Nationals Starter Zack Littell Can Turn Things Around by Improving in These Areas

When the Washington Nationals signed Zack Littell prior to the start of this season, it was seen as a huge win for this club since they added an established starter to their rotation.

But through four outings (three starts), the right-hander has not provided the value that many people expected. He has a 7.11 ERA and was just lit up for eight earned runs against the San Francisco Giants on Friday that resulted in his second loss of the year. While that performance inflated his ERA, he also entered his most recent outing with a figure of 4.20 and he hasn't gone more than five innings.

The Nationals need Littell to turn things around. And improving his numbers in these three statistical categories should help the 30-year-old get back on track.

Reducing His Walk Rate

Washington Nationals pitcher Zack Littell | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Littell has been effective as a starting pitcher since 2023 because of his control. Without a high strikeout rate, he has to dominate in other facets of the game. And his low walk rate has been one of his clear superpowers with his career mark of 5.4% sitting well below the league average of 8.5%.

But so far this season, he's walking batters 6.7% of the time. While that's still in the 75th percentile compared to other pitchers across Major League Baseball, that is much higher than the figures of 4.7% he had in 2024 and 4.2% he had in 2025.

Locating pitches and finding his control will be important if he's going to turn his campaign around. Based on his history, there is reason to believe Littell will regain his superpower. And if that happens, then he should perform in the manner Washington expected when they signed him.

Missing Barrels and Lowering Hard-Hit Rate

A huge thing that stands out in Littell's profile is just how hard opposing batters are hitting the ball. While it's early in the season and numbers can be skewed due to that small sample size, it's notable the right-hander has an eye-catching 52.2% hard-hit rate against him. That puts him in the 11th percentile, which is a clear recipe for disaster. And along those same lines, he's given up a barrel rate of 14.5%, which is in the 12th percentile.

That is a huge deviation from his past numbers as a starter. In 2024, he had a barrel and hard-hit rate against him of 39% and 9.6%, respectively. In 2025, those numbers were 40.7% and 9.8%. Improving in those two areas will be huge for Littell to get things back on track this year.

Improving His Chase Rate

As pointed out earlier, Littell is not a high-strikeout guy. He only has a career K rate of 19.6%, which is three percentage points below the league average. However, he has been much better at making batters chase pitches in the past than he has this year, as his chase rate so far this season is 27% compared to the 31% and 30.8% figures he put up in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

All three of these categories can tie in together. If he improves his command and starts lowering the number of walks he issues, then that should help increase his chase rate since hitters will have to go after pitches more often. And by hitting his spots and generating more swings, that should help reduce the high barrel rate and hard-hit numbers against him.

Whether Littell can improve in these statistical categories will be seen. But it's clear that his performance so far this year is an outlier when looking at these three areas. So if he's able to turn things around in those sectors, then he should find success once again.

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