie Gore is finally starting to look like the ace the Nationals believed they were getting when he was included in the Juan Soto trade return from the San Diego Padres.
Though Gore was credited with a loss in the 2-1 series finale against the Orioles, he was absolutely brilliant on Thursday night. Over six innings pitched, he allowed just four hits, two runs and one walk while striking out eight.
With the effort, Gore lowered his ERA on the season to 3.34 alongside a Major League-leading 53 strikeouts in 35 innings pitched.
The 26-year-old is putting up the best numbers of his career in the early going this season after starting to show flashes of it last year.
Gore has improved on his numbers in each of his three seasons so far in Washington after posting a 4.42 ERA in his first year in the nation's capital back in 2023. Over a full 32 starts last season, he had a 3.90 ERA while striking out nearly 10 batters per nine innings.
This year, however, the left-hander has taken things up a notch and is making hitters look totally silly with an MLB-best 13.6 K/9.
Whether or not the Nationals can push to end their playoff drought this season remains to be seen, but with Gore pitching the way he has, they will certainly have a tremendous chance to win every time he takes the mound.
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Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.