Nationals Ace Cade Cavalli Has Shown He's at His Best in These Crucial Matchups
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The Washington Nationals are putting a lot of their chips in the Cade Cavalli basket.
That was made clear this offseason when they made the right-hander the new ace of this staff going forward after they shipped MacKenzie Gore to the Texas Rangers in what was a blockbuster deal. This new regime believes they can build a rotation around Cavalli, and so far, the 22nd overall pick of the 2020 draft seems like he is up to that task.
On Wednesday, with a chance to lead the Nationals to another series victory, Cavalli flashed his high-end talent once again. His lone allowed run came in the first inning. After that, he battled some command issues where he walked two batters and hit two more to keep the Philadelphia Phillies off the board and set himself up for the win before the bullpen imploded.
It was another strong start for the 27-year-old against a division rival, which seems to be his norm. With that thought in my head, I did some digging into the numbers and found that's exactly what the case has been for Cavalli, as he has been at his best when facing Washington's NL East foes.
Career 2.12 ERA Against Division Opponents
In his big league career, Cavalli has faced the Phillies three times, the Miami Marlins twice and the New York Mets once. In those matchups, he has allowed just eight earned runs across 34 total innings pitched with 22 strikeouts to five walks.
The 2.12 ERA he has in NL East showdowns is a fraction compared to his career ERA of 4.74. And considering he's only made 13 total MLB starts with six of them coming against division opponents, it seems pretty clear that he gets up for those rivalry games.
It will be interesting to see what the numbers show as the sample size grows. If Cavalli is able to keep up this level of performance in division, then that would be huge for the Nationals since it would give them a chance to win a game against an NL East opponent virtually every time he's on the mound.
Has Had Major Success Against the Phillies
The most success Cavalli has had in these rivalry showdowns has come against Philadelphia. While he did throw five shutout innings against the Mets last year, he's only faced that team once thus far. So there needs to be a great sample size on that front. Meanwhile, in his three matchups against the Phillies, he's proven he can shut down that lineup.
In fact, the best start of his career was his third one after he returned to the major league mound following Tommy John surgery when he faced Philadelphia and threw seven shutout innings. The Phillies tagged him for three runs across six innings the next time they played, but he turned in another good performance on Wednesday when he allowed just one earned run in six innings.
Washington has a ton of faith that Cavalli can be a face of this franchise. And based on the way he's handled his business in the team's most important matchups, the rising star is on his way to living up to that billing.
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