Nationals Make Crucial Rotation Adjustment Leading Into Second Half of Season
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After an All-Star break that featured three of their players in the Midsummer Classic, the Washington Nationals are set to return to action on Friday to start a three-game road set against the Athletics.
Much of the noise heading into that matchup centers around the promotion and eventual team debut of star catching prospect Harry Ford, who will look to make the most of this opportunity to potentially stay in The Show for the rest of the season. But that wasn't the only bit of news that came out before the start of the this series.
Washington revealed that they made a crucial change to their starting rotation, and it has set themselves up for success during the second half of the year.
Nationals Stack Their Top Three Starters
Cade Cavalli is scheduled to start the second half opener on Friday. Behind him will be Zack Littell, with All-Star Foster Griffin taking the ball in the finale as the No. 3 starter. It's not clear who is going to be the No. 4 or No. 5 in this rotation, but it seems like Miles Mikolas will likely pitch behind Griffin with either Jake Irvin or Andrew Alvarez starting in the final spot.
Regardless of who Butera puts into the fourth and fifth spots, this new rotation is a massive upgrade compared to how things operated in the first half of the season when it was arranged liked this:
1. Cade Cavalli
2. Miles Mikolas
3. Jake Irvin
4. Foster Griffin
5. Zack Littell
Much of that was due to no fault of Washington's. Littell was signed late in the process, so he wasn't ready to join the team until their second series of the year. And no one knew what to expect from Griffin, since he had been signed after he spent three seasons pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan.
But now, after seeing how his pitchers have performed this year, Butera made the right decision to adjust his rotation setup. With Griffin scheduled to pitch in the finale for the majority of their upcoming series, that could be a huge boost for the Nationals since they have left wins on the table due to their inability to sweep teams.
Their bullpen usage should, on paper, be much more manageable going forward, too. Littell has been able to go deeper into games despite Washington rotating between throwing an opener in front of him or not. And with him sandwiched between Cavalli and Griffin, that should allow their relievers to have more time off ahead of the days when Mikolas is scheduled to pitch. Once Irvin returns from the IL, that should only help things, as well. Butera can stack Irvin and Alvarez behind each other, which should reduce the mileage on the other relief arms.
All in all, this was an important adjustment by the Nationals before the second half of their season gets underway. And if everything goes according to plan, it might keep them in the playoff race when the calendar flips to fall.
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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