Photo by Sol Tucker/TalkNats
On March 10 in the middle of Spring Training, the Washington Nationals signed Zack Littell as a free agent. That seemed to be a reason for celebration. His deal will cost the Nats a minimum of $7 million on this year’s books plus there is an extra $2.5 million in incentive bonuses in the deal. And next year, Littell has a mutual option at $12 million. Littell had other suitors to sign him, and maybe his asking price was too much. Certainly it seemed like the Nationals got a great deal at the time — but hindsight now has this looking like a disaster.
Yes, Littell had a 3.85 ERA last season for Tampa, but analysts are always leary of that FIP which was 4.92. Give him great defense, and he should be serviceable and eat innings. That was the Littell reputation. Now his ERA is more than doubled last year. It’s the worst span in his entire career. And he leads the Majors in home runs surrendered at 13. So what can the Nats do with Littell? As they say, that is the million dollar question.
Rewind to the “process” of the game last night. It was a 1-0 game to start the 4th inning. Should manager Blake Butera had a reliever warming at first sign of trouble? He loaded the bases after a hit and two consecutive walks with one out. But then he got the groundball double-play ball right to the sure-handed Jorbit Vivas at third base. All Vivas had to do was step on the base for the forceout and throw to first base to end the inning. But Vivas forgot the all important first step: FIELD THE BALL!
Since official scoring says you cannot assume a double-play, Littell was charged with three earned runs in the inning and four unearned. The 1-0 score ratcheted up to 8-0, and it was lights out and a nightmare on replay.
Remember what we wrote above: “Give him great defense, and he should be serviceable and eat innings.” If only. The TalkNats mantra is “Defense Matters” and how true is that. Giving up walks matter too. “Control the controllables” as the Nats’ manager often says, and Littell didn’t do that.
“I’ve always kind of prided myself on just being a guy that goes out there and throws innings quietly. I don’t need to be ‘the guy.’ I don’t need the game to be about me. I just want to eat innings and [for] people to look up and be like, ‘Hey, this guy’s thrown 180 innings.’ That’s kind of always my goal.”
— Littell said after he was signed
One defensive miscue changed everything in an instant last night. But Littell was the one who issued two consecutive walks to load the bases. Littell isn’t free from blame, and he immediately unraveled after the Vivas error.
One thing we have learned about this 2026 Washington Nationals team is that they usually win if they play mistake-free baseball. Some would say they didn’t score any runs in last night’s game. But let’s face it, you get behind 8-0, and you could see that players were mailing it in. It was a tilt at 8-0, game over. The weather was terrible. Guys were frustrated. If the game is 1-0, who knows what happens with 5.0 more innings to go.
Regardless of whether or not Vivas makes that play, Littell hasn’t been good all season. If Andrew Alvarez was eligible to replace him then you could do that, and unfortunately Alvarez per the 15-day option rule isn’t allowed to return until May 5. Littell is scheduled to pitch on May 3rd. Maybe you make that a bullpen game. The other choices are Brad Lord starts the game or you call-up Andry Lara who is not on the 40-man roster. Another intriguing name in Triple-A is Chandler Champlain who has a 3.60 ERA and is on the same schedule as Littell.
The only way to circumvent the 15-day option rule would be if Littell was injured. And there are no signs he is injured. There was hope last night that the game was just 1-0 going into the bottom of the 4th inning. The only damage delivered was a first pitch lead-off homer that just cleared the wall on an ambush swing. Otherwise, Littell was cruising until that 4th inning.
“The first three innings, I thought he threw the ball really well. I know he got ambushed on that first pitch of the game where [Bo] Bichette takes him out. But I thought he threw the ball really well going into the fourth inning.”
— Butera said in the postgame
Of course with the Nationals, Littell isn’t the only problem. There is also Miles Mikolas who seems to be relegated to a bullpen long-man after an opener. But that has also made Mitchell Parker into a tandem starter behind Mikolas. That commits two pitchers to pitch on either side of Mikolas with PJ Poulin in the role as the opener. Maybe something like that is the near-term solution with Littell. Forget the “innings-eater” hope, and just come up with a solution to the problem.
Where do we go from here? Make this nightmare end.
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