Washington Nationals: Joe Ross at crossroads

Washington Nationals starter Joe Ross is struggling. With his ERA climbing back over seven, where is the best place to use him?

This is a season Washington Nationals pitcher Joe Ross longs to forget.

Pitching in front of his hometown crowd Saturday against the Oakland Athletics, Ross failed again to make it passed the fourth inning. The line a stunning six earned runs over three bewildering innings. He struck out five, but put eight base runners on to mix with nine outs.

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A start so poor, Dusty Baker visited the mound to yell at him. Baker never yells. At anybody. Yet, in front of friends and family, he was as stern with Ross as you will ever see. Even the coldest of hearts felt for the young pitcher.

At 24, Ross should be at the start of a promising career. Instead, he has pitched himself off the Nats 25-man roster twice and flirts with a third. If the National League East pennant race resembled one, there would be reasons to worry.

Instead, Ross’ problems become a parlor game. Are his problems between the ears? Is he injured? Why does his arm slot drop? How can his fastball dip four miles-per-hour in velocity between the second and third inning?

If you have answers, please share as Ross wants to know. A MASN camera caught him looking lost in the dugout after his removal. He has no idea.

As the Nats did with Blake Treinen, the answer for now is let Ross take the ball on his turn and pitch through things. The division is in hand. Outside of his confidence and ego, he cannot hurt the team.

Although the smart move is a third trip to Syracuse and let him battle Triple-A hitters, a couple bad starts down there will do more damage between the ears then what is going on now. You risk ruining his career that way.

Turning Ross into a reliever is not the worst idea. The Nats have durability concerns going back to last year and fatigue is a huge issue. He is tossing 17.41 pitches a frame including his two great starts where pitched into the eighth. If his fastball can only hold for six batters why not use him as a long reliever?

The answer to that sits in Syracuse. If you swap Ross and Jacob Turner in the rotation, you have no one ready on the farm ready to start in Washington. Although A.J. Cole’s numbers in his one start look good on paper, he was overmatched by the Philadelphia Phillies. Austin Voth struggles with the Rochester Red Wings. He is not ready for the New York Mets, banged up or not.

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There is no good answer for Ross and the Nats. Although a change of scenery would do him good that is not happening this regular season. Fifth starters cause headaches because they are inconsistent. As long as Washington holds a huge lead in the division, he is a fifth starter.

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