There will be a different Opening Day starter for the Washington Nationals for the first time in years.

The right-handed 22-year-old Josiah Gray will be the first Opening Day starter for the Nationals not named Patrick Corbin, Max Scherzer, or Stephen Strasburg since 2011 when Liván Hernández pitched his final season opener.

The Washington Nationals and Manager Davey Martinez announced that RHP Josiah Gray will be the Opening Day starter when the Nationals kick off their 2024 season against the Cincinnati Reds.

While announcing the move, Martinez said: “I feel like he deserves it…”

Last year, Gray was named to his first All-Star team in July and threw a perfect 1-2-3 inning. Gray can add a new honor to his career: Opening Day starter.

“Getting named to an All-Star Game was something I can say, again, I never expected,” Gray said in an interview with the media before Sunday afternoon’s game, where he was the starter against the New York Mets. “But then to get the Opening Day nod, it shows the trust and the level of support I have from Davey, the front office, and everyone that I’ve made progress from where I was in 2021 as a rookie to here we are in 2024. I’m really just looking forward to continuing to progress.”

He’s matured so much since the first day I saw him [Gray]

Davey Martinez

Last year was a bit bumpy for Gray as he finished the season with a record of 8-13 and an ERA of 3.91. Gray appeared in 30 games and pitched 159 innings, striking out 143. However, this year Gray has overcome that and has made huge improvements coming into this year’s camp, and even Martinez noticed: “Even through the struggles of last year, he’s a lot different. Coming into camp, he’s been so much different as far as growth-wise. Understanding who he is, working on things he needs to work on, not trying to reinvent the wheel. He knows he needs to go out there and attack and throw strikes.”

Patrick Corbin, who has started Opening Day each of the last two seasons, will get the ball for the season’s second game this time. One outstanding question is who will be the starter for the Nats Home Opener four days later against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Could we see Gray once again getting the nod to be the home Opener Starter if Martinez sticks to a four-man rotation? Only time will tell.

Either way, when the Nationals step onto the field in Cincinnati with Gray on the mound, it will officially close the book on a chapter of the Nationals, only to start writing a new one.

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