The Rule 5 Draft just wrapped up and for a fourth straight year the Washington Nationals made a selection. This time they took Griff McGarry, a pitcher from the Phillies system. The 26 year old has elite
stuff but has pretty major control questions.
If McGarry can throw enough strikes he will be a strong piece of the Nats bullpen. However, there is a chance that this ends up being similar to what happened with last year’s Rule 5 pick Evan Reifert. Like McGarry, Reifert had big time stuff but he showed up and was unable to throw strikes in Spring Training. That forced the Nats to return Reifert to Tampa Bay.
This could happen with McGarry, but the great thing about the Rule 5 Draft is that even if that is the case, it is not a big deal. You just return the player back to their old organization with no penalty. That is what makes the Rule 5 Draft so fun.
Despite walking almost 14% of batters last season, the Nats selected McGarry for a reason. When he is on, McGarry can be totally dominant. His pitches pop on stuff models and he gets a ton of strikeouts. McGarry’s big extension and low release height help his mid-90’s fastball play up. He also has a sweeper, a slider and a curve with nasty movement.
McGarry was a starter in the Phillies system last year, but he is an obvious bullpen arm. Maybe in shorter bursts that velocity can go up a tick or two. Even as a starter, McGarry still struck out just over 35% of hitters. The pure stuff can just totally overwhelm hitters.
Interestingly, McGarry played his college ball at UVA. He was then drafted by the Phillies in the 5th round of the 2021 draft. After a lot of bumps in the road, McGarry had his best pro season this year. He was the Phillies Minor League pitcher of the year and struck out 124 batters in 83.2 innings.
It will be interesting to see what the Nats do with McGarry. The stuff is there, it is all about harnessing the control. I am also curious to see what McGarry’s role will be if he makes the team. Given his starting experience, he could be an option as a swing man.
However, with his dynamic stuff, I can also see him being more of a one inning guy. Honestly, this is a very similar profile to Clayton Beeter, who the Nats picked up at the trade deadline. Beeter’s command is still a question mark, but he threw enough strikes to be effective down the stretch last year. The hope would be that McGarry can do the same thing.
Griff McGarry has the chance to be a big piece of this bullpen, but he also has a chance to not make it through Spring Training. There were safer options available, but Paul Toboni decided to swing for the fences and bet on McGarry’s upside.
