The Washington Nationals had an awesome victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Monday's series opener. After losing 5 straight games at the hands of a pair of playoff teams in the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers, last night's game was a nice bounce-back performance for the club as a whole to get back into the win column.
While the lineup woke up in a very big way in the 8th inning with a trio of homers from James Wood, Brady House, and CJ Abrams, the bullpen continued to struggle. It was encouraging to see the lineup continue their standout performances from over the weekend, especially after the bullpen almost lost the game. As a unit, the Nationals' bullpen has not performed well, with multiple relievers struggling early on, but one pitcher in particular has had a tougher start than most.
Righty Andre Granillo has completed 4.1 innings so far for the Nationals and has pitched to a 12.46 ERA and 2.54 WHIP with just 1 strikeout. He allowed 6 runs while barely inducing any swing-and-miss, showing that he might not have been ready for a leverage role out of the bullpen.
The 5 walks also did not help his case, and as a result he was optioned to AAA Rochester following last night's victory. While the corresponding move has yet to be announced by the Nationals, it has already been reported that the Nationals will be replacing him with righty Paxton Schultz, who was a fellow offseason acquisition.
Schultz did not make the team out of camp but has gotten off to a solid start in relief for the Red Wings, pitching to a 2.45 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 3 appearances. He has only pitched in 3.2 innings, but has allowed just 3 hits and 1 earned run to go along with a walk and 3 strikeouts. The numbers aren't eye-popping by any means, but a new face was needed after the continued struggles of the unit overall.
The 28-year-old Schultz has appeared in 13 games in the majors and has pitched to a 4.38 ERA and 1.42 WHIP with 28 strikeouts in 24.2 innings after making his debut last season for the AL Champion Toronto Blue Jays. At the very least for the Nationals, Paul Toboni and the team's new front office is showing that they are not afraid to make changes if guys are underperforming, especially relievers.
What do you think of the Nationals swapping out Andre Granillo for Paxton Schultz? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.