The Washington Nationals have certainly made it a point to turn over some of the weak points of their organization over the last decade. Under previous President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo, the team was exceptionally poor in drafting and player development, and the new man in charge in Paul Toboni is setting out to change that.
But outside of organizational infrastructure changes that will lead to changes down the line, Toboni has also made it clear that another classic weakness of the Rizzo era is going to be addressed a lot as well in the bullpen. If you have been a Nationals fan for a long time, you would know that the team has always struggled to field a competent bullpen.
Even in the early days of the Nationals being competitive in the 2010s when the team had All-Stars like Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard, the unit's overall shortcomings in the postseason would be their overall legacy in Washington, especially for Storen. Whether that is fair or unfair in hindsight is a whole other conversation, but it's clear that Toboni is setting out to improve the bullpen from 2025.
That is for good reason, as the Nationals' overall bullpen from 2025 was among not only the worst in the league last year, but genuinely one of the worst units in MLB history. However, while the unit had some abysmal outings from guys like Colin Poche, Lucas Sims, and Ryan Loutos, among others, they also had some sneaky decent stretches from surprise guys like Konnor Pilkington.
Which is why the organization's decision to DFA Pilkington, a 28-year-old lefty that displayed some effective strikeout stuff last year, was a bit of a surprising one. It makes it even more interesting that the guy he was DFA'd for, Tsung-Che Cheng, is already out of the Nationals' organization as well, being waived for George Soriano, who is also out of the organization already. However, Pilkington ended up electing free agency on Thursday morning, marking the end of his tenure in DC.
While Pilkington has the stuff to be a very effective reliever, with 34 punchouts in 28.1 innings, his continued walk issues are holding him back overall. He pitched to a 4.45 ERA and 1.376 WHIP, but also had 17 walks to his name as well. It seems likely he will earn at least a minor league deal, but it does not seem likely that he will return to the Nationals.
Would you want Konnor Pilkington to return to the Nationals? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.