How does Dylan Floro's signing with the Nationals impact the team's 2024 Outlook?
Yesterday, the Nationals made another minor transaction by signing Dylan Floro, who spent the 2023 season with the Marlins and Twins, to a one-year, $2.25 million contract.
Yesterday, the Nationals made another minor transaction by signing Dylan Floro, who spent the 2023 season with the Marlins and Twins, to a one-year, $2.25 million contract.
The purpose is to bolster the middle relief corps and provide the bullpen with a different look, especially considering that the top right-handed options (Hunter Harvey, Tanner Rainey, Kyle Finnegan, and Jordan Weems) are primarily hard throwers. If the infield defense continues to develop, potentially aided by the eventual promotions of Brady House and/or Trey Lipscomb, this low-cost signing could subtly add a win or three to the Nats’ 2024 ledger.
Floro is a ground ball pitcher who relies on inducing soft contact. His only two seasons with a grounder rate under 50% were 2021-22 with Miami, where giving up fly balls is generally not an issue. Floro has surrendered only nineteen home runs in 334 career major league innings, boasting a stellar 0.51 per nine-inning rate.
In contrast, Finnegan served up eleven home runs in just sixty-nine innings in 2023, and Andrés Machado, the pitcher Floro is effectively replacing, yielded a dozen in fifty frames. As a reliever, Floro also excels at limiting walks, with a career 2.83 per nine. In the past season, he demonstrated exceptional skill at avoiding barrels (in the 98th percentile of all pitchers at 2.9%), even though his whiff rates are not remarkable.
In terms of placement, I currently envision an Opening Day bullpen comprising Tanner Rainey, Hunter Harvey, Kyle Finnegan, Dylan Floro, Jordan Weems, Robert Garcia, José A. Ferrer, and either Mason Thompson or Joan Adon (if the Nats decide to move him to a relief role).
Based on current ability, Harvey should be the closer, with Rainey and Finnegan as the principal right-handed set-up men and Garcia as the southpaw option, capable of going multiple innings if needed. However, none of these roles are firmly established. Floro is likely to be the first option for Manager Davey Martinez when he needs to pull a pitcher in the middle innings with two or three runners on base, given Floro's ability to induce ground balls—something the Nats excelled at, finishing second in the majors with 159 double plays. Ferrer might get the call against most lefties, although he tends to fill the bases with walks. Otherwise, it should be Floro.
If Floro can use his sinker to strand numerous runners and allow the Nats to escape innings without giving up big runs, the team might stay within reach in more games. This could give the offense, ideally with improved power-hitting ability, a chance to turn scores around in later innings and help elevate the Nats closer to .500 throughout the season. Overall, this signing is a prudent move that, depending on the defense behind him, could subtly yield serious dividends for a rebuilding team, providing more opportunities to compete for close wins.
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