The Washington Nationals are slated to kick off a new series against the Chicago White Sox on Friday at 7:40 PM eastern time, and they will be hoping to get back to their winning ways. After dropping 3 out of 4 games to their National League East rival Atlanta Braves, the Nationals will have another test in the pesky White Sox in Chicago.
After opening their season with a surprising series win over the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley, the Nationals will head back to the Windy City in search of another series win. The Nationals are going up against rookie slugger Munetaka Murakami for the White Sox, who has been absolutely tearing the cover off the ball similar to the way James Wood has been for the Nationals.
Part of the group of pitchers who will try to keep Murakami in check includes Miles Mikolas, who will once again have lefty PJ Poulin open for him as the Nationals kick off their series. Following Mikolas, the Nationals will have young righty Riley Cornelio available for the Nationals in what will be his major league debut.
The righty, who was a 7th-rounder of the Nationals back in 2022 out of TCU, will be one of the arms who is likely to appear tonight, albeit as a reliever instead of him as a starter. For a guy who is not currently ranked within the Nationals' Top 30 Prospects list on MLB Pipeline, Cornelio has fought tooth and nail to earn his respect as a prospect, and he has lit up AAA so far this season.
In 4 games, all of which he started, Cornelio has a 2-0 record and pitched to a 2.45 ERA and 1.036 WHIP with a 27:8 K:BB ratio across 18.1 innings. Last year was his true breakout season in the minors as he jumped from High-A Wilmington to start the season and ended it with AAA Rochester, and he held a cumulative 3.28 ERA and 1.146 WHIP with 135 strikeouts in 134.1 innings total.
His strikeout stuff has been impressive so far in 2025, and he could emerge as a sneaky rotation presence throughout this season for the Nationals. While he likely will be sent down after tonight as the Nationals continue to cycle pitchers for their current long stretch of games, Cornelio can easily find his way to the big leagues if he impresses early on.
BIG LEAGUES calling 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/vNguxm47Vl
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) April 24, 2026
What are you expecting from righty Riley Cornelio in his MLB debut? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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