April 24th: This is now official, as the Nats announced they have recalled Cornelio and optioned Fernández.
April 23rd: The Nationals are going to recall right-hander Riley Cornelio, reports Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic. The Nats announced that righty Julian Fernández was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after today’s game, so Cornelio is presumably the corresponding move.
Cornelio, 26 in June, was a seventh-round pick of the Nats in 2022. As a minor leaguer, he has been working primarily as a starter. In 2025, he climbed from High-A to Double-A and then Triple-A. Across those three levels, he threw 134 1/3 innings, allowing 3.28 earned runs per nine. His 10.1% walk rate was a tad high but he struck out 24.8% of batters faced.
The Nats didn’t want him to be exposed in the Rule 5 draft, so they gave him a 40-man spot in November. He came into big league camp but made just two official appearances before being optioned to the minors. He has started his season with four Triple-A starts, posting a 2.45 ERA in 18 1/3 innings. His four-seamer and sinker are both averaging around 95 miles per hour, as he also mixes in a mid-80s slider and changeup.
Presumably, Washington wants Cornelio to potentially provide length out of the bullpen. Fernández pitched the past two games, including two innings this afternoon, so he may not have been available tomorrow. Miles Mikolas is the scheduled starter tomorrow and he hasn’t been able to go deep into games. His five starts this year have ranged from five innings on the high end to three innings on the low end. Being short-handed in the bullpen would be less than ideal if Mikolas ends up getting another quick hook, so Cornelio replacing Fernández makes sense.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images
The great cornholio
Settle down Beavis
Ugh, I raced to the comments section for this.
I can’t wait for when he pulls up his jersey looks at the hitter and says “ Are you threatening me?”
Damn someone beat me to it.
Hey Butthead…
Thought i might be second. Not even 7th
A little slow on the trigger there Theo, perhaps have a notification alert on your phone that can activate an electrical shock from your FitBit watch to notify you when to quickly post on the comment thread.
The Beavis app, if I only hadnt uninstalled that to make room for taco apps. Life choices
I have the taco app too, but I just call it Tinder.
Major League TP
I wonder what Nats fans think of Mikolas.
Ugh. Terrible. Zach Littell is worse, though. If the Nats arms could just keep the ball in the ballpark.
Oh
Mikolas- Greek for Opa i did it again
Hey Beavis, pull my finger! No way, fart knocker! Uh huh huh huh.
I’m actually not trying to be funny. I read this late night and my eyes aren’t as sharp before I go to sleep and I thought it said.
“ Cornholio”. my next thought was I hope they have enough TP for, well, you know.
I really thought I’d be the original one coming here with the B
Apparently posting an ampersand ate the rest of my comment?
BREAKING: And a possibly related corresponding move, the Washington Nationals organization has ordered a record amount of TP to be stored in the teams locker room, and on private plane the team travels on.
All jokes aside, the Nats really do need RP for their bullpen
And TP for their bullpen.
Cornholio has just entered the match. The Nationals have Veavis at 3rd. I kid you not.