Believe it or not, there was actually something solid about the 2022 Washington Nationals pitching staff. Amidst all of the defeats, several members of the Nats’ bullpen remained somewhat sturdy and managed to make up for a small amount of the mistakes the starting rotation made. A handful of relief arms stood out as being consistent and reliable, and a few of them might even be considered good. These pitchers managed to make a fair amount of treacherous situations better, so it’s time they’re given their respective moments in the sun.

Carl Edwards Jr.

Carl Edwards Jr. was an interesting pick up for the Nats. Some fans may remember him from his appearance against Washington in the 2017 NLDS as a member of the Chicago Cubs, where he allowed six runs over 2 ⅓ innings. Signed to a minor league deal in February 2022 of his age 30 season, he was a commanding arm for the Red Wings at AAA and was subsequently called up in May. Over 62 innings of work, he posted a 2.76 ERA and a 1.226 WHIP. He relied on the three-pitch mix of a 4-seam fastball, a changeup, and a curveball. His 4-seamer was his most utilized (67.9%), as it was very effective, having held batters to a .302 wOBA and a .229 BAA. Edwards also had several advanced metrics in the good-great range, with his Barrel% sitting in the 89th percentile, his xSLG in the 77th percentile, and his xBA in the 78th percentile.

Erasmo Ramirez 

Erasmo Ramirez, yet another veteran signing for the Nats in ’22, was also a bullpen arm that had a very solid season. Ramirez ended the season with a 2.92 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. He did this without issuing many walks, sitting in the 97th percentile of BB% in MLB, according to Baseball Savant. He also had a quality 86th percentile Barrel%. Ramirez utilized a 5-pitch mix consisting of a cutter, a sinker, a curveball, a 4-seam fastball, and a changeup. The cutter and sinker were the pitches he leaned on heavily, throwing them 45.8% and 39.4% of the time respectively. The cutter was effective, having a BAA of .200, with the sinker being much less reliable, with a BAA of .302 and a wOBA of .371.

Hunter Harvey

Even though he saw less work than the two aforementioned pitchers, Hunter Harvey was a very reliable arm when called upon. Harvey pitched 39.1 innings and recorded a 2.52 ERA and a stellar 2.07 FIP over the few innings he had. He did this using 5 pitches: a 4SFB, a split-finger fastball, a curveball, and very rarely he would turn to a sinker or a cutter. The 4-seamer did most of the heavy lifting, with Harvey throwing it 70% of the time. His reliance on this pitch proved to be successful, recording a .202 BAA and a .266 xwOBA when utilizing it. Harvey’s stats do come with the caveat of a smaller sample size, but he nonetheless proved himself in the innings he pitched.

Andres Machado

Rounding out the stronger portion of the bullpen was Andres Machado. He held a 3.34 ERA, a 1.365 WHIP, and a 117 ERA+ over 59.1 innings of relief work. Machado used 4 pitches through these innings: a sinker, a 4SFB, a slider, and a changeup. He tossed these pitches evenly, with the sinker being the pitch he dealt the most, with a usage rate of 33.8%, and he showed the changeup the least, turning to it 15.6% of the time. The sinker was very effective, recording a .164 BAA and a .229 wOBA. The changeup also saw success, with a SLG percentage of .184 and a Whiff% of 44.2. Unfortunately, Machado also showed some glaring weaknesses, with hitters teeing off against his fastball, slugging .621 when seeing this pitch. He also had seemingly bottomless lows in most of his his baseball savant advanced metric rankings, with most of them —outside of his 80th percentile chase rate and 87th percentile extension— sitting below the 30th percentile, with his xERA/xwOBA sitting in the measly 7th percentile.

These four weren’t the only relievers that managed to play semi-successfully, with players such as Kyle Finnegan and Mason Thompson putting together adequate seasons, but they were the largest standouts on a pitching staff that overall was incredibly uninspiring. They managed to steady the ship in some turbulent games. While their success is far from guaranteed to continue as several of them didn’t show very promising advanced metrics, some of them are getting to ages where regression is unfortunately all but inevitable, and a few seem to have just been flashes in the pan, several Nationals relievers were still small bright spots in an abysmal season.