Former Red Sox pitching prospect Thad Ward hopes to land in the Nationals bullpen
The Red Sox lost three pitchers during the MLB Rule 5 Draft. Noah Song went to the Phillies, AJ Politi to the Orioles and Thad Ward went first overall to the Nationals.
Ward is an interesting selection for the Nationals. He was considered one of the few MLB ready arms available in the draft. The young right-handed hurler is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery.
The 25-year-old saw some action during the Arizona Fall League. He posted some pretty impressive statistics for the Scottsdale Scorpions. Ward made four appearances, three starts, posting a 2.84 ERA, with 15 strikeouts and a 1.342 WHIP. He did leave his second start with side discomfort but there was no issues with his arm.
Ward returned strong this summer for the Red Sox, producing a 2.28 ERA and 66 strikeouts across 51 1/3 innings at three levels of Boston’s system. Seven of his starts came at Double-A Portland, where he had a 2.43 ERA and 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
The new Nationals righty will have to remain on their 26-man roster for the entire season or he’ll need to be offered back to the Red Sox.
One area Ward can try and stick with the Nationals is part of their bullpen in 2023.
“My only goal is to add value to the team. That’s it,” Ward said on Wednesday to the Washington Post. “However I can help the team win, I will do. Obviously I’d like to stay as a starter, but it also doesn’t matter that much to me. I just want to go win ballgames.”
Ward hopes to be a starter in the future and the Nationals believe he can be at the Major League level.
We see him as a starting pitching candidate," Rizzo said. "That's what he's always been. That's how we scouted him. That's how we like him. We're not going to rule out anything. He's going to come to spring training with the mindset that he's going to pitch multiple innings, and then we'll take it from there.
“We didn’t want to shoot the moon and handcuff (manager Dave Martinez) to get a raw, young player,” Rizzo said to The Athletic. “But you always like (to get) upside. So this guy kind of blends both of those. He’s got some upside, we think he’s gonna get a little bit better, and there’s some kind of security that he’s got a chance to be there all year.”
Ward will take his six-pitch mix to Washington. He features four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter, slider, curveball and change-up. The change-up is the newest pitch in his loaded arsenal. It’s a pitch that he hopes to perfect over time to keep hitters off balance in the bigs.
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Another Bloom screw up ! Fire him now