When the pitching probables came out for the Nationals’ weekend series against the Rays, nothing was out of the ordinary. No new names appeared nor where there any TBAs listed:
* Friday – LHP Mitchell Parker vs. RHP Adrian Houser
* Saturday – RHP Jake Irvin vs. RHP Ryan Pepiot
* Sunday – RHP Brad Lord vs. LHP Ian Seymour
The only interesting factor was that Thursday’s off-day would have allowed the Nationals to skip Parker’s spot in the rotation and still have the other four starters make their next starts on normal rest.
Why would they have done that?
Parker has struggled the most out of the five starters currently in the Nats rotation. Some extra time in between starts may have helped the left-hander figure out some things in order to have a strong finish to the season.
The 25-year-old was one of the Nats’ best player development stories last year. The 2020 fifth-round pick made his major league debut earlier than most projected when the Nats needed a starter early in the season at Dodger Stadium. All he did was become the first Nationals pitcher to be credited with the win in his first major league start since Stephen Strasburg by holding the eventual World Series champions to two runs over five innings.
That set the stage for an impressive rookie campaign by the southpaw. In 29 starts, Parker went 7-10 with a respectable 4.29 ERA and 1.305 WHIP that grew as he pitched deeper into the season. At times, he showed flashes of dominance, with three seven-inning outings of two runs or less against the Braves, Cardinals and Rockies.
But although he had similar flashes early this season, specifically an eight-inning shutout performance of one-hit ball against the Orioles in April, he hasn’t been able to recapture the consistency that he had for most of his rookie year.
In his six starts by the end of April, Parker had a stellar 2.65 ERA with the Nationals winning five of those games. Over the 20 starts since, he has a 7.30 ERA with the Nationals losing 14 of those games.
Even more recently, Parker hasn’t even given the Nationals a chance from the start. The team is winless in his five August starts, a stretch in which he’s given up 30 hits, 28 runs, seven homers and 11 walks in just 21 innings for a 12.00 ERA and 1.952 WHIP.
Be that as it may, Parker remains on schedule in the rotation for now. So all five starters benefit from at least one extra day of rest before their next start, which everyone could sorely use.
Irvin has struggled this season as well after two solid campaigns to begin his big league career. His ERA now sits at 5.40 after pitching to a 9.55 ERA (23 earned runs in 21 ⅔ innings) over his five August starts. And Lord, MacKenzie Gore and Cade Cavalli all struggled this week against the Yankees.
But Parker’s struggles have been the most glaring and the most harmful to the team’s chances at winning ballgames. The Nats had an opportunity to give him extra time to work on his stuff, but decided against it.
And optioning him down to the minor leagues would be a difficult decision since there are no obvious choices to replace him at Triple-A Rochester. Despite some brief moments in his first limited major league action this season, prospect Andry Lara has an 8.79 ERA in nine relief appearances with the Nats and a 9.00 ERA in 11 games (five starts) with Rochester. Andrew Alvarez has a 4.10 ERA in 25 Triple-A starts. And Joan Adon is on the Red Wings’ injured list.
So that leaves Parker having to figure it out over the last month of the season as he auditions for a rotation spot in 2026, starting tonight against the Rays.