The Nationals announced Thursday that lefty Konnor Pilkington, whom they had designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A Rochester in favor of free agency. He’s now free to sign with any club.
The 28-year-old Pilkington pitched 28 1/3 frames for the Nats in 2025, working to a 4.45 ERA with a strong 27.6% strikeout rate. The southpaw’s 13.8% walk rate was an eyesore, however, and marked the continuation of longstanding command issues that have plagued him since his early days in pro ball.
Pilkington is a former third-round pick of the White Sox. He’s pitched 88 1/3 innings in the big leagues and has a solid 3.97 earned run average with a roughly average 22% strikeout rate along the way. His 12.9% walk rate has held him back, and that’s actually an improvement over his work in the upper minors. Pilkington has pitched parts of four seasons at the Triple-A level but carries a grisly 6.10 ERA there, thanks in no small part to walking 14.1% of the opponents he’s faced.
A starter earlier in his career, Pilkington moved to a relief role full time and saw his four-seamer clock in at a career-high 94.5 mph average. He logged an 11.6% swinging-strike rate in the majors, just north of the 11% league-average, and logged a gaudier 13.8% swinging-strike rate in Triple-A.
Pilkington still has one minor league option year remaining, and while his overall track record in Triple-A isn’t good, he notched a 2.59 ERA in 42 1/3 innings with Washington’s top affiliate in Rochester this past season. Rival clubs could be intrigued by his uptick in velocity and the strikeout numbers following a move to the bullpen and take a flier on a minor league deal now that he’s a free agent, but he’ll need to rein in his walks considerably if he’s to carve out a long-term role in the majors.
Go get him, Texas. He’s got more upside than a couple guys you’ve picked up so far, and still has an option.
This could lowkey be a great under the radar pick up for the Rox! Throw him some dinero, Denver!
Hmm, not sure this is a guy I’d let leave, especially considering how putrid our bullpen has been. He was streaky but when he was good, he was very good.
He started off his season with a six-game scoreless streak, just two hits and no walks. He later had a seven-game scoreless streak in late August/early September and another six-game scoreless streak in September. In other words, more than half (19 of 32) of his appearances were during a scoreless streak.
On the other hand, his rate stats ended up being rough, particularly his WHIP. Too many walks, too many hits. But if I was a team with a good record for fixing pitchers, I’d definitely look into acquiring him.
The problem is how do you “fix” control issues without changing velocity? It might be an angle release point issue but a reliever who gives up that many walks throws too many pitches which in turn exhausts others in the pen.
I don’t think Carl Pilkington is athletic enough to play baseball.