WASHINGTON -- As Riley Cornelio's rookie season winds down, the Nationals are intrigued by seeing the right-hander in different roles while they plan for 2027.
Cornelio, a starter until reaching the Major Leagues, has been serving as a multi-innings reliever. He has struggled finding consistency in the bullpen, and the Nats have tabbed him as an opener twice in the last six days, including Sunday afternoon’s 6-5 win to complete a three-game sweep of the Angels at Nationals Park.
“I wouldn't close the door on that,” manager Blake Butera said, when asked if Cornelio could be utilized as a starter again. “We've messaged to him that we wanted to see him come out of the bullpen. He did really well in Triple-A at that. I think up here he's still trying to navigate what that looks like. The more sample size we can get of him doing a couple different roles, the more clarity I think we can give him. But yeah, I wouldn't close the door on it.”
Cornelio was in stride hurling three scoreless innings as the opener on Tuesday against the Padres. The Nationals decided to give Cornelio another look on Sunday to open the series finale against the Angels. The shift had Cornelio pitch ahead of Jake Irvin, who has battled a higher ERA in earlier innings.
“The way he threw the ball last time in San Diego I thought was really good. And I wanted to give him an opportunity to do that again,” Butera said. “Irv hasn't thrown behind an opener before, so I think this may be a good opportunity for him to do that as well.”
Cornelio again delivered a scoreless outing on Sunday. This time, he threw two frames against the Angels with one hit, one walk and four strikeouts across 34 pitches. Cornelio credited catcher Keibert Ruiz for calming him in the first inning to settle down in the second. (Last Tuesday, Cornelio pitched three perfect frames with four strikeouts on 36 pitches.)
“Overall, I think that just like last time, I genuinely believe the standard doesn’t change -- no matter where I’m at,” Cornelio said.
Cornelio, a 2022 seventh-round Draft pick out of TCU, went on to earn the Nats’ 2025 Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award as a starter. However, Cornelio pitched out of the bullpen for the first time in his Major League debut and allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits and four walks with a strikeout in two innings against the White Sox on April 24.
Mirroring their Major League plans on the Minor League level, the Nationals have had Cornelio pitch in relief this season with Triple-A Rochester. He made his last Minor League start on May 27. This season with the Red Wings, Cornelio is 4-1 with a 4.22 ERA in 11 starts (42 2/3 innings) and 4-2 with a 3.88 ERA in 25 relief appearances (51 innings). Cornelio noted that the ups and downs have taught him resilience.
“I think Riley's still trying to figure his way out right now,” Butera said. “I think that he came up with us in the big leagues for a short stint and it wasn't very good. He went back down to Triple-A, threw the ball great. [When he] came back up, it was so-so, went back down, threw the ball great. So I think he's still trying to figure out how this all works and what he needs to do to have success up here.
“Our message to him, especially as of late, has just been, ‘What you're doing in Triple-A is really good and it's going to work here. Don't feel like you need to do anything differently.’”
The Nationals have implemented an opener many times throughout the season; it was a common practice with Zack Littell and Miles Mikolas. Irvin’s ERA is 7.11 in the first inning, then it drops to 4.74 in the second and 3.32 in the third. He pitched five innings against the Angels, allowing two runs off a pair of solo home runs and four walks to go with six strikeouts. Butera said Irvin “threw great,” and they could live with the dingers.
“Understanding that Irv hasn’t done that before, didn’t want him to come into a messy inning,” Butera said. “So I thought two innings was good for Riley today given the first inning being a little bit longer. But his second inning was outstanding. When he’s in the zone, he’s really, really good.”