Doug Fister will give Nationals rotation a needed boost
By Tim Haberin
Starting pitcher Doug Fister will make his long-awaited return to the Washington Nationals rotation tonight when he takes the hill against the Rays on his home turf. Fister has been out of commission since May 15 with a strained flexor muscle.
The 31-year-old right-hander’s return comes at an important time for the wavering Nationals, who have not been able to achieve the consistency needed to take charge of a division many thought they would dominate. At the moment they sport a 34-32 record and sit a game and a half behind the NL East-leading New York Mets.
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Washington appeared to boast a very strong roster top-to-bottom heading into the 2015 campaign. They were a popular World Series pick among preseason predictions. And no component of their squad was going to be more valuable than the starting rotation. It looked so formidable one-through-five that Tanner Roark, last year’s surprise 15-game winner, was relegated to the bullpen.
Unfortunately for the Nats, the starting pitching has been rather ordinary thus far. The starting staff owns a combined ERA of 4.08, placing them 16th among MLB teams. Opponents are batting .273 against Washington starters, the sixth-worst mark in the league. They are also failing to provide much length, averaging less than six innings per outing.
The unimpressive performance of the unit is perhaps even more troubling when you take into account just how phenomenal Max Scherzer has been. One of the offseason’s biggest free agent acquisitions, Scherzer has been earning every penny of his monster contract and then some. He has a 1.93 ERA through 13 starts, allowing 68 hits and striking out 113 across 93.1 innings. His most recent start was his best yet, as he hurled a complete game shutout while surrendering only one hit and fanning a whopping 16 batters.
After Scherzer, the dropoff in quality has been considerable. Jordan Zimmermann has been solid (3.75 ERA) but not as effective as in his previous two All-Star seasons. Gio Gonzalez is rocking a bloated 4.82 ERA and allowing 10.2 H/9. Even before landing on the DL with neck issues, Stephen Strasburg was struggling to find his command. The Nats have also needed to call upon names like rookies Joe Ross and A.J. Cole for spot starts.
Doug Fister can play a major role in bringing some stability back to this rotation and the team as a whole. The seven starts he made before his injury were a mixed bag, his less-than-stellar 4.31 ERA owing mainly to his last outing when he gave up seven runs in just two innings. The Nats will hope that after a month of rest and rehab the towering righty will look more like the pitcher they had last year.
2014 was Fister’s first in Nationals colors after being traded from the Tigers. His debut season on the Beltway began on the disabled list with a strained lat muscle, but upon returning in early May, he dazzled in his new home. He racked up 16 wins to the tune of a 2.41 ERA, the fourth-best mark in the National League. Washington will certainly sign up for that kind of production right now.
Fister has been one of the more underrated names in pitching since his days in Seattle. From 2011-2014, he posted a well above average 129 ERA+. The hallmark throughout his career has been an ability to limit walks; his 1.8 BB/9 rate is tops among active pitchers. The Nats will hope to see that kind of fundamental soundness tonight.
If the Nationals want to wrest control of the NL East away from the plucky Mets, they are going to need to rely on more than Max Scherzer in the rotation. This is a team that began the season with eyes on a deep postseason run, and so far that type of squad has not emerged. Many will view a healthy Strasburg as the bigger potential linchpin, but the significance of Doug Fister’s return should by no means be discounted either.