Nationals manager Matt Williams has decided to give his closer a few days off.
The morning after Rafael Soriano blew his career-worst seventh save of the season, Williams said the right-hander will be held out of the remainder of this weekend’s series against Philadelphia and then throw a bullpen session Monday to work on his mechanics. In the meantime, the Nationals will adopt a closer-by-committee approach.
Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard and waiver acquisition Matt Thornton each have experience in the closer’s role and could fill in during Soriano’s time off. Storen, who saved 43 games for the Nationals in 2011, has a 1.37 earned-run average in 54 appearances this season.
“We’ve got options,” Williams said Saturday. “So it depends on their team. It depends on who’s used in other roles, on how we want to do it in the course of a game.”
If Soriano is able to make the necessary fixes, especially to his slider, he likely will pitch in some low-leverage situations upon his return but remain the Nationals closer, Williams indicated.
“I think we’ll try to give him a little bit of a softer landing as he’s working through it,” he said. “It’s like a batter’s slump. Just because you feel it in the cage doesn’t mean it’s going to work in the game. So there’s options there where we can pitch him in some situations where he’s working on all of his mechanical things and have a little softer landing, so he can get some confidence with it.”
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Soriano entered Friday night’s game with a three-run lead and quickly gave up two home runs, including a rare homer by center fielder Ben Revere, who had only hit one in his career to that point. The Nationals went on to lose, 9-8, in 11 innings. Both of the home runs occurred on sliders.
Williams said the pitch has been flat recently, not snapping downward as it usually does. He chalked it up to a mechanical issue that can be corrected in film and bullpen sessions.
“The issue with guys in the bullpen is it’s difficult for them to throw bullpens and work on it, because they could be used on an everyday basis,” Williams explained. “So he’s going to take a couple days, look at some videos, look at certainly his release point and where his arm angle is, especially on a slider.”
Soriano, who signed a two-year, $28 million deal before the 2013 season, has struggled mightily since the all-star break. He posted a 0.97 ERA before the break and a 6.98 ERA since.
General manager Mike Rizzo, who helped bring Soriano to Washington, echoed Williams’ assessment and attributed the right-hander’s struggles to his slider.
“We’re going to look at film, he’s going to do some bullpens and see if we can get him out of the funk,” Rizzo said. “It would concern me more if we felt there was something drastically wrong with Soriano and if we didn’t have the depth at that position that we have.”
Despite his recent struggles, Soriano has not lost any confidence, according to Williams. The right-hander also has not lost the support of his teammates, who praised his effectiveness on the whole this season.
“You can’t be too hard on him, man,” Denard Span said after Friday’s loss. “I think we as a team believe he’s giving it his best. It’s been rough for him, but we’ve got to find a way to get him going and just pick him up. We don’t want him to get discouraged right now. We need him. We’re going to need him down the stretch.”
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
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