Even though Juan Soto is just starting to heat up, Washington Nationals are in the midst of a second consecutive lost season. A season ago they finished with a .443 win percentage. This year, it’s at just .363.
Since they’re nowhere near being competitive, the Nationals should give their top pitching prospect, Cade Cavalli, his first taste of the big leagues.
Current Nationals pitching staff needs a boost
The Nationals pitching staff as a unit currently ranks dead last in earned runs allowed among teams in the National League. They wouldn’t suffer any more by giving the 23-year-old righty a spot in the rotation for a few starts. He can’t do any worse than the Nats’ collective staff has done thus far.
While Cavalli did get a chance to spend some spring training time with the big league ball club this year, he got shellacked, allowing 13 earned runs in just 8.1 innings of action.
Unfortunately, his rough start continued on into Cavalli’s minor league season at Triple-A, allowing 12 runs in his first 12 innings. He’s had a few up and down starts in between, but his last three days on the mound have gone spectacularly for Cavalli.
- Cade Cavalli stats in his last three starts:
- 5 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K – 88 pitches
- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – 75 pitches
- 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K – 93 pitches
His most recent start came in Game 1 of the Rochester Red Wings’ doubleheader on Saturday, but the Nationals should make sure Cavalli’s next start is his MLB regular-season debut.
As the 49th-ranked player on the MLB top-100 prospects list, the Nationals need to see what they have in their first-round pick from the 2020 Draft.
With a fastball that can reach triple digits, promoting Cavalli would at the very least help improve Washington’s attendance, which ranks 12th among the 15 teams in the National League. Who knows? They just might have their next staff ace in waiting.
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