Right-hander Riley Cornelio quickly climbed through the Nationals’ farm system last season, rising from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A during his third year of pro ball. The 25-year-old went 6-7 with a 3.28 ERA in 26 starts, and earned the Nats Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors for his rapid ascension.
The Nationals protected Cornelio from the Rule 5 Draft and added him to the 40-man roster, bringing him to Major League Spring Training for the first time. Get to know the 2022 seventh-round Draft pick out of Texas Christian University in this Q&A.
Your bio says you were born in Hawaii but went to school in Colorado. What were your travels?
My dad was active military for the first five years of my life. So we lived in a couple different states. He retired [in Colorado]. He’s still working with the military, but he's a civilian now.
Tell me about life in Colorado. I'm picturing mountains, snowboarding.
Well, I'm not really a snowboarder or skier, but yes, it's very outdoorsy, a lot of heights, the air is very thin. We didn't get a ton of snow this year. My dad was saying we got the least amount of snow up to a certain point ever, so that was kind of weird, but usually we get snow a lot.
Living in the great outdoors, how did you end up playing baseball?
I think it was just kind of the first sport I started playing seriously. My dad was always my coach. He actually played basketball growing up, but I think it was just a sport that I liked the most growing up and was best at early on. I ended up sticking with it.
When you were younger, who were your favorite players?
When I was growing up, my favorite pitcher – and I always wore 58 because of him – was Jonathan Papelbon for the Red Sox. My dad grew up in Maine; [his family] were all Red Sox fans, so we grew up watching the Red Sox. So [Papelbon] was always my guy. But I loved those guys growing up and always watched them. I loved Dustin Pedroia – I wore No. 15 the rest of the time – and 34 was my number for David Ortiz. So that was my journey through numbers.
Have you ever met any of them?
I’ve never met them. I got to go to a World Series game in 2013 at Fenway [Park], and it was like the best night of my life. It was so fun. It was awesome. David Ortiz hit a home run. The best night ever.
If you weren't a baseball player, what would you have wanted to do?
I studied strength and conditioning in college. I would hope to get back into it and do development with different ages. I try to give lessons during the offseason and help out with kids.
What drew you to that?
Going through college, I was going through a point and period where I just wasn't throwing a ton. I really got close with our strength coach at TCU. I think I just kind of fell in love with that aspect of it, working through that stuff and doing the mechanical side. He was such a help to me that it was so impactful. I just wanted to continue to keep going.
How does that education help you better understand yourself as a pitcher?
That’s a good question. I feel like it goes both ways: You can try to diagnose stuff that's going on with yourself, but there's always – especially with our guys that we have now – there's always a smarter guy in the room. So I feel like, maybe not necessarily feeling like you understand yourself better, but being able to ask the right question. Then obviously between the lines, I think what makes a great competitor is being able to put the blinders up and not worry about some of that stuff. So it’s kind of a balance.
What's your favorite food that you could eat a billion times and never get sick of?
I love Chinese food. General Tso’s chicken is probably always my go-to if I’m hungry and need food. Orange chicken very much, too.
What TV show or movie can you quote?
I could probably quote ‘The Dark Knight’ front and backwards. I've seen it a lot. Maybe not the entire movie, but a lot of the Joker scenes I feel like are so iconic. Those are the lines you remember. He’s awesome.
What is the significance of that (silver) bracelet that you wear?
My sister [Katie] got it for me for Christmas. We do gifts every year, so this is something she got me. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to wear it when I pitch or I would. She’s a teacher in North Carolina. She went to Duke for a master’s [degree]. She’s a smart one.