Washington Nationals: Grading the starting rotation so far

Gio Gonzalez exceeding expectations so far

Coming into his contract year, Gio Gonzalez was hoping to carry over the momentum from last year’s 6th place Cy Young finish. And in 2018 so far, he’s well on his way to doing so.

Gonzalez has 4-2 record with a pristine 2.22 ERA and even striking out batters at 10.1 K/9 clip. And just like Scherzer, the FIP paints a picture of this being somewhat sustainable. He sits at a 2.48 mark, and could be in for a nice payday this winter as a free agent.

The sole leftie in the rotation has been throwing it back to the Gonzalez of old when he was the Nationals ace. He would love to get back to his 2012 stats when he went 21-8 record with a 2.89 ERA.

The one concern right now for Gonzalez is that he is allowing a lot of base-runners so far this season. He has a WHIP of 1.343 so he has to work out of jams to get his great results. He’s also thrown the fifth most pitches with runners on base in the majors, and you wonder if this may catch up to him.

The high WHIP also results in him not going very deep into outings, and bringing the Nats troubled middle relief in the game. And that doesn’t help the team if they continue to struggle.

Overall, you have to be impressed on the whole with Gonzalez, just be wary he could come back down to earth at any moment. A-