The Washington Nationals are a team that is in a bit of a free fall right now. After such a promising first half in which the team looked like they could even be poised for a fringe postseason run, the team has begun to look a lot more like the club we were used to seeing for the majority of the first half of the 2020s decade.
Of course, trading away key bats like Luis Garcia Jr. and Curtis Mead made things more difficult, but the big losses came when the team lost James Wood to the Injured List and then had CJ Abrams sprain his ankle on Wednesday night's victory in Texas. The team is now 8 games below .500, and has virtually zero chance at making the playoffs with a 61-69 record currently. While their offense has continued to struggle, so have a couple relievers in big leverage spots, with last night as a great example.
Clayton Beeter's inability to close out games is costing the Nationals
Last night, in the Nationals' series opening loss to the Miami Marlins, it was a story that has seemingly plagued the club all season long. Of course, the team's new offensive struggles also remained as they only mustered 2 runs on 9 hits, but the bullpen once again failed to close out a game.
Lefty Tom Cosgrove gave up earned runs for the second consecutive outing, with his ERA jumping up to 5.40 now after a good start to his Nationals tenure, but he was not the only one to blame. Clayton Beeter, who has earned a majority of the Nationals' save chances this year, once again showed he is not going to be the guy for the future in the closer's role.
Despite solid surface numbers with a 3.63 ERA and 1.39 WHIP, Beeter is just 12 for 18 now in save chances, and only has 40 strikeouts in 39.2 innings, while also allowing an absurd 28 walks. Simply put, his control is not where it needs to be for a reliever pitching in any sort of leverage spot.
In just 0.2 innings of work last night, including getting the final 2 outs of the 8th inning, Beeter allowed 3 hits and 3 walks, while ultimately allowing the winning run to score as the Nationals continued their losing ways. The 9th inning was especially atrocious, as he gave up a leadoff walk followed by a bunt single in which he made an awful throwing error, allowing both runners to advance an extra base. He then issued an intentional walk to set up a force at any base, but immediately served up the walk-off hit to lose the game.
At some point, Beeter can't take all of the blame, as manager Blake Butera has to realize that Beeter just simply can't continue to take the ball in the late innings with different results being expected. While there aren't really much better options on the roster currently, what's stopping the club from giving someone like Orlando Ribalta a few opportunities the rest of the way? At some point, something has to change.
Do you think Clayton Beeter will ever be able to prove himself as anything more than a solid middle reliever? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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