The Washington Nationals are set to begin a home series against the San Diego Padres on Friday evening, and they will be hoping to extend their winning ways from the last few series they have played. After taking 2 of 3 on the road from both the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Guardians, the Nationals are trying to prove that they are actually contenders.
Part of the reason for their drastic turnaround is the performance of the team's bullpen, which has gone from the liability and achilles heel of the team as a whole to a silent strength. In fact, the team's pitching as a whole has drastically improved over the last couple of weeks, and combining that with the team's elite hitting has propelled the Nationals forward in a big way.
After not really coming into this season with a specified plan at closer other than riding the hot hand, the Nationals have gotten contributions from a number of arms, and are now about to welcome back another one to their closing equation in Cole Henry. In fact, the Nationals have had 8 different pitchers record a save already this season, quite the contrast from previous times.
Gus Varland was the guy for a while, but it since has shifted over to Richard Lovelady primarily, although he has continued to be used in other roles as well and pitching earlier in games. Clayton Beeter came into this season as the main guy, but he has since not gotten as many opportunities since being activated off the Injured List recently himself.
Henry's numbers were not spectacular in his limited time this season, as he appeared in 7 games and pitched to a 6.43 ERA and 1.71 WHIP, but he did strike out 8 batters in 7.0 innings of work. Based on what we saw from Henry last season, he can be a very legitimate weapon in the back end of the team's bullpen, but it remains to be seen what capacity he will operate in upon his return.
To make room for Henry, the Nationals optioned lefty reliever PJ Poulin back to Rochester after Wednesday's series finale against Cleveland, so a move was expected. We still don't know how the Nationals will replace Jake Irvin in the rotation for the time being, but perhaps they turn to Andrew Alvarez, who is still with the big league club to this point.
What do you think of Cole Henry coming off the 15-Day Injured List in place of PJ Poulin? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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