The Nationals tabbed Jake Irvin to start against Grant Holmes in tomorrow’s opener of a four-game weekend series in Atlanta. Washington will officially active him from the 60-day injured list before the game. That’ll bring their 40-man roster to capacity, and no additional move is necessary after they optioned reliever Paxton Schultz this afternoon.
Irvin is back after missing just over two months with a shoulder strain. The big righty coincidentally suffered the injury during the Nats’ previous series against the Braves on May 23. It was a tough end to what was shaping up as one of the better games of Irvin’s career. He’d gotten through five hitless innings with seven punchouts. Had he been able to complete the sixth inning, it would’ve been his first quality start in 11 appearances this season.
The 29-year-old has a 5.23 ERA across 51 2/3 frames overall. Irvin has a near-5.00 ERA in his career and led the majors with 114 earned runs allowed last year. He was missing quite a few more bats in the early going this season, though, striking out a quarter of opponents after posting a 15.8% mark last season. He fired 8 1/3 scoreless frames with nine strikeouts and just one hit over two rehab appearances with Double-A Harrisburg.
Irvin rounds out the rotation behind Foster Griffin, Cade Cavalli, Zack Littell and Miles Mikolas. Griffin is slated to start on Friday in what could be his final appearance with the club. The Nationals are weighing whether to move the impending free agent even as they’re just two games out in the Wild Card race. They could trade Griffin while trying to bring in a starter with contractual control beyond this season in a separate deal. Newly-acquired southpaw Connelly Early would otherwise bump someone from the group when he’s ready to return from elbow inflammation.
