James Wood, Riley Cornelio Return for Nationals Ahead of Final Game vs. Braves
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Coming off a monstrous 9-5 win over their division rival Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, the Washington Nationals have gotten some reinforcements for the final stretch of the campaign.
Ahead of Wednesday's contest against the Braves, which is the final matchup between these two teams in the 2026 season, the Nationals announced that outfielder James Wood was reinstated from the 15-day injured list and right-handed pitcher Riley Cornelio was recalled from Triple-A Rochester.
The corresponding moves were to option fellow outfielder Andrew Pinckney back to Rochester and designate left-handed pitcher Tom Cosgrove for assignment.
It goes without saying that getting Wood back for September is huge. His return to the lineup will hopefully allow Washington to finish this successful year on a high note, which ideally will help build momentum for an important 2027 campaign.
There isn't much mystery when it comes to Wood or what he brings to the table. However, for Cornelio, this is an important stretch for him to try and earn a role heading into next year.
Riley Cornelio Gets Another Opportunity to Carve Out MLB Role
The 26-year-old was an intriguing name coming into this season. He had a good spring, and there were some murmurs that he might follow the same mold as Brad Lord, who came out of nowhere to become an impactful arm for this franchise.
That hasn't happened for Cornelio just yet, though. Across 11 big league outings, he has an ERA of 5.40. He's had major command issues with 20 walks across 20 innings pitched for a sky-high walk rate of 20.8%. And despite the fact that his stuff grades out above average with a FanGraphs Stuff+ rating of 105, he only recorded 20 strikeouts across those 20 frames.
Still, there is a lot to like about what Cornelio brings to the table. In his limited MLB sample size, he's induced a 31.7% whiff rate, which is well above the league average, and he's caused batters to chase 31.8% of the time, which is also above average. Throw in the 3.68 ERA and 103 strikeouts he's had across 22 outings (nine starts) and 66 innings pitched with Triple-A Rochester this season, and it's easy to get excited about what Cornelio become in the majors.
Hopefully, with the playoffs well out of reach at this stage of the year, the Nationals will actually give the young pitcher some real time on their big league roster instead of shuttling him up and down. Ideally, that will allow him to get comfortable within an MLB setting alongside his future teammates and coaches.
It will be up to Cornelio to prove that he can be an impactful pitcher for Washington during his career. And now that he's back ahead of the final stretch of the season, this is his chance to show it.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai