Throughout the offseason, The Nats Blog will look back at every player’s 2012 season to summarize and analyze his performance, and we’ll look ahead to his possible role in 2013. We’ll go from #1 Steve Lombardozzi all the way to #63 Henry Rodriguez until Spring Training. Enjoy.

Carlos Maldonado is a journeyman catcher that has been in the Nationals organization almost since its existence. Even still, the 34-year-old catcher who pushes 300 lbs. has just 74 MLB plate appearances in his career. He was called up in 2012 after the ludicrous number of injuries to Nats catchers. He didn’t record a hit.

Michael Gonzalez was a surprisingly important member of the Nats bullpen in 2012, especially during Sean Burnett’s struggles. Gonzalez recored a 3.03 ERA in 35.2 innings, and he pitched well against righties and lefties. It was a bit of a reclamation season for Gonzalez, who had struggled in Baltimore and Texas the previous season.

Ryan Mattheus, the Firework himself, had another great year in 2012. He posted a 2.85 ERA, nearly identical to his 2.81 ERA from 2011, but his WHIP and K/9 improved in more than double the number of innings. He can light up the radar gun in the mid-90s and can even pitch late innings. Here’s hoping he keeps his warm up song, because it’s impossible to be angry when you hear it.

Next year: Maldonado will sit in the minor leagues for the Nationals again in 2013. Hopefully he doesn’t make an appearance for the Nats, because that would mean there were serious injury issues at the catcher’s spot again. Gonzalez signed a one-year deal to play for the Milwaukee Brewers. Ryan Mattheus will work middle innings the majority of the time for the Nats now that Tyler Clippard, Drew Storen, and Rafael Soriano have the late innings.

Up Next: #54 Brad Lidge and #55 Eury Perez

Throughout the offseason, The Nats Blog will look back at every player’s 2012 season to summarize and analyze his performance, and we’ll look ahead to his possible role in 2013. We’ll go from #1 Steve Lombardozzi all the way to #63 Henry Rodriguez until Spring Training. Enjoy.

For Ross Detwiler, last season was the one that Washington Nationals fans had hoped for since June 2007, when he was drafted sixth overall. His career had really flailed with mediocre appearances and hip injuries, until he took the league by storm as one of the best fifth starters in baseball in 2012.

It was a bit of a coup when Detwiler was named to the 25-man roster at the end of spring training instead of John Lannan. Lannan was widely considered a lock for the rotation, but Dewiler’s impressive end to 2011 and a good spring combined with the reality of remaining minor league options for Lannan and an injured Chien-Ming Wang sealed the deal.

Wang’s return from injury created some uncertainty for Detwiler, and he was moved to the bullpen for about a month. But after Wang’s struggles, Detwiler locked down his spot in the rotation for the rest of the season. He posted career-best numbers as a starter with a 3.40 ERA and 1.223 WHIP. He also did something very unique for a starter at the MLB level. He threw a ton of fastballs.

More than 80% of Detwiler’s pitches were fastballs, five percent higher than his career average. He clearly became comfortable with the pitch, and he even started throwing it harder as a starter, averaging 93 miles per hour on the pitch.

Earlier this offseason, Detwiler signed a one-year deal worth $2.3375 million to avoid arbitration, and it was a well-deserved raise. He was the Nationals' best starter in the postseason, and in just one season, he became an invaluable member of the best pitching rotation in baseball.

Next Year: I expect Detwiler to be the Nats' number four starter in 2013 with Dan Haren sliding into the fifth spot. Assuming Gio Gonzalez starts the season with the Nats, he’ll be in the number two spot, giving the rotation perfect left-right balance if Detwiler takes the four spot.

Up Next: #49 Carlos Maldonado, #51 Michael Gonzalez, #52 Ryan Mattheus

Throughout the offseason, The Nats Blog will look back at every player’s 2012 season to summarize and analyze his performance, and we’ll look ahead to his possible role in 2013. We’ll go from #1 Steve Lombardozzi all the way to #63 Henry Rodriguez until Spring Training. Enjoy.

When the Washington Nationals traded for Gio Gonzalez from the Oakland Athletics, it became the biggest splash of the Nats’ 2011 offseason. Nats fans started getting excited about how the rotation was shaping up, and Gio didn’t disappoint.

Gio led the pack among National League pitchers and commanded respect from opposing batters. He pitched 199.1 innings for the Nationals in 2012, and recorded a 2.89 ERA (sixth in NL), .206 batting average against (first in NL), and 1.13 WHIP (eighth in NL). His 207 strikeouts ranked fourth in the National League, and his 21 wins ranked first. All of these tremendous numbers are what earned him consideration as a Cy Young award finalist.

He won Pitcher of the Month for May, when got the win in all five of the games he pitched, and recorded a 2.25 ERA and .156 BAA with 45 strikeouts. In 2012, Gio was also invited to play in the All-Star Game for the second time in his career, and he won the Warren Spahn Award as recognition for being the best left-handed pitcher of the year. He could also easily win MLB’s Most Permanent Smile Award if there was such a thing, as the most smiley National brought a great positive energy and sense of humor to the team. 

After pitching for Oakland in the American League for four years, Gio only had seven career at-bats to his name when he moved to Washington. He didn’t have the most success at the plate (he finished with a .094 batting average), however, he did hit his first major league home run and he learned a little something about sliding when running the bases (Watch this and tell me you didn’t laugh).

Next Year: Gio is signed to a five-year, $42 million contract, with team vesting options for 2017 and 2018, so he can be expected to be showing his smiling face around Washington for many years to come. If he is not subject to disciplinary action from MLB from the ongoing PED investigation he and several other players are involved in, he will pitch second in the rotation for the Nationals.

Up Next: #48 Ross Detwiler

Throughout the offseason, The Nats Blog will look back at every player’s 2012 season to summarize and analyze his performance, and we’ll look ahead to his possible role in 2013. We’ll go from #1 Steve Lombardozzi all the way to #63 Henry Rodriguez until Spring Training. Enjoy.

Many people saw Chien-Ming Wang’s 2012 season coming from a million miles away. He showed signs of strength and serious weakness in the 2011 season in a few appearances, but really only the weaknesses appeared in 2012. Wang had a 6.68 ERA in 10 games and five starts. His 5.85 FIP seems to indicate he got a little unlucky, but I stress a little. It was an all around atrocious season for Wang, who looks to be approaching the end of his career.

You have to feel pretty bad for Sandy Leon. Leon, the catcher who got called up after a historic number of injuries to Nationals backstops, got plowed at the plate just four innings into his MLB debut, and missed just over two months with a high ankle sprain. Upon his return, he got some action in late July and early August, but he was demoted back to Triple-A with the acquisition of Kurt Suzuki.

Ryan Perry, who was acquired from the Detroit Tigers in the Collin Balester trade, appeared in seven games in 2012 at the MLB level and less than half of them were good appearances.  He wound up with a 10.13 ERA before the Nationals decided to send him down to the minors. The organization has been working on stretching him out as a starter, a sort of last ditch effort to help him keep his career alive.

Next Year: Wang hasn’t been signed by an MLB team yet, and I don’t expect him to be. It seems that Wang’s career may be over. Leon will start the season at Triple-A, but he would likely be the first catcher to be recalled should Suzuki or Wilson Ramos get hurt. Perry will also start at Triple-A, likely as a starter, to see if he’s able to work as an emergency starter for the team.

Up Next: #47 Gio Gonzalez

Throughout the offseason, The Nats Blog will look back at every player’s 2012 season to summarize and analyze his performance, and we’ll look ahead to his possible role in 2013. We’ll go from #1 Steve Lombardozzi all the way to #63 Henry Rodriguez until Spring Training. Enjoy.

Michael Morse didn’t participate in Act One of the Washington Nationals’ rise to prominence in 2012, but the goofiest National didn’t let his team have all the fun without him.

Morse returned to the lineup on June 2 after being sidelined for the first two months of the season with a lat injury. His batting average steadily climbed through the month of June, and his numbers stayed consistently high all season as he continued to make solid contributions to a Nationals lineup that grew more potent at the season progressed.

In 102 games, Morse put together a power hitter’s slash line of .291/.321/.470 with 18 home runs and 97 strikeouts. And for all 406 at-bats, Nats fans were there cheering on their beloved slugger.

The fans were there to encourage him when he struggled. Morse’s strikeout rate was almost as high as Xavier Nady’s,  but instead of complaining when he struck out, the fans would continue belting “Take On Me,” even if the at-bat was over before the song was, as a kind of encouragement saying, “It’s okay, Mikey. You’ll get em next time.”

The fans were also there to celebrate with him when he succeeded. They watched him pat himself on the head every time he hit a ball out of the park, even if the ball in question was invisible. And if he wasn’t the one who hit it, you could be sure he’d be the first to shower his teammate with a bucket of bubble gum or a cooler of Gatorade after the game.

In 2012, “87.5 percent of Nats celebrations heavily involve Morse. He’s basically just a full-time celebration smile hug party," Dan Steinberg wrote in the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog.

There isn’t a better way to describe him. Morse is a special player because not only did his Beast Mode performances on the field give fans something to cheer about, his fun, outgoing character off the field didn’t give fans a choice but to love him. He allowed the fans to have a special connection with him – to experience his ups and downs as he did – because of how much of himself he shared with them.

From his Samurai Cobra Snake to his locker room pranks, he gave this team a personality. Reminiscing on the many Morse moments of last season (some of which The Nats Blog has chronicled here) and lamenting his absence on the 2013 roster is already making me appreciate 2012 for the very special season it was.

Next Year: After three years in Washington, Morse will return to the team he made his major league debut with, the Seattle Mariners. In a three-team trade, which also involved the Oakland Athletics, the Nationals sent Morse to Seattle to presumably play outfield and DH, in exchange for former Nationals pitching prospect A.J. Cole and two other players. The Nationals don’t play the Mariners in 2013, but the Orioles should expect to see a lot of Natitude at Camden Yards when The Beast comes to Baltimore on August 2-4.

Up Next: #40 Chien-Ming Wang, #41 Sandy Leon, #45 Ryan Perry

Throughout the offseason, The Nats Blog will look back at every player’s 2012 season to summarize and analyze his performance, and we’ll look ahead to his possible role in 2013. We’ll go from #1 Steve Lombardozzi all the way to #63 Henry Rodriguez until Spring Training. Enjoy.

Stephen Strasburg was one of the hottest topics in baseball throughout the 2012 season because of his controversial innings limit, but he didn’t waste the innings he was given.

Of his 28 starts for the Nationals last season, Strasburg made 20 quality starts (pitching at least six innings and allowing no more than three runs). He finished with a 3.16 ERA, a .230 batting average against, and a 1.15 WHIP. He had the highest strikeout rate on the Nationals staff (11.3 per nine innings), and his 197 strikeouts ranked seventh in the National League.  For much of the early part of the season, he and Gio Gonzalez were battling each other for the first- and second-most strikeouts in the NL, contributing to the Nationals pitching staff being nicknamed “K Street.”

His early-season dominance won him the title of NL Pitcher of the Month for April, and earned him a spot on the 2012 All-Star Game roster, but his biggest award was not one you would quickly associate with a flame-throwing right-hander.

With as much hype as has surrounded this pitcher since the Nationals drafted him in 2009, no one expected that his first major award would be for hitting. But he surprised everyone by winning the 2012 Silver Slugger for National League pitchers. He finished the season with an offensive slash line that could easily be attributed to a middle of the lineup hitter: .277/.333/.426. In 47 at-bats, he struck out just 13 times, and hit one home run and four doubles. Yes, those numbers come from a small sample size because he is a pitcher, but I was I was graced with the opportunity to see the man take batting practice from the field, and trust me, it was incredible.

Next Year: Strasburg was shut down after just 159.1 innings last season, but many in the Nationals organization are hopeful that he will reach 200 innings in 2013. In his first full major league season with no innings limit, there will be no limit on Strasburg’s potential to rock Washington. If he pitches even better than he did in 2012, which is likely now that he is over two years removed from his Tommy John surgery, you will be hearing his name in the Cy Young conversation.

Up Next: #38 Michael Morse, “The Beast”

Throughout the offseason, The Nats Blog will look back at every player’s 2012 season to summarize and analyze his performance, and we’ll look ahead to his possible role in 2013. We’ll go from #1 Steve Lombardozzi all the way to #63 Henry Rodriguez until Spring Training. Enjoy.

