Cade Cavalli's new pitch has turned him into the ace the Nationals desperately needed

The Washington Nationals bounced back in a big way on Wednesday evening after getting shut out in the first game of their 3-game set against the Texas Rangers. Unlike Tuesday, when their offense was flat on all fronts, the game absolutely was the opposite on Wedneday night, and it also helps that the team's ace carried them to another victory.

Over the last several weeks, Cade Cavalli has truly emerged as one of the best starting pitchers in all of baseball, and Wednesday was yet another example of how far he has come. With all of the changes that have come to the Nationals in 2026, perhaps Cavalli serves as the best example of how much of an impact true coaching can make.

Cade Cavalli's new cutter has turned him into a Cy Young-caliber pitcher

For anyone who has watched the Nationals in 2026 vs the Nationals of the early 2020s, it is blatantly obvious that getting some elite coaching has helped them out a ton. Their hitters have actual ability to make adjustments and change their approach depending on how pitchers are making changes to facing them, and their pitchers are also able to make big changes that have huge impacts.

One of those major adjustments to their pitchers has been from Cade Cavalli, whose changes to his pitch mix have turned him into one of the league's best pitchers, as pointed out by Eric Samulski on X. He pointed out these changes following Cavalli's start yesterday, and all credit for the inspiration for this quick spotlight piece goes to him.

As he pointed out, Cavalli's true emergence and breakout that we have seen for almost 2 months now began back on June 25th. Since that first game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Cavalli has thrown 10 Quality Starts out of 11 total outings, with one blow-up appearance against the Pittsburgh Pirates serving as the only true outlier, and even then he only surrendered 3 earned runs over 2.1 innings before being pulled.

However, Cavalli added a new cutter to his pitch mix starting on that June 25th outing, as Sumulski pointed out. In 17 starts this year beforehand, Cavalli owned a 4.07 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, and 23% K rate across 77 innings, which are all solid numbers, but not ace material. Since adding the cutter on the 25th, Cavalli has a 7-1 record with an ERA of 2.20 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and 80 strikeouts across those 11 outings, which is good for a 31.87% K rate, all according to Statmuse.

Needless to say, that pitch mix alteration has been a drastic change, and likely a gigantic reason why Cavalli has truly begun to emerge as one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. If he can keep this up beyond just the rest of this season, Cavalli might truly have a chance to become a Cy Young candidate for year moving forward. Being able to watch him navigate the lineup of the Rangers last night was truly special, and for the first time since the days of Scherzer and Strasburg atop the rotation, it feels like the Nationals have a truly game-changing ace on their hands.

What do you think of Cade Cavalli's emerging National League Cy Young case? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.

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