Washington Post: Nationals to Start the Season With a Better Feel for Pitching (RR)

If one thing has changed as the Nationals’ pitchers and catchers prepare to report to Viera on Friday, it is that the field of potential starting pitchers has been whittled to a fraction of what it was last year at this time. Though three dozen pitchers still will assemble, the club, like Chico, has a better idea of what to expect. The random cast of retreads largely is gone. They’ve been replaced by what the Nationals hope are a few pieces of the future.

“It’s a big difference,” second-year manager Manny Acta said by telephone last week. “We’re not out there looking for a whole pitching staff.”

Acta is careful not to get into the “five-guys-vying-for-four-spots” type of game with the rotation, because there still is a competition to come. But he knows now what he didn’t know a year ago: If they are healthy—and the “if” should be simultaneously marked in bold and ALL CAPS and italics—Hill, Chico, Jason Bergmann, John Patterson and Tim Redding all can pitch in the majors. He knows if they break down, a young group of arms that includes John Lannan, Collin Balester, Tyler Clippard, Garrett Mock and eventually even Ross Detwiler, last year’s first-round pick, is developing with varying degrees of promise. The talent, the Nationals believe, is more concentrated.