Nationals officially tab former Top 100 prospect as Opening Day starter

As the Washington Nationals are continuing to progress through spring training, some of their prized youngsters are beginning to turn the corner. Some players like Daylen Lile have heated up a lot recently, while other guys who have been strong the whole time have continued in that way.

Brady House has been the breakout story of camp so far for the Nationals, and he is looking forward to fully coming in to form in the 2026 season. As a former Top 100 prospect and high draft pick, House has been a prized prospect for a long time, but he is now showing off his true ceiling.

This spring has also been encouraging for the Nationals on the pitching front, as to this point their pitchers have far and away outperformed most of their hitters outside of House and a couple of others. Josiah Gray and Jake Irvin have performed well as they look to bounce back from setbacks over the last couple years with injuries or bad performance, but one guy has mostly stolen the show.

That would be righty Cade Cavalli, who has been fantastic so far during spring training. I wrote an article last week about the potential that he had pitched his way into being the Opening Day starter for the Nationals when they travel to Wrigley Field to play the Chicago Cubs, and we now have an official decision from the club.

As of Wednesday morning, the Nationals have officially tabbed Cavalli as the team's Opening Day starter, an honor that has been a long time coming for the 27-year-old. As he dealt with injuries and setbacks after once being a Top 100 prospect in all of baseball and one of the most highly-touted pitching prospects, there was some doubt that he would ever be able to live up to his potential, but this is a huge first step into proving the doubters wrong.

The upside and raw ability of Cavalli has always been there, but health has been his limiting factor. His strong spring training combined with the fact that he just so happened to line up perfectly with the schedule on a 5-day cadence to be lined up for Opening Day made it the perfect storm for him to get the nod.

If you have some time, check out the awesome video below the Nationals put out to reveal to Cavalli that he had been given the honor of being the team's Opening Day starter and help him celebrate the honor online!

What do you think of Cade Cavalli earning the Opening Day nod for the Nationals? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.