Ogasawara settling into reliever role with high-leverage opportunity

When Shinnosuke Ogasawara signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract with the Nationals in January, not only did he become the first player the organization signed directly from Asia, but he also became an instant contender for a starting rotation spot.

But that didn’t come to fruition in spring training, as he was optioned to start the season at Triple-A Rochester.

The 27-year-old left-hander was called up to make his major league debut on July 6, completing only 2 ⅔ innings and giving up four runs and seven hits in a loss to the Red Sox. His second start was better, but he still gave up three runs and four hits in just four innings against the Brewers.

The Nats optioned Ogasawara back to Rochester following that start, deciding to instead fill his rotation spot with Brad Lord after the All-Star break. But with holes left on the roster following the trade deadline, the club brought him back to the major leagues to take on a role in the bullpen.

Since then, Ogasawara has found the results he and the team had hoped for back in camp.

“Good because the coaching staff, including (pitching coach Jim) Hickey, everybody's helping me to transition from a starter to a reliever. So it's not too hard,” Ogasawara said this morning ahead of the Nats’ finale against the Athletics about his transition to the ‘pen, via interpreter Kiyoshi Tada. “Obviously, it's not easy, but they're helping to make the adjustment. So that was really good support.”

In his first big league relief appearance, Ogasawara pitched three scoreless innings against the Brewers. He was then charged with two runs without recording an out in his fourth, but the overall results were better.

That appearance came in the fifth inning with the Nats already trailing 5-2. His second chance out of the bullpen came last night in a high-leverage situation.

In a 1-1 game with the Nats desperately trying to snap a six-game losing streak, interim manager Miguel Cairo turned to Ogasawara with two outs in the seventh. The southpaw issued a leadoff walk to Nick Kurtz, but then came back to get a popup to end the inning.

And then back out he came for the eighth, still in a tie game, to pitch a 1-2-3 frame with a strikeout and help the Nats eventually get to their walk-off victory.

"I've got to find out who can help us in leverage situations,” Cairo said after the game Wednesday night. “I've got to find out who can go over there and get three outs. Or six outs. Today, he did it, and it was nice to see. The last game that he pitched was unbelievable, too. Now you can see that you can count on him in situations, that he's going to come in and throw strikes and make his pitches."

The better Ogasawara pitches, the more trust he’s going to earn from Cairo for the rest of the season. And with his experience as a starter allowing him to go multiple innings, the lefty could develop into a special late-inning weapon.

“Obviously when you are just relieving, you can probably pitch one or two innings. But I have a lot of experience as a starter, so that lets me pitch multiple innings,” Ogasawara said.

When he does go multiple innings of relief, that will probably limit the opportunities he gets to pitch on back-to-back days, so Cairo will have to pick his spots carefully. But Ogasawara said he’ll stay ready since his routine hasn’t really changed while making this adjustment.

“Obviously as a starter, you have a lot of routines. But now as a reliever, you might think maybe the routine is going to be shorter,” Ogasawara said. “Obviously it's going to be shorter, but it's still condensed. And still whatever I need to do, it's been done, and it has been good.”