Washington Nationals Promising Pitcher Is Ready To Take Next Step This Season
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The Washington Nationals have one of the youngest teams in baseball as they try to get back to their winning ways coming off some lean seasons since their first World Series title.
In the five years since the miraculous championship run for the Nationals, the team has not been back to the playoffs and has finished last place in the division four times. But through the struggle, some tremendous pieces have been added who should be a part of the core who gets things back on track. One of those pieces was acquired in the Juan Soto trade with the San Diego Padres in 25-year-old left-handed pitcher MacKenzie Gore.
Once one of the most widely hyped pitching prospects in some time, Gore has been at the MLB level for three years now and while there have been flashes, he has yet to put it all together. 2024 was his best season yet and finished with a dominant September in which he finished with a 1.26 ERA over five starts. In an article predicting who the breakout players of the 2025 season who shatter the glass ceiling into superstardom will be, David Adler of MLB.com named Gore to his list.
"Gore, the Nationals' 25-year-old power-pitching lefty, was also a hyped prospect who's had his share of ups and downs over his first few seasons," Adler wrote. "But he finally started to look like a future rotation cornerstone last year, making 32 starts with a 3.90 ERA and 181 strikeouts, but for a Washington team that finished 20 games under .500. Gore has the stuff to get even better in 2025."
Adler compared Gore's development to that of Cincinnati Reds superstar Hunter Greene. After a promising first two seasons for the Reds in which he was showing off elite stuff and striking out a ton of batters but not quite putting everything together statistically, it all came together for Greene in 2024 with a 2.75 ERA and first career All Star appearance.
While it's taken Gore a bit longer than it did Greene, a similar trajectory is there.
Gore struggled through portions of the 2024 season but finished the year with a 3.90 ERA and 181 strikeouts in 166.1 innings pitched. His development next season could go as far to make or break whether or not the Nationals are able to break through and have a more competitive season than what has been the result of the last five years.
If everything finally clicks and Gore becomes the true ace that everyone initially expected him to be, the sky could be the limit for the Washington pitching staff in 2025 and beyond.
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.