Notes and quotes from the southpaw’s first start of the spring…
While the overall results were mixed, MacKenzie Gore made 27 starts in his first full major league season in 2023, posting a 4.42 ERA, 4.89 FIP, 57 walks (3.76 BB/9), and 151 Ks (9.97 K/9), while giving up 27 home runs (1.79 HR/9), finishing the year with a .258/.331/.459 line against in 136 1⁄3 innings pitched.
Gore, who turned 25 over the weekend, finished the ‘23 campaign, “[r]anked 7th in the NL with 9.97 SO/9.0 IP (min. 135.0 IP),” as the Nationals noted in their 2023 Season in Review, and, “[r]anked among NL LHP in SO/9.0 (3rd, 9.97), SO (5th, 151) and opp. AVG (5th, .258).”
“His curveball boasted a 37.9% whiff rate (swing&miss/total swings),” the club added, which was, “… 12th among all MLB curveballs (min. 100 PA) and the 3rd among MLB lefties.”
“When I talk to him, it’s all going to be about consistency,” manager Davey Martinez said late last season, when asked where there was room for improvement for the lefty going forward.
“When he’s good, he’s good. And we talk about that all the time. His stuff is always electric.”
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“We’ve got to get him to understand how to use his stuff,” Martinez added. “How to attack hitters a little better, being around the zone. His misses got to be more around the zone.
“But overall, I think he’s matured from the beginning of the year to now tremendously. He really has. I remember battling with him, with his emotions out on the field, high-leverage situations, giving up a hit, he just gets all rattled.
“And he was able to calm that down towards the end here and kept us in ballgames.”
“I told him before: You’re a future All-Star, if you want to be.”
New Nationals’ Pitching Strategist Sean Doolittle talked in an MLB Network interview this winter about how excited he was to work with his fellow southpaw.
“I’m stoked to work with MacKenzie and watch him take another step forward in his career and his development,” the recently-retired reliever said.
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“He’s got one of those fastballs that does have the good induced vertical break,” Doolittle explained, “… but because of the way he throws and his arm slot, it plays up when it’s up in the zone. He’s got that nice, flat approach angle on it. The breaking ball combo that he’s working with is pretty special. He can spin the ball, he has the curveball and the slider. I think for him, getting a full year under his belt last year is going to be the biggest thing for him moving forward. He has that experience now, he knows how to manage his body over the course of the full season. Now it’s about fine-tuning some things and maybe being a little bit more consistent. But he’s an exciting young talent for sure.”
“He gets amped up, as we all know,” Martinez said early this Spring, in rehashing the growth he saw from Gore over the course of the 2023 season, “… and he’s really hard on himself.
“He’s got to stay in the moment and get to that next pitch.”
“His stuff is electric,” Martinez reiterated.
Gore got off to a good start in Grapefruit League action on Sunday afternoon, throwing 21 of 26 total pitches for strikes in two innings, and striking out four of the eight batters who stepped up against him, while giving up a run on two hits.
Gore threw four-seam fastballs for 50% of his pitches, averaging 95.9 MPH with his heater, which got up to 96.6, with five of his nine swinging strikes on his fastball (and two each on his curveball and changeup).
“Yeah, if we can do that every time, we’ll be alright,” Gore said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman, when a reporter noted he got the first three outs (two via K) on just 10 pitches.
“Let’s bottle that one up and do it.”
“I’m happy with what [Gore] did today,” Martinez said, as quoted by MLB.com’s Bill Ladson.
“He looks really good. His breaking ball was a lot better. He threw some really good ones to left-handed hitters.”