Washington Nationals pitcher MacKenzie Gore’s last two starts are good examples of why he’s a work in progress — and why his progress could be worth the wait. In his May 23 outing against the San Diego Padres, Gore piled pitches up, surrendered two home runs and was ultimately pulled in the fifth inning in a 7-4 loss.
But when he returned to the mound Sunday, Gore responded arguably with his best outing as a pro. He struck out a career-high 11 batters and just as important, the 24-year-old went a full seven innings — something he had done only once prior in the majors.
“You don’t have to throw a lot of pitches to strike guys out if you execute,” Gore told reporters after Washington’s 3-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals. (Washington’s bullpen blew the game.)
Gore’s efficiency has been a focus for the Nationals since Washington acquired him in last season’s mega-deal involving Juan Soto. A key piece in that trade, Gore didn’t make his debut for Washington until this year, despite appearing in 16 games for San Diego in 2022. And now that he’s in a Nationals uniform, the club is trying to help the talented prospect make strides in lasting longer in games — and making sure his pitches are sharp.
As a pitcher, Gore’s fastball has made him one of the most tantalizing prospects in baseball. Gore throws it over 60% of the time and the pitch clocks out at an average of 95.5 mph. The pitch is also a big reason why Gore is averaging nearly 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings, the fifth-best rate in baseball.
And yet, the Nationals would like to see Gore be more consistent with the weapon. After Sunday’s loss, manager Dave Martinez noted that Gore’s outing against the Royals was a great example of the pitcher “keeping the ball down” and attacking the strike zone.
“He threw the ball down really well (against Kansas City) and was tough,” Martinez said. “A great outing by him. It stinks he couldn’t get the win there, but he’s got to come back in five days and do it again.”
Like teammate Josiah Gray, Gore has progressed from Year 1 to Year 2. Gore’s ERA has dropped from 4.50 in 2022 to 3.57 this season. Gore is also striking out players at a much higher rate: His strikeouts per nine innings was at 9.3 with the Padres.
Still, one of the reasons that Gore, unlike Gray, hasn’t been able to last in games as long is because his pitch count adds up quickly. In 11 starts, Gore has already thrown 1,078 pitches — and has topped at least 100 pitches five times. That isn’t a problem when Gore is cruising, like he did in Kansas City.
But it’s more problematic when Gore is having to be pulled in the fifth.
“He’s got to be more pitch efficient,” Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said in a recent radio interview with 106.7 The Fan. “He’s a power strikeout pitcher, but a lot of those pitchers have to learn how to economize to get deeper into games, and I know he wants to get into the seventh inning every time he pitches.”
Managing a young pitcher’s arm is one of the trickier tasks for a rebuilding team. To get back into contention, the Nationals are counting on the development of pitchers like Gore and Gray in a similar way the team previously relied on Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmerman to develop. Washington, obviously, wants to avoid Gore and Gray needing Tommy John’s surgery as Strasburg did early in his career.
Last year, the Nationals took a cautious route with Gore as they shut him down because of an ongoing elbow issue. So far, though, the lefty hasn’t appeared to have any problems with the ailment in 2023.
“We put some guys away (Sunday),” Gore said. “We didn’t do that in the last few outings, I haven’t done a very good job of that. So yeah, it was a lot of fun.”
