DJ Herz quietly entered the Washington Nationals clubhouse before Tuesday’s 6-3 loss to the New York Mets. He had a black backpack on his left shoulder and his equipment bag in his right hand, and was carrying the weight of replacing Trevor Williams in the rotation.
The lefty’s face turned cherry red as he tried to locate his position. His eyes scanned the room and his body turned in all directions as he looked for manager Dave Martinez. Here was a 23-year-old trying to control his nerves before his major league debut.
“It was different because it’s a big, old locker room,” he said after the game. “I was trying to find my locker with my jersey on and seeing it for the first time was surreal.”
Herz was not expected to arrive at Nationals Park so soon. But the Nationals placed Williams on the 15-day disabled list with a right flexor muscle strain earlier in the day, cutting short an impressive season for the right-hander, who has a 2.22 ERA after 11 starts.
Williams, 32, was scheduled to pitch Tuesday night against his former team. Herz, withdrawn from Class AAA Rochester, took his turn. He worked into the fifth inning and allowed four runs on seven hits, striking out three and walking two.
“I was a little nervous,” Martinez said. “He was sweating like crazy, but in the big moments, he would calm down a little bit and throw strikes and look really good.”
Herz had the first opportunity to replace Williams, who said his arm did not recover normally after Thursday’s start, which earned him a victory in Atlanta. Images revealed no structural damage, but it will be closed for two weeks.
Williams, who signed a two-year, $13 million contract in December 2022, lands on the disabled list in the midst of the best season of his career.
“I’m doing everything I can in training sessions to go out and help this team make a push,” he said. “We’ve been playing really good baseball and I’ll be sad not to be a part of that for the next two weeks. But I really want to attack this rehab and try to improve as quickly as I can.”
“He’s been pitching very well,” Martinez said. “There are some things you just can’t control. … It sucks because she was doing a great job. He sucks for our team because he was there every five days competing and keeping us in games.”
Williams joins Josiah Gray, Washington’s Opening Day starter, on the IL. The right-hander was sidelined in early April with a similar injury. Gray has been working toward a comeback; He threw 65 pitches in his third live bullpen session on Tuesday. Martinez said the 26-year-old could begin rehabilitation as soon as Sunday.
But with each outing, Williams had transformed from the fifth option in the rotation to a trade candidate for the rebuilding Nationals (27-33). It’s impossible to say what Washington might get in return. But trading Williams might be less likely now, which could cost the Nationals a prospect who could add value in the future: someone like Herz, who was acquired in July when the Nationals traded Jeimer Candelario to the Chicago Cubs. The 23-year-old left-hander, whose changeup from Vulcan raised his profile in the minors, had a 3.75 ERA for Rochester this season, his first in Class AAA.
Herz uses a deceptive cross-arm delivery that can fool hitters even if he doesn’t have above-average velocity. His success depends on his control: he recorded 42 strikeouts and 29 walks in nine starts over 36 innings with the Red Wings. But in his last three outings, he had 23 strikeouts and only walked five.
Herz was driving toward Worcester, Massachusetts, when he got the call Monday that he was headed to the big leagues. And there he was Tuesday night, facing Francisco Lindor of the Mets to begin his major league career in front of a handful of family and friends. Lindor doubled, but Herz moved in to strike out Pete Alonso before getting a pair of ground balls.
He loaded the bases in the third but struck out JD Martínez with three straight fastballs. It wasn’t until the fourth that Herz made his first costly mistake: a cut to Harrison Bader that caught too much of the plate. Herz was on the third base line when left fielder Jesse Winker jumped toward the ball. But he couldn’t reach it and Bader’s two-run homer gave the Mets the lead. Herz leaned back, then stood up and returned to the mound.
Back-to-back singles to open the fifth ended Herz’s night. Both runners came home when Derek Law allowed a triple to Starling Marte, who scored on Mark Vientos’ sacrifice fly to make it 5-0. Alonso added a solo home run in the ninth for the Mets (26-35).
For the Nationals, Jacob Young had RBI singles in the fifth and ninth innings and Joey Gallo added one in the seventh. The Nationals got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning against former Washington reliever Reed Garrett, but Lane Thomas popped out.
In the fifth, when Herz’s outing officially ended, he handed the ball to Martínez and walked off the mound. Finally a heavy, deep sigh came out. Herz was finally able to relax.
“We got the first one out of the way,” he said. “Move on to the next one and move on.”
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