12:13PM: Gore downplayed the seriousness of his injury when speaking with MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman and other reporters, saying that he feels he can pitch again this season. An MRI showed “nothing crazy” in Gore’s shoulder, according to the lefty.
11:49AM: The Nationals announced that left-hander MacKenzie Gore has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to August 27) due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Right-hander Mason Thompson was called up from Triple-A to take Gore’s spot on the active roster.
Given the timing of the IL placement, it is fair to wonder if the Nationals will just shut Gore down for the remainder of 2025, since Washington has nothing to play for in the final weeks of a lost season. This would be the third time in Gore’s four MLB seasons that an injury has kept him from finishing a season, as his 2022 rookie season was cut short by elbow inflammation and the Nats chose to shut Gore down in September 2023 due to blisters on his left hand.
More will be known about Gore’s situation when Nats interim manager Miguel Cairo meets with reporters later, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that Gore has been trying to pitch through discomfort for a while, given how his production has cratered since the All-Star break. The southpaw has a 7.54 ERA over his last eight starts and 37 innings, which came on the heels of a 3.02 ERA in his first 110 1/3 innings.
That first-half performance earned Gore his first career All-Star nod, and seemingly cemented him as a building block within what seems like a somewhat stalled rebuild in Washington. Despite interest from multiple teams at the trade deadline, the Nats refused to move Gore, viewing him as a cornerstone player who is controlled through the 2027 season.
Today’s injury news might lessen any regrets teams had about not acquiring Gore, even if his two years of arbitration control give him value beyond just the 2025 campaign. If this is indeed it for Gore this season, he’ll finish with a 4.15 ERA over 147 1/3 innings, with a very strong 27.7% strikeout rate but a subpar 8.7% walk rate.