Five surprises of the 2015 MLB season so far

Pitching woes in Washington

There’s a saying in baseball that goes “hitting is contagious.”  Unfortunately for the Washington Nationals, pitching isn’t “contagious.”

After being hailed a World Series favorite thanks to a bolstered pitching rotation after the signing of Max Scherzer, the Nationals have been mediocre on the mound at best.

Scherzer has done his part mostly, pitching a 1.99 ERA despite going just 3-3 in his first seven starts.  The other four pitchers in the rotation have ERA’s north of 4.00, highlighted by Stephen Strasburg’s 6.06 ERA with a 2-4 record so far.

Strasburg, who everyone thought would’ve began to improve this year has been the worst of the bunch, pitching the least amount of innings (35.2), allowing the most hits (50), runs (28), earned runs (24) and has allowed the highest opponent’s batting average (.327).  His current WHIP of 1.71 is 60 points higher than his career average.

If Washington is going to meet expectations, Strasburg, if anyone on that Nationals staff is going to have to figure it out.

Next: Oakland crashes back to earth