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PLAYER REVIEW: MACKENZIE GORE
Age on Opening Day 2026: 27
How acquired: Traded with CJ Abrams, James Wood, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, August 2022
MLB service time: 4 years
2025 salary: $2.89 million
Contract status: Arbitration-eligible, free agent in 2028
2025 stats: 5-15, 4.17 ERA, 30 G, 30 GS, 159 2/3 IP, 152 H, 75 R, 74 ER, 20 HR, 64 BB, 185 SO, 5 HBP, 1.353 WHIP, 98 ERA+, 3.74 FIP, 3.0 bWAR, 2.9 fWAR
Quotable: “He had a great year. Everyone goes through the ups and downs of the season. He had a really good first half, he went to the All-Star Game, pitched really well and came back. They all get a little tired, and they go through rough spots, but he pitched unbelievable.” – Miguel Cairo
2025 analysis: Gore entered the season with lofty expectations for himself, then raised the bar even higher when he dazzled on Opening Day against the Phillies, retiring 17 of the 18 batters he faced, 13 by strikeout. He never quite duplicated that performance, but he continued to excel throughout the first half, earning the first All-Star selection of his career thanks to a 3.02 ERA and league-leading 138 strikeouts through his first 110 1/3 innings pitched.
Then, as too many others on the Nationals roster did, Gore faded in the second half following the firings of general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez. He gave up six or more runs in three of his first four starts coming out of the break, a brutal stretch that drove his ERA up to 4.29 and forced him to spend the rest of the season trying to creep his way back down into the 3.00s.
He didn’t quite get there, but he did pitch better down the stretch, despite a pair of brief stints on the injured list for relatively minor ailments (left shoulder inflammation, right ankle impingement). In six starts from mid-August to mid-September, Gore delivered a 2.84 ERA before allowing four runs in only two innings in his final start (during which he was dealing with the ankle ailment).
So, how did Gore end up with an atrocious 5-15 record? He received some of the worst run support in baseball. The Nationals were either shut out or held to one run in an astounding 11 of his 30 starts this year. He allowed two or fewer runs in 19 of the 30 starts but was charged with six losses and eight no-decisions in those games.
2026 outlook: Gore’s goal entering the 2025 season was relatively simple: String together more dominant starts, but more than that avoid stringing together blowup starts. That’s what killed him the previous year. And he was mostly successful in that regard, except for that one really ugly stretch in late-July and early-August.
How does Gore avoid the blowup starts? He needs to cut down on loud contact, especially off his fastball. Opponents batted .294 and slugged .483 off his four-seamer this season, and it got worse when his velocity ticked down a bit prior to his IL stint for the shoulder inflammation. His breaking balls are elite, with opponents batting .217 off his curveball and .195 off his slider. Those two pitches also accounted for 54 percent of his strikeouts even though they accounted for less than 36 percent of his total pitches thrown.
Gore admittedly is a fly ball pitcher (31.5 percent of all batted balls off him, compared to the league average of 24 percent) and that’s probably not going to change. But his fastball is going to need to be good enough to induce swings and misses up in the zone instead of solid contact. And when in doubt, just throw the breaking balls, because those do get a lot of swings and misses.
This is an interesting point in Gore’s career. He’s only got two years left before he’s eligible for free agency. He’s a critical part of the Nationals rotation, and in a perfect world would anchor a pitching staff that is ready to contend before he has the ability to depart. But new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni will have to decide if he believes the rest of the roster will be ready to contend in that timeframe to take full advantage of the lefty’s ability. If there are any doubts about that, would Toboni consider trade offers for Gore this winter?
