Washington Nationals new look bullpen is finding success

Jose A Ferrer, Luis Garcia and Konnor Pilkington have proven to be reliable arms for Nats interim manager Miguel Cairo

With a third straight win last night, the Washington Nationals have finally found their footing again. With their disastrous June and the team being rocked by the firing of Davey Martinez in early July, the Nationals had been playing bad baseball for a long time. Now, it looks like that might be changing. A new and improved bullpen is a big reason for this.

To varying degrees, the Nationals bullpen has been a problem all year. At points it has been manageable. There was a run where guys like Cole Henry, Brad Lord and Kyle Finnegan helped stabilize the back end of the bullpen. However, for most of the year, the bullpen has been a disaster.

There is a reason the Nats have the worst bullpen ERA in all of baseball. A cast of characters have come and gone in this bullpen. Early in the season, free agent pick ups Lucas Sims, Colin Poche and Jorge Lopez were blowing games at will. After they got cut, the Nationals had to count on guys like Eduardo Salazar and Zach Brzykcy. It did not go well.

However, it appears that the Nats have finally stumbled on a solid unit in the bullpen. There are now a number of competent, if not spectacular options in the bullpen. Guys like Cole Henry, Andrew Chafin, Kyle Finnegan, Konnor Pilkington, Luis Garcia and a resurgent Jose A. Ferrer can all be at least somewhat trusted.

Those last three guys have been the real difference makers though. Two of them are new additions to the bullpen and Jose A. Ferrer has been pitching as well as he has all season lately. Let’s start with the new guys. I have written about both Luis Garcia and Konnor Pilkington lately if you want more information, but here is a short breakdown on these guys.

Luis Garcia’s signing was a bit of a news dump. The news came right after the firings of Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez. He was Mike DeBartolo’s first signing and boy has he been a good one. The 38 year old was released by the Dodgers after 28 shaky outings. While he still threw hard, it seemed like the end might be near for the veteran.

Since coming to the Nats, Garcia has been really sharp. In 10 outings, he has a 0.90 ERA. The biggest change has been his command. In LA, he was walking 5.27 batters per nine innings, with the Nats his BB/9 is at 1.80. That is allowing his power sinker to play and generate plenty of ground balls.

Garcia has been extremely valuable and has been a stabilizing force in the Nats bullpen. However, he is not alone because another new guy, Konnor Pilkington has also made a big impact.

In five appearances, Pilkington has been electric. He has not allowed a run and has given up two hits with no walks in that time. Pilkington has been effective in AAA all season, but had some walk issues. Those command issues have not been there are at all so far, even if it is still something to watch out for.

Pilkington has been in the big leagues before, but he looks like a totally different pitcher now. He had a run of action in 2022 with the Guardians, but he has changed a lot since then.

First off, he is throwing a lot harder, which makes since given his move to the bullpen. In 2022, his fastball averaged 92.1 MPH. However, he is now throwing his heater 94.9 MPH in 2025.

The other thing Pilkington did was lower his arm slot dramatically. For some more information about arm angles, here is a link to an MLB story. In 2022, his arm angle was 39 degrees, which is about average. However, his arm angle has dropped to 29 degrees in 2025.

This has given Pilkington a level of deception he did not have before. That added velocity and deception has made him a menace in the Nationals bullpen. He looks like he can be a real piece moving forward.

The last guy I want to talk about is Jose A. Ferrer. Big things were expected out of Ferrer, but he was very disappointing to start the season. However, he has really turned a corner lately. In his last 30 appearances, Ferrer has a 3.09 ERA. That is a big sample size of very good work from Ferrer.

Those numbers are actually in line with Ferrer’s peripherals. On the season, the southpaw has a FIP of 3.07 despite a 4.78 season ERA. The most impressive thing about Ferrer’s last 30 games is that he has issued just three walks in his last 32 innings.

With that command, along with his power sinker, it is going to be tough for hitters. Despite his velocity, Ferrer is more of a pitch to contact guy, so sometimes he will give up some hits. However, he is one of my favorite arms and it is good to see him finally break through.

Those three guys have really stabilized the Nationals bullpen. Along with Chafin and Henry, the Nationals have a number of guys they can count on. This is not to say there will be no more meltdowns, because there will. However, for the first time all season, I am feeling fairly confident in the bullpen.