The Nationals are signing veteran right-hander Miles Mikolas, reports Jake Mintz of Yahoo Sports. This comes after TalkNats reported that the two sides were talking on Tuesday morning. Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal confirmed Mintz’s report, noting that it is a one-year deal. The Nationals will need to make room for Mikolas on their 40-man roster, but they can do so easily by moving DJ Herz to the 60-day IL.
Mikolas, 37, became a workhorse in his mid-thirties. He began his career with the Padres and Rangers before spending three years with the Yomiuri Giants in NPB. During the 2017-18 offseason, he signed with the Cardinals and made 32 starts in each of the next two years, but forearm issues kept him off the field for most of 2020-21. Since 2022, he has started at least 31 games each year, including a league-leading 35 in 2023. Only one pitcher, Logan Webb, has made more starts than Mikolas over the last four seasons, and only four have thrown more innings.
Unfortunately for Mikolas, the quality of those innings has declined as he has aged and his stuff has diminished. In 2025, he pitched to a 4.84 ERA and a 4.83 SIERA. While the righty has never been one to rack up strikeouts, his strikeout rate and strikeout-to-walk ratio dropped to 14.9% and 2.70, respectively, the lowest either has ever been since before he left for Japan. The only pitcher to throw at least 150 innings last year with a worse strikeout rate was Mikolas’s new Nationals teammate Mitchell Parker. Meanwhile, no pitcher (min. 150 IP) gave up barrels at a higher rate than Mikolas; according to Statcast’s xERA, he ranked among the bottom 9% of pitchers in MLB. Pitch models that evaluate raw stuff, such as Stuff+ and PitchingBot, also suggest that the veteran took a big step back in 2025. Overwhelming batters with nasty stuff was never how he succeeded, but his stuff metrics went from poor to some of the worst in the game this past season.
As negative as all that sounds, it’s important to keep in mind that Mikolas still took the mound 31 times in 2025, tossing 156 1/3 frames. He made eight quality starts and finished five innings in all but seven of his outings. The Nationals badly needed an innings eater for a woefully inexperienced rotation set to include names like Josiah Gray, Cade Cavalli, Foster Griffin, Jake Irvin, Brad Lord, and Parker. Of those arms, only Irvin and Parker have pitched so much as one qualifying major league season, while Gray is the only other to have a 30-start campaign under his belt. It’s a group replete with injury concerns, consistency issues, and limited track records. The dependable Mikolas will boost the floor of what projects to be one of the worst starting rotations in the league.
One of the saddest looking players.
He also does not look his age. If you showed me his photo and said he’s the new 57 year old bench coach, I’d believe you without hesitation.
But top 5 moustache
Oh for sure. They go hand in hand if done properly
🫵😂 Miles Mikolas
I’m happy Miles gets another opportunity. I was hoping the Marlins would sign him, but at this point he has to take what he can get. I don’t think Washington’s defense is going to do him any favors, unfortunately.
Best of luck Miles Mikolas.
Neither is their offense.
Neither is their bullpen.
Crazy Gallen is still available I refuse to believe he will play like he did last year I don’t know why teams aren’t all over him.
They don’t want to give up a pick would be my best guess. The bigger question is how many compensation picks have panned out over the last 12-13 years? Can’t imagine too many.
The QO is affecting Gallen’s market. He’ll sign eventually but it may only be a one year deal
Giving a pick for 1 year wouldn’t be good for signing team
The Braves have done it multiple times. If the price is right a team will sacrifice the pick
It was reported early in the off-season he wouldn’t consider a one year deal. I dont know if that has changed but he almost has to to prove last year was an outlier.
Hat tip to the Lizard King. I’m a fan. Great guy. Cowboy hat and all.
There’s a rock band from Australia called King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. You just reminded me of them by saying Lizard King. I personally do not listen to them my Uncle is the one who told me about them.
he listens to em….
Yes he does. He spends extra money just to get their albums on vinyl. I think he spend like $300 on their greatest hits or something like that. It was like 120 songs on like 6 vinyls. I don’t know how many songs are on a vinyl album so I’m completely guessing.
Can pitch every five starts and eat up enough inning to avoid a bullpen game for team that is not going to win many games. Still one of my favorite ballparks from a TV viewer point of view.
I don’t how many times I have watched the YouTube video of him returning the junk grabbing favor back to Soto after getting him out. Puts me in damn near tears everytime.
Glad he signed in the NL East.
I wish Miles the best in his new role. He could look so difficult to hit on a pitch and then follow it up with the same hitter crushing it. He had a great personality and seemed like a great teammate. Good luck.
You know it’s going to be bad year when you’re signing an innings eater who will most likely make the starting rotation.
Cardinals fans rejoice that a terrible player and person is gone ✌️
Terrible Person? Do explain
Lot of comments here about him being an innings eater. He started 31 games last year and threw 156.1 innings. In my world, that’s five innings per start.
A fair point. But in today’s MLB averaging five innings per start *is* an innings eater. As was noted in the article above about Mikolas:
“Only one pitcher, Logan Webb, has made more starts than Mikolas over the last four seasons, and only four have thrown more innings.”
Nobody is (or should be) popping champagne corks over signing Miles Mikolas. But his record to date has been “answer the bell and deliver five innings every fifth day.” That’s not nothing either.