WSH - Nationals 2025 Team Awards

It was a season of woes for the 2025 Washington Nationals and their fans as they watched their record drop from 71-91 in 2024 to 66-96 in 2025. Good enough for last place (5th) in the NL East, 14th in the NL, and well, 28th in the MLB. It was also a season in which they relieved 8-year-long manager Dave Martinez of his duties after the team got off to a 37-53 start. Martinez was the manager of the 2019 Cinderella World Series Championship team, but had yet to help them achieve a winning season since they had not even reached a .500 win total. (best record being their most recent 71-91 that they put up both in ‘23 and 2'24

TOP STARTER - MacKenzie Gore

  In what appeared to be a rough 2025 season for Gore, it was the first half of his season where he really stood out among the rest, and so although he wasn’t able to finish off the season the way he started, he still did more than enough to earn himself the Nationals' 2025 Top Pitcher Award. 

In 2025, Gore led all National pitchers with a 3.0 WAR (2.3 points higher than the second, from Mike Soroka (0.7)). He started in 30 games (second straight season with 30+ starts), across those starts, he pitched 159.2 innings with a 5-15 record, 4.17 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and set a career high in strikeouts with 185. 

As mentioned, it was the first half of the season where he really stood out. So I went through and found some stats worth pointing out to further prove just how good the start of his season was. 

• Out of his 5 total wins, 4 of them came before the All-Star break. 

• 12 of his 14 Quality Starts came before the All-Star break. 

• He had (2) 13K games in his first 5 starts of the season (one of them coming on Opening Day).

• Had (12) 7+K games before the All-Star break. 

• In his 5 May starts, he didn’t have fewer than 7K’s in all of them. 

Final 2025 Stat Line:

WAR: 3.0

Games Started: 30

Record: 5-15

IP: 159.2

ERA: 4.17

WHIP: 1.35

K/BB: 185/64 (2.89)

TOP RELIEVER - Jose A. Ferrer 

A guy who, at the time of typing this, is already no longer a part of the Nationals after being traded to the Seattle Mariners to kick off this year's Winter Meetings. But despite all that, Ferrer still had himself quite the year, clearly one that was good enough to catch the Mariners' attention enough to want to trade one of their top prospects, Harry Ford, for him. 

In what was a very rough season for the Nationals bullpen, it was Ferrer that rose above the rest, pitching in 9 more games than other reliever with a total of 72 appearances (previous career high was 39). Although he only finished with a 0.1 WAR, he was still the Nats’ go-to guy out of the pen once they dealt closer Kyle Finnegan to the Detroit Tigers at the deadline. He finished with 76.1 innings pitched, a 4-4 record, 11 saves, a 4.48 ERA, a 1.27 WHIP, and a total of 71 strikeouts. 

Again, there was nothing “special” about this Nats’ bullpen, but I had to pick someone, and Ferrer’s huge workload jump from his prior seasons compared to 2025, along with some of his numbers, just so happened to stand out among the rest. Which is why he is walking away with the Nationals’ 2025 Reliever of the Year. 

Final 2025 Stat Line:

WAR: 0.1

Appearances: 72

Saves: 11

IP: 76.1

ERA: 4.48

WHIP: 1.27

K/BB: 71/16 (4.44)

TOP HITTER -  James Wood

In what was just his first full season in the big leagues, James Wood showed up big time for this Nationals’ squad and is taking home the Nationals 2025 Top Hitter Award. 

Wood finished the year leading all Nationals’ players in WAR with a 3.7 (only 0.3 ahead of SS C.J. Abrams). Despite leading the entire MLB in strikeouts, Wood still put up some notable numbers, especially considering he played on the 3rd worst team in the league. Here is a breakdown of his 2025 stats. He played in all but 5 games for a total of 157, where he slashed .256/.350/.475 in a total of 598 at-bats. He collected 153 hits, 38 of them doubles, 31 homers, with 94 RBI’s, scoring 87 times himself, and finishing with 15 steals. All enough to earn himself his first all-star nod and taking home the Nationals Hitter of the Year Honours. 

Final 2025 Stat Line: 

WAR: 3.0

GP: 157

Slash Line: .256/.350/.475

H/AB: 153/598

HR: 31

RBI: 94

R: 87

SB: 15

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Daylen Lile

In a season in which 9 Nationals players made their MLB debuts, it was Daylen Lile who stood out amongst them and is taking home the Nationals’ 2025 Rookie of the Year honours. 

It was on May 23rd that Lile got the call and stayed up long enough to play in 91 games. In those games had 51 hits in 321 at-bats, with 15 being doubles, 11 triples, and 9 home runs. He also drove in 41 RBI’s, came around to score 51 times, and stole 8 bases, finishing with a .299/.347/.498 slash line for his first taste of the big leagues. Lile definitely proved he can play, and I look forward to seeing what a full season's worth of numbers can look like in 2026. 

2025 Final Stat Line: 

WAR: 0.8

GP: 91

Slash Line: .299/.347/.498

H/AB: 96/321

HR: 9

RBI: 41

R: 51

SB: 8

MVP - James Wood

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