DETROIT -- With Cade Cavalli's first full season in the Major Leagues being a dominant success, the Nationals have decided to shut him down for the final week.
Cavalli, who missed three years because of injuries, threw a career-high 169 2/3 innings this season. He went 13-5 with a 3.02 ERA and 200 strikeouts in 32 starts.
Cavalli finished the season strong, going 8-1 with a 1.90 ERA and 0.89 WHIP after the All-Star break. In recognition of his significance in the starting rotation, Cavalli signed a four-year contract extension last Friday.
“He's had a ton of innings this year, a lot more than he's ever thrown,” manager Blake Butera said before Tuesday's game in Detroit. “He reached 200 K's. He's done a tremendous job, as we know. I think we'd be kind of crazy to keep throwing him out there at this point in the season, and he totally understood that.”
Cavalli threw 4 1/3 innings in his Major League debut in 2022. He was sidelined by a series of injuries until August of 2025, and he pitched 48 2/3 innings last season. This year, Cavalli reported to camp healthy and was named the Opening Day starter. He did not miss a turn in the rotation.
“Because he's been healthy so long this year, it's allowed him to figure out what works and what doesn't work in between starts, the day of your start, all those sorts of things,” said Butera. “If you're pitching a few times and you're hurt and you run into a break for a while and then you get back out there, it's hard for you to find what works and what doesn't work. I think he's gotten himself into a really good program, routine that's allowed him to stay healthy and stay strong.”
Entering Tuesday, Cavalli was tied with the Phillies' Cristopher Sánchez for the second-most starts by a National League pitcher (32). He also ranked fourth among NL pitchers in strikeouts (200) and strikeout rate, and eighth in total innings, WHIP and strikeout-to-walk rate, and ninth in opponents’ batting average.
Cavalli recorded double digits in strikeouts in five starts, maxing at 13 on June 30 at Fenway Park. The balance of a 10.6% strikeout rate with a 2.6% walk rate stands out most to Butera. Cavalli improved his strikeout-to-walk rate from 3.44 in the first half to 5.63 in the second half.
“Those two paired together have been pretty unbelievable for Cade,” Butera said. “I know we reached the 200 [strikeout] mark, but you look at how low the walks are to go along with that. Especially earlier in the year, there was a little bit of a command issue, but to be able to limit that and get that going back in the right direction was really impressive.”
Cavalli threw at least six innings in 18 of his 32 starts. He pitched a career-high eight scoreless frames when he flirted with a no-hitter against the Cubs on Aug. 13. Cavalli worked efficiently, reaching 100 pitches in only four of those starts.
“I told him, 'You're our guy. We’re going to push you when we need to push you. But we're also going to pull you back when we need to pull you back,'" Butera said. “... His last several outings going into the game, we were planning on keeping him shorter to try to do this. But every game he pitched, he was rolling, and we were in a tight game and you can't. So I kind of explained that to him to try to keep his innings down, but just with how well he's pitched, it's been hard to do that.”
Cavalli’s next scheduled start would have been Wednesday. The Nationals have not named a starter for that game.