The Nationals had an uncharacteristically easy 6-1 win last night. Josh Bell stayed hot and the offense did a good job adjusting to Chase Burns after struggling to pick him up early in the game. However, the story of the night was a guy most Nats fans had never heard of before, 27 year old reliever Konnor Pilkington.
Pilkington was called up yesterday to give the Nats a fresh arm out of the bullpen. MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin failed to go deep into their starts and Brad Lord was not going to either.
That meant the Nats needed a fresh arm.
They selected Pilkington, who was their best performing arm in AAA. Across the season, the lefty had a 2.59 ERA in Rochester in 41.2 innings. With all the bullpen problems the Nats have had, what was this guy doing in Rochester for so long?
The only explanation I can come up with is that he had a walk problem. Pilkington walked 5.83 batters per 9 innings, which is very high. However, with 10.8 K/9 and a .158 average against, he was effectively wild. We have seen so many bad bullpen arms this year, but we didn’t get to see this guy until July 22nd?
In his outing last night, Pilkington showed why he has been so effective. He mowed down Reds hitters in his two innings of work. Pilk retired all six Reds he faced. His second inning of work was particularly impressive. He was getting his fastball up to 97 MPH and struck out the side.
Konnor Pilkington made his Nationals debut last night, throwing two no-hit innings and striking out three in a single inning. He threw 20 pitches in that outing.
— Allsports Roc (@AllsportsRoc) July 23, 2025
Breakdown:
• 97.1 mph fastball vs De La Cruz
(Top 6)
• 85.8 mph slider vs Fraley (Top 5)
• 87.5 mph changeup vs… pic.twitter.com/Q3cR8K5B0O
That velocity is very interesting to me because it is a new feature of his game. Pilkington has actually seen big league action before. In 2022, he threw 58 innings for the Guardians, making 15 appearances, 11 being starts. He also made one appearance in 2023.
In those outings in 2022, his fastball averaged 92.1 MPH. Last night, his heater averaged 95.4 MPH. That is a pretty wild jump and shows the work he has put in to get back to MLB. His heater averaged 93.6 MPH in AAA this year, so maybe he was just fired up, but this is something to watch.
Even at 92, Pilkington’s heater played well, with a 25% whiff rate, high for a fastball. Now that heater could be a massive weapon for him. Obviously, Pilkington was at his best last night and this is not what he will do every time out.
He has had control problems for most of his career, so it is tough to expect him to pound the zone like he did tonight. However, the AAA numbers show that he is a tough guy to pick up and has strikeout stuff.
Pilkington signed a Minor League deal with the Nats this offseason and we actually saw him in Spring Training. He actually pitched well in spring, but has been overlooked all season. It is perplexing that this guy has been looked over for guys like Eduardo Salazar and Ryan Loutos.
I am excited to see what Pilkington can do with this opportunity. He put on a show last night and caught the eye of all Washington Nationals fans. At just 27, he can be one of those late bloomers that can blossom into a solid bullpen piece.
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