Brad Lord's Dominance Deserves Spotlight

**Corey** (0:00)
It's June 15th. Washington Nationals News Today starts now. AI powered and game ready. I'm Corey with the story. Yo, let's talk about Brad Lord, the Nationals' long man. This dude's been straight fire on the mound this season, rocking a 2.2 ERA over 45 innings. He's been so clutch, especially since April 13th, where he's only given up three earned runs in over 32 innings. That's a 0.84 ERA, man.
Now, I know James Wood and CJ Abrams are getting all the shine, and they deserve it, but Lord's numbers are all-star worthy.
He's got a 1.4 BWR, which is solid, and he's not even a strikeout pitcher. He just pounds the zone and gets ground balls, almost 60% of the time. What's wild is how he's doing it. Hitters are consistently late on his fastballs, both the four-seamer and the sinker. Statcast is showing they're late on his four-seamer, 42% of the time. This makes it tough for them to barrel up the ball or get it in the air, which is why his ground ball rate is so high. Given how dominant he's been, I think the manager, Blake Butera, needs to use him more in those high-leverage situations. Lord is arguably the best pitcher on the team, and he should be treated like it, unleashed as a multi-ending stopper. He's too good to be overlooked for matchups.
Even with some numbers suggesting he might regress a bit, Lord's been spectacular lately. He's the Cy Young of this national squad right now, a real glue guy in the bullpen, and they need to weaponize him in those crucial late game moments.