Washington Nationals news & notes: MacKenzie Gore Ks 11 in 5.0 scoreless; Nats beat A’s, 3-1…

Notes and quotes from MacKenzie Gore’s dominant start against the A’s…

Mackenzie Gore, Eno Sarris wrote at The Athletic this week, appears to have done the work necessary to take a step in his development, at least early in his third season in the majors.

“This season,” Sarris noted, “Gore is…”:

• Throwing the four-seam 2 mph harder, with more ride

• Throwing the slider 3 mph harder

• Throwing the curve 1 tick harder, with more drop

• Throwing the changeup almost 2 ticks slower

Going into start No. 3, Gore was averaging 97 MPH on his fastball, up from 94.7 and 95.0 MPH in his first two seasons in the majors.

He’s throwing it slightly less, 50.8%, after leaning on it 61% and 59.5% of the time in 2022 and ‘23, respectively, with a jump in his changeup usage 15.5% so far, up from 5.2% in ‘22 and 2.9% last year, while his curve (17.1%) and his slider (16.6%) have, thus far, been fairly steady compared to previous seasons.

GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo, in his weekly visit with Audacy’s The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the FAN, this past Wednesday, said he has liked what he’s seen from the southpaw thus far as Gore establishes himself as one of the true up-and-coming starters in the majors.

“He’s been terrific,” Rizzo told The Junkies of the early returns on Gore in 2024. “His stuff is elite. He’s got elite stuff, and he’s really challenging hitters more and pounding the strike zone at a much greater pace. I think you’ll see his pitch selection has been much more balanced than it was last year. I think last start against the Phillies he threw somewhere around 15 or 16 percent changeups, along with the curveball, slider, and four-seam fastball, so that’s a dramatic jump from last season where he’s really trying to work that into his repertoire as a fourth pitch and I think you could see that coming, when that pitch comes I think he’s going really, really turn a corner for him.”

Why is the progress of his changeup such a big deal?

“Because he’s got all the power stuff in the world,” Rizzo explained to the Junkies, “… if he can get something to get those right-handed hitters off his fastball and off his hard slider, I think it’s gonna make him even better.”

In Saturday’s start against the A’s in Oakland, Gore went fastball heavy, throwing it for 52 of his 90 total pitches in five innings of work (58%), generating 28 swings and 12 whiffs on his heater, which averaged 97.1 MPH and got up to 97.8. Just five fastballs were put in play, with 11 fouled off.

Gore piked up 11 strikeouts from the 19 batters he faced, limiting A’s hitters to four hits and one walk while he was on the mound, making the 1-0 lead he got to work with in the third hold up after through five in a dominant outing for the 25-year-old starter in what ended up a 3-1 win.

The starter picked up 20 swinging and 15 called strike overall on the day.

“I knew I was missing bats. I knew we were locating well,” Gore said after the win, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

His manager loved that Gore went fastball-heavy in the outing, leaning on what was doing well for him.

“He threw it really well. Both sides of the plate,” Martinez said. “When he’s doing that, then the secondary pitches really play well, but he wanted to establish his fastball, and he did a great job with it.”

“Then they have to really kind of be aware of the fastball,” Gore explained, as quoted by MLB.com writer Jessica Camerato, “… and it just makes those pitches that aren’t as hard look a lot better.

“I’ve been throwing the ball hard and locating it well, that opens up everything else.”

“It’s beautiful. He goes out there and he attacks the strike zone, you know?” Martinez said of Gore throwing 59 of 90 pitches for strikes.

“He goes out there and competes. This is — hopefully, we can now see that consistency.”

If there was one area for improvement in the outing, it would be pitch efficiency.

“I know he struck out a lot of guys,” Martinez said. “I’m really talking to him about — pitch efficiency is going to be the next key for him … trying to get to six innings at this 90-pitch mark.”

MacKenzie Gore’s Line: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 Ks, 90 P, 59 S, 1/2 GO/FO.

SENZEL RETURNING SOON?:

Nick Senzel was scheduled to play in his third rehab game at Double-A Harrisburg on Friday night, but it was rained out.

Senzel suffered a fractured left thumb as he took grounders before the ‘24 season opener, but manager Davey Martinez said from the start it would be an issue of pain tolerance as far as when the veteran might return.

From what the skipper said before Friday’s game, Martinez made it sound as if Senzel’s impending return may happen sooner than later (and expected).

“He’s doing well,” Martinez said. “He’s feeling good. It was all about pain tolerance, and he said right now he’s doing great, doesn’t feel anything, and he’s hitting the ball really well down there, and playing really well, so we’ll get him up here as soon as possible.”

Trey Lipscomb has been holding down the hot corner in Senzel’s stead, but the Nationals’ manager said Senzel will play third as planned this winter once he is back in the majors.

“I want [Senzel] to play third base,” Martinez said.

“The good news is that a lot of these guys can do multiple things, so he’s going to play third base for us, and then we’ll see.

“He’s still not here, but when we get him here we’ll have some options, which is nice.”

ALSO THIS:

AND THIS:

Davey Martinez on Jacob Young and CJ Abrams chasing each other around the bases:

What did you think of CJ Abrams’s triple/Jacob Young/CJ on bases?: “Fast. I think CJ got him though. I think it was 28.6 seconds, the other one was [28.5]. So we got all over Jacob Young and said, ‘You got to get a little faster.”