WASHINGTON — As Riley Cornelio’s rookie season winds down, the Nationals are intrigued by seeing the right-hander in different roles while they plan for 2027.
Cornelio, a starter until reaching the Major Leagues, has been serving as a multi-innings reliever. He has struggled finding consistency in the bullpen, and the Nats have tabbed him as an opener twice in the last six days, including Sunday afternoon’s 6-5 win to complete a three-game sweep of the Angels at Nationals Park.
“I wouldn’t close the door on that,” manager Blake Butera said, when asked if Cornelio could be utilized as a starter again. “We’ve messaged to him that we wanted to see him come out of the bullpen. He did really well in Triple-A at that. I think up here he’s still trying to navigate what that looks like. The more sample size we can get of him doing a couple different roles, the more clarity I think we can give him. But yeah, I wouldn’t close the door on it.”
Cornelio was in stride hurling three scoreless innings as the opener on Tuesday against the Padres. The Nationals decided to give Cornelio another look on Sunday to open the series finale against the Angels. The shift had Cornelio pitch ahead of Jake Irvin, who has battled a higher ERA in earlier innings.
“The way he threw the ball last time in San Diego I thought was really good. And I wanted to give him an opportunity to do that again,” Butera said. “Irv hasn’t thrown behind an opener before, so I think this may be a good opportunity for him to do that as well.”
Cornelio again delivered a scoreless outing on Sunday. This time, he threw two frames against the Angels with one hit, one walk and four strikeouts across 34 pitches. (Last Tuesday, Cornelio pitched three perfect frames with four strikeouts on 36 pitches.)