Mike Rizzo praises pitching with Junkies, adds Nationals have to figure ways to 'scratch out a few more runs'

Entering the season the Washington Nationals were "expecting and hoping" the young pitchers on the staff would take another progression in their development," GM Mike Rizzo said during his weekly appearance on Wednesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. "And I think all of them have."

Rizzo pointed to the work of pitching coach Jim Hickey and pitching strategies Sean Doolittle as part of what has contributed to the "building and the momentum of getting these young starting pitchers ready for the big leagues and once they get to the big leagues improving at the big league level."

"You got guys with good stuff," the GM told the Junkies, "but also guys that have learned secondary stuff and poise and they're commanding the baseball – we put a big emphasis on that in spring training as you know, about throwing strikes. You're starting to see the results of all that hard work from those guys."

Jake Irvin (27 years old) has a 3.43 ERA in 63.0 innings and 11 starts, MacKenzie Gore (25) has a 3.04 ERA in 53.1 innings over 10 starts and Mitchell Parker (24) has a 3.45 ERA in 44.1 innings over eight starts.

Irvin took a no-decision in Tuesday's 2-0 loss in Atlanta, but he was "great" in allowing just two hits and two walks over six scoreless innings and striking out 10.

"He's had about 30+ starts in his big league career and he's been getting better and better each and every start," Rizzo said. "He's got the size, the stuff and the attitude to be a rotational pitcher on a championship rotation. And I think you're seeing this guy scratching the surface, I think he's gonna be a guy to help us on our next championship run. Along with the rest of those guys."

But that isn't to say everything about the first third of the 2024 Nationals season (24-29) has gone according to plan. Rizzo said they expected the ballclub's "offensive efficiency to be a little bit better" and pointed to the base running mistakes as "catastrophic to us because our margin for error offensively is small."

He continued: "We gotta play efficient baseball: man on second nobody out, we gotta have a good at-bat, get the runner over/or drive him in and then drive him in and we have to be very efficient with it."

The Nationals' 46 homers on the year are tied for the fourth fewest in the big leagues, their 196 RBI are tied for third-fewest and the club's .662 OPS is the sixth worst. Washington's .735 OPS with runners on base is the 12th best in baseball, but the .613 OPS with nobody on is the second worst.

On the positive end, the GM said the "base running has been outstanding, our base stealing has been great" and praised first base coach Gerardo Parra and bench coach Miguel Cairo for "doing a good job with our running game."

The 84 steals put Washington in a tie with Cincinnati for most in the majors – and with three fewer attempts.

Rizzo also rated the defense as "solid" despite the club going through a little slump there for a while, praising CJ Abrams and Luis Garcia for making strides in the infield with Jake Young in centerfield being "as good as anybody in the league."

All in all, the GM seemed pleased with the club's play so far, but "we've got to come up with some ways – either with personnel changes or strategic changes – to scratch out a few more runs."

Listen to the full conversation – including Rizzo talking about the decision the organization reached to designate Victor Robles for assignment – on the audio player above.