Andrew Alvarez spent most of this season proving he belonged in the conversation, and by the time it ended, he had given the Nationals something real to think about for 2027.
The left-hander, who opened the year back in Triple-A Rochester after a memorable Major League debut in September 2025 that featured five scoreless innings, kept bouncing between levels early on. Those trips up and down came with the kind of lessons a young pitcher usually has to learn the hard way. Eventually, though, Alvarez settled in and made his strongest statement yet.
“I think Alvy has thrown great,” president of baseball operations Paul Toboni said in late September. “He's put himself in a position where he's going to be throwing, hopefully, a bunch of high-quality innings for us next year.”
Alvarez finished 2-6 with a 3.43 ERA across 25 appearances, including 17 starts. He struck out hitters at a 9.11 rate, which landed in the 63rd percentile, and walked batters at a 4.07 rate, putting him in the 19th percentile.
He also put together one of the more impressive run-prevention stretches of any Nationals pitcher this year, going 56 2/3 consecutive innings without allowing a home run from June 3 to Aug. 14.
Elias Sports Bureau said that streak was the fourth-longest in Nationals team history since 2005.
“Alvy still can do a better job of throwing strikes,” said manager Blake Butera. “But he also has really good stuff and finds a way to make pitches when he needs to.”
The split in Alvarez’s season was hard to miss. Before the All-Star break, he was 2-3 with a 4.04 ERA in 13 appearances, six of them starts, over 49 innings.
Opponents hit .263 against him in that stretch. After the break, the results sharpened.
He went 0-3, but his ERA dropped to 2.97 in 12 appearances, 11 starts, over 63 2/3 innings, and opposing hitters managed only a .201 average.
His best run came over a 10-start stretch from July 27 to Sept. 19, when he posted a 2.14 ERA and held hitters to .172 with three home runs allowed.
Alvarez said he leaned on what he picked up from fellow left-hander and All-Star starter Foster Griffin, who was traded to Cleveland at the Deadline. Once Alvarez was called up on Aug. 3, he stayed in the Majors the rest of the way.
“I think part of it is you want to stay up here, and when you get optioned, you've got to get going,” Alvarez said. “Not saying that I wasn't trying to get going, but when your back is up against the wall, you’ve kind of got to go out there and dominate.”
There’s still room for growth, and the Nationals believe this offseason could help him add another layer to his game. His fastball averaged 92.1 mph this season, ranking in the 16th percentile in velocity, and it generated just a 12.6 whiff percentage.
Statcast had his overall whiff percentage in the 59th percentile and his chase rate in the 45th percentile. The club believes a better heater could make the rest of his pitches play up.
“I think the biggest thing for Alvy is once he establishes pitches in the zone, that's going to allow him to get more chase outside of the zone,” said Butera. “...
One thing we talked to him about was hopefully next year coming in with a little bit more velocity. … Once he gets the fastball going and he's able to command the fastball, I think it's going to create more opportunities for whiff in the zone.”
Alvarez isn’t treating any of this as finished business. Even after turning heads in 2026, he said his mindset for 2027 is still about earning every inning again.
“At the end of the day, I don't think I've earned or deserved anything,” Alvarez said. “So I’m approaching this offseason really trying to get better and just put myself in a good position for next year.”
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