Nationals Ace Cade Cavalli Has Been Absolutely Ridiculous Over His Last 10 Starts
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While the Washington Nationals were confident in what Cade Cavalli could become as a major league starting pitcher, no one really knew what to expect this season.
He made his return last year and posted a 4.25 ERA across 10 starts. He flashed some upside, but he also looked like someone who was making his return after a lengthy absence following Tommy John surgery. Cavalli, who was the team's first-round pick in 2020, had all the makings of being an ace. But it wasn't clear that he could make that leap in his career.
Fast forward to now, and he's answered those questions and then some.
Cavalli walked off the mound on Wednesday having spun another gem. He had 11 strikeouts across six scoreless innings. That followed his no-hit bid against the Chicago Cubs in his start prior, which he carried into the seventh inning before he finished the day after tossing eight shutout frames.
Cade Cavalli Has 2.12 ERA Over His Last 10 Starts
His last two outings have been exclamation points on what has been a ridiculous stretch.
Over Cavalli's last 10 starts, he has a 2.12 ERA across 59 1/3 innings pitched. That puts his ERA at No. 9 in the majors amongst starting pitchers during that span (June 30 - Aug. 20). The only players who have lower ERAs than Cavalli who also pitched more innings are Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (1.79 ERA in 60 1/3 innings) and previous NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins (2.07 ERA in 61 innings).
Simply put, this is what the Nationals envisioned they were getting when they took Cavalli No. 22 overall in the 2020 draft. While the regime that selected him is no longer in place, the current front office also believed in the 28-year-old enough to hand him the keys to this rotation after they opted to trade MacKenzie Gore to the Texas Rangers this past winter.
What's even more encouraging is that it looks like Cavalli's big-time stuff is back, too. He didn't strike out a ton of guys when he returned to the bigs last year with under a K per inning. And he was hit or miss when it came to high strikeout numbers to start this season. However, over his last 10 starts, he recorded 73 K's. That was tied for the most in the majors along with strikeout artist Dylan Cease of the Toronto Blue Jays and breakout right-hander Gavin Williams of the Cleveland Guardians. Cavalli also only issued 13 walks during this span, which gave him a top 10 K/BB ratio at 26.5%.
Washington had long been confident that the best was yet to come for the talented right-hander. That has proven to be true based on what has taken place this summer.
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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