JUNKIES: Mike Rizzo praises 'electric' DJ Herz after 10-strikeout performance

DJ Herz made his sixth career big league start and, well, "pitched terrific," Nationals Rizzo, stating a bit of the obvious, 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.

After "struggling a little bit" in a previous start in the high altitude of Colorado – which Rizzo said is more than understandable for a young pitcher at the onset of their career – the right-hander put in a solid performance on Tuesday night, holding the Mets to just one run on one run on five hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts over 5.2 innings on 92 pitches (70 strikes).

"DJ last night with the four-pitch mix, with mostly fastball and changeup, was just electric," he added. "Anytime you can strike out 10 and walk none and give up only one run against that lineup it's a pretty darn good job."

Herz kept a hot Mets lineup in check, getting 16 whiffs on 51 swings and added 19 called strikes for a called-strike whiff percentage of 38.

More impressively, this was the second time this season Herz has delivered a game with at least 10 strikeouts and no walks after he struck out 13 Marlins in his third career start. That means Herz joined Stephen Strasburg as the only two pitchers in baseball history (since at least 1901) to put up two 10-strikeout, zero-walk starts in their first six career outings, according to Sarah Langs.

Herz entered without the fanfare of other top pitching prospects like Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore, but he has hit the ground running.

"He's really come a long way, our development people have done a great job with him," the GM said. "This was a guy who always struck out people at the Double-A level, but walked a lot of guys, so we've really pounded into all these pitchers that we need strikes, we need to be aggressive in the strike zone and really attack the hitters."

Herz – acquired from Chicago in the Jeimer Candelario deal – struck out 133 over 94.1 innings at Double-A in 2023 but walked 57 (5.4 walks per nine). With Triple-A Rochester this season that walk rate hit 7.3 per nine. But since he's come to the big leagues he's walked just 7 in 27 innings (2.33 per nine).

Of course, just like the other young Nats' arms, Rizzo outlined the familiar recipe for a successful pitcher in the Washington organization.

"And you can see all these young pitchers in [Jake] Irvin and Gore and [Mitchell] Parker and Herz, they all, these young pitchers that have come through our system and brought up that we have to pound the strike zone," the GM told the Junks.

"To pitch for the Nationals, to pitch successfully in the big leagues you can't give free passes, you've gotta be aggressive in the strike zone and you've gotta have the stuff to get hitters out over the plate, in the strike zone," he added. "Because very rarely do they chase out of the zone and that's why it's the big leagues.

"You've gotta get guys out with your stuff on the plate and these guys have done a terrific job of that."