The Nationals bullpen has some fresh faces like Cole Henry who are making the unit less awful
Do not get it twisted, the Washington Nationals bullpen is not great. They will have plenty more nights this season where they throw leads away. It is not always going to be pretty. However, after making some changes, the Nationals bullpen is not the total dumpster fire it was in April. Kyle Finnegan was good, but the rest of the unit was appalling. Most of the guys in the bullpen now can get the job done, at least some of the time.
The season numbers are still bad, with a bullpen ERA of 6.55, the second worst mark in baseball. But hey, it feels good not to be at the bottom anymore. That is where the Nats bullpen has sat for most of the season.
Cutting the Fat:
From the offset, it was very clear the Nats had a bullpen problem. After Opening Day, I wrote that the unit could be an issue, and that proved to be the case. It took a little while for Mike Rizzo to realize this, but eventually he did, making much needed changes.
Five relievers pitched on that Opening Day meltdown. Less than two months later, only two of those guys are still with the team, Kyle Finnegan and Jose A Ferrer. The three others are either in the Nats farm system or out of the organization.
Colin Poche was the first guy to go, getting DFA’d on May 1st, and replaced by veteran Andrew Chafin. While Chafin has had problems finding the zone at times, he has been much more effective than Poche, with a 1.59 ERA in 9 outings. His slider and deception make him a tough at bat for left handed hitters.
The next guy to go was Eduardo Salazar, who was optioned to Triple-A on May 7th. Salazar was a solid arm for the Nats in 2024, but was just way too hittable this season. He allowed 28 hits in 15.2 innings, pitching to a 9.77 ERA.
Salazar is now pitching in the Rochester bullpen and has been decent in four outings. He is just 27, so maybe he just needs a reset to turn things around and he can be a factor again at some point.
The next day, Mike Rizzo decided to cut Lucas Sims after a horror show where the right hander had no command whatsoever. Even by his poor standards, Sims was wild in his last outing, where he walked four in 0.2 innings. Minutes after the game ended, Sims’ time in DC was done.
It was a total disaster for him. He pitched to a shocking ERA of 13.86 in 18 outings. Sims walked 14 and hit seven batters in 12.1 innings. His seven hit batters is still the most in baseball. He was nearly as wild as Trevor Rosenthal.
With those guys being gone, the Nats cut ties with the three biggest problems in their bullpen. While it is not an elite bullpen by any means now, they have more viable arms who you can trust to get outs at this level.
New Blood:
Besides the Chafin pickup, the Nats have looked in house for bullpen solutions. They have turned to a lot of guys who have mostly been starting pitchers in their career. The most notable among those are Cole Henry and Jackson Rutledge.
Both were highly touted starting pitching prospects, but faced hurdles that have forced both into the bullpen. For Rutledge, he just wasn’t getting it done as a starter. He put up a 6.40 ERA in 27 Triple-A starts last year. At 26 years old, the former first rounder was at a crossroads in his career.
However, a move to the bullpen has revitalized him. Rutledge has always had an innate feel to spin the baseball. In the bullpen, he is taking advantage of that, ripping his slider and cutter. His slider is a particularly deadly pitch, with batters hitting .136 against it and whiffing 50% of the time. If anything, he could probably throw it even more than the 28.5% of the time he is using it now.
While his slider is his best weapon, Rutledge also has a mid to upper 90’s fastball to keep hitters honest. He also throws a cutter and splitter, especially to lefties. Right now he has a 2.75 ERA in 19.2 innings, with 10.53 K/9.
The other big revelation in the bullpen has been Cole Henry. He was a big time starting pitching prospect, but was hammered by injuries. Henry had to undergo surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in 2022. A career ender for many players, Henry has bounced back from the surgery and has found life in the bullpen.
He has a 2.93 ERA in 13 appearances across 15.1 innings. However, that impressive mark is still artificially high. Henry has only allowed a run in one of his 13 outings, a five run blowup against the Mets. Other than that, Henry has been spotless.
Henry gets the job done with mainly a fastball-curveball combination. Batters are hitting .143 against the fastball and .222 against the hook. His heater gets way more swing and miss than the average fastball, with hitters swinging at air 32.7% of the time. It is clear he creates a lot of deception and hitters struggle to pick him up.
I think Henry has legitimate high leverage upside, and should be used in more high leverage spots. His stuff is nasty and he is a strike-thrower. Guy like Rutledge and Henry could be the future of the Nationals bullpen.
Return to Form:
The last reason for the Nats bullpen’s climb towards mediocrity is some pitchers turning it around. In particular, I wanted to look at Jorge Lopez and Jose A Ferrer. Both players had their hands in a meltdown against Cleveland last week, but have shown signs of life lately.
With Lopez, I am seeing an uptick in his stuff. At the beginning of the season, his velocity was way down, sitting in the low to mid 90’s. Now we are seeing more 96’s than 93’s. That velocity is super important for a sinker baller like him. Lopez’s breaking stuff looks like it has a lot more bit. His changeup has also looked good at times. Lopez has two scoreless outings against the O’s this weekend, hopefully that is the start of a good run.
The other guy who has been better lately is Jose A Ferrer. After a blowup against the Guardians, his ERA sat at 8.05, and it looked like he could be the next on the chopping block. However, the left hander has strung together five straight scoreless outings now.
His ERA is still at 6.20, but he looks ready to go on a run. Ferrer has always had the talent. I had high hopes for him entering the season, even suggesting he could challenge Kyle Finnegan. Clearly that will not happen, but Ferrer has a chance to bounce back and settle in as a high leverage arm. His sinker is so powerful and heavy, while he flashes a nice changeup and slider as well.
The Nats bullpen is going to be unstable all season. Outside of Finnegan, all of these guys are either erratic or unproven. However, now that they have gotten rid of the likes of Sims and Poche, the Nationals bullpen is not a total laughing stock anymore. All they need from the bullpen is mediocrity, and I think they are going to get that moving forward.