2012 marked Tyler Clippard’s fifth season in Washington, and his ERA was the highest it had been since his first year on the staff. But don’t be deceived by the numbers. Clippard’s worth last season was measured by much more than his ERA.

When Drew Storen was injured and it became apparent that flamethrower Henry Rodriguez was not going to work out as a closer, Clippard seamlessly stepped into the closer role for the first time in his career, and he did a phenomenal job of filling in. In 50 games as a closer, Clippard had a 3.70 ERA and a .196 batting average against. He struck out 56 batters, recorded 32 saves (seventh in the NL) and had only four blown saves.

Clippard’s first day with his new job title was also the day he earned his first save. On May 22 against the Philadelphia Phillies, Clippard faced the minimum and stuck out one, cementing the Nationals’ 5-2 victory. From that day forward Clippard was exceptional. He didn’t allow an earned run until mid-July, when Storen was nearing full health.

In July, Clippard may have felt the pressure of his lack of job security, because he blew his first save since taking over the closer’s role two days before Storen was taken off the DL. That’s all speculation, but the stress of fighting for his job may have gotten to him. Around that time, he allowed seven earned runs and blew two saves in three days.

Clippard resumed his previous dominance when he ascertained that he was going to keep his job, until the end of the season when he started to wear down. September was his worst month of the year, when he recorded an 8.03 ERA, a .358 batting average against, three losses to zero wins and just four saves. Clippard pitched the second-most innings of Nationals’ relievers in 2012, so the fatigue that seemed to be an issue will most certainly be removed in 2013 with the surplus of late-game relievers.

Next Year: After going through arbitration this year, Clippard is set to earn $4 million in 2013, which makes him the second-highest paid reliever behind Rafael Soriano. Now that Soriano is in the mix, Clippard will most likely pitch in the seventh inning. The right-hander could also periodically serve as a lefty specialist (a position the Nationals are lacking) because his career numbers are actually slightly better against left-handed hitters than right-handed ones. In Clippard’s career, rightys have scored 23 more runs than leftys, hit 11 more home runs, walked 14 more times, and have had significantly higher batting averages and on-base percentages.

Up Next: #37 Stephen Strasburg

Throughout the offseason, The Nats Blog will look back at every player’s 2012 season to summarize and analyze his performance, and we’ll look ahead to his possible role in 2013. We’ll go from #1 Steve Lombardozzi all the way to #63 Henry Rodriguez until Spring Training. Enjoy.

Craig Stammen got his 2012 job after Mike Rizzo and Davey Johnson saw all they needed from him during his 2011 call up. He showed potential in five long-relief appearances, allowing just one hit and no runs in 8.1 innings that September as he revived his fledgling career. In comparison, the 2009-2010 version of Stammen posted a 5.12 ERA and a 1.404 WHIP in 38 starts, and it looked like he may be going the way of Garrett Mock, which is to say out of the organization and possibly out of baseball.

In his rebirth as a reliever, Stammen was able to concentrate on throwing hard and using his two best pitches: a fastball and a devastating slider. His average fastball velocity was up more than two miles per hour since his first season, which is common for a starter turned reliever, but it definitely fueled some of his success.

As the 2012 season wore on, Stammen went from a long-reliever and mop up pitcher to a guy that Davey Johnson could occasionally trust in the late innings. His tight, electric slider regularly confounded batters, especially righties. He even earned his first career save in late September on his way to a 2.34 ERA, by far a career best during a full season. All in all, Stammen was an integral part of an extremely talented Nationals bullpen.

For Nationals fans of old, there aren’t many players from the 2009 roster left on 2012 roster, so it’s nice to see someone figure it out from that rag-tag group of players. Many pitchers from that year are no longer even in baseball on the major league level, including guys like J.D. Martin, Shairon Martis, Garrett Mock, and Scott Olsen.

Next year: Stammen’s primary role will likely remain a long-reliever in 2013 as the Nationals have so much depth in the late innings with the addition of Rafael Soriano this offseason. His 3.45 FIP in 2012 seems to indicate he’s due for a regression, though not a big one, and that is still an admirable number. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Stammen have another solid season.

Next up: #36 Tyler Clippard