Miles Mikolas’ latest turn with the Washington Nationals looks like it could be his last in Major League Baseball.
The Nationals designated the former St. Louis Cardinals right-hander for assignment on Tuesday, according to The Athletic’s Spencer Nusbaum. Nusbaum also posted on Twitter/X that “Miles Mikolas was saying goodbye to teammates in the clubhouse,” even though there was no official corresponding move announced at the time.
Washington had signed Mikolas, 37, to a one-year, $2.5 million contract, but the club’s direction has shifted as it pushes ahead with a youth movement built around shortstop CJ Abrams and outfielder James Wood. After a loss to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night, the Nationals fell to 59-62 and slipped farther from the Wild Card picture.
Jackson Kent is expected to be promoted, and he will start for Washington on Wednesday, which left Mikolas as the likely roster casualty.
Mikolas appeared in 24 games for the Nationals this season, making 11 starts. In mid-May, the team began using an opener in his games in an effort to ease some of the early pressure on him, but the results never really turned. His July ERA was 6.62, and in August it ballooned to 8.18.
For the year, Mikolas is 3-9 with a 5.89 ERA over 113 innings. He has struck out 56 batters and allowed 26 home runs. In his most recent outing, he worked three innings in relief against Chicago and gave up one run.
The Nationals’ move closes the book on a run that was already looking shaky. Mikolas spent seven seasons with the Cardinals, earned All-Star nods in 2018 and 2022, and finished his St.
Louis tenure with a 68-69 record and a 4.16 ERA. His career there is also remembered for the decline that came in his final three years.
Mikolas recently reached 10 years of Major League service time, and the Nationals marked the milestone with a special belt buckle. He also spent time in Korea earlier in his career as part of the path that helped him rebuild his MLB resume.
At 37 and deep into a fourth straight year of decline, it seems unlikely another team will step in. Even so, Mikolas has already carved out a long career, and for St. Louis he was a key piece during the late 2010s and early 2020s.
In Other News...
Nolan Gorman Just Reopened A Cardinals Question Fans Thought Was Settled
Nolan Gormans reset in Triple-A has started to look a lot more like a detour than a dead end for the Cardinals. After he was optioned out following an offensive slump in St. Louis, the left-handed bat needed a cleaner stretch to remind everyone why his power has always made him such an intriguing part of the roster picture.
Hes begun to do that by showing more pop and a better feel for getting on base, even with the strikeouts still in the mix. If this version keeps showing up, the Cardinals may have to revisit a question many around the club thought was already answered, and Gormans path back could become one of the more interesting roster decisions hanging over the final stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Former Cardinal Reignites Busch Stadium Debate Cardinals Fans Know Too Well
Busch Stadium has long carried a reputation as a place where offense can die on the warning track, and the conversation around that hasnt gotten any quieter with a few Cardinals hitters lately seeing potential home runs stay in the yard. The park is known as pitcher-friendly, which has only kept the old debate alive about whether the setting does enough to help the lineup and whether the club ought to think about changing the dimensions to create a little more offense.
Matt Carpenter added fresh fuel to that familiar argument in a recent interview, revisiting a complaint Cardinals fans have heard before from players who felt the park worked against their swings. It is the kind of comment that tends to linger around this franchise because it taps into a larger question the team has never fully answered, even if there is still no official sign that any changes are coming. [Read more 🡒]