By Jordan Long
The Washington Nationals finished last season at 82-80, missing the postseason for the first time since 2015. They were looking to upgrade their team for a playoff push next year. They felt adding another starting pitcher would help them. Washington agreed to a 6-year, $140 million contract with pitcher Patrick Corbin. The deal is pending a physical.
The Nationals’ starting pitching tried to keep them in games last season. The Nationals total starting pitching ERA was 4.03, 13th in all of Major League Baseball. The Nationals trusted Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. Scherzer went 18-7 with a 2.53 ERA. Strasburg helped this team with a 10-7 record with a 3.74 ERA, the only pitchers in the Nationals’ starting rotation with an above .500 record.
Washington decided Corbin was the best free agent out there to improve the pitching. Corbin went 11-7 for the Arizona Diamondbacks, his second consecutive year his record was above .500. The ERA wasn’t bad at 3.15.
The Nationals are hoping Corbin can be the 3rd pitcher in the rotation behind Scherzer and Strasburg. Corbin will be able to help this team because of his pitching location. He rarely leaves the ball up in the zone where a hitter can smack a home run, giving up only an impressive 15 last season. Corbin can locate his pitches and batters have a tough time catching up to it. He struck out 246.
The downside to him is walks. When a batter is patient at the plate, that forces them to work the count on Corbin. Corbin loses them to walks which equals traffic on the base paths. Those then could be runs on the scoreboard. Corbin walked 48 batters last season.
On paper, Corbin should be an upgrade for the pitching rotation. Scherzer, Strasburg, and Corbin can all win 10+ games for the Nationals which might be one of the top staffs in all of baseball. If they can, this will go a long way for the Nationals to reach the postseason next year.
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