Cavalli (arm) rejoined the Triple-A Rochester rotation Wednesday and struck out five over three innings while allowing three earned runs on three hits and two walks in his return to action.

EDGE Analysis

Cavalli was back in action after a two-week layoff that was imposed mostly for workload-management reasons rather than as a result of the minor arm soreness he experienced coming out of his June 16 outing. The right-hander wasn't particularly sharp in Wednesday's start -- he tossed only 45 of his 77 pitches for strikes, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch -- but all indications are that he came out of the appearance feeling fine physically. The 23-year-old now sports a 5.07 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 61:27 K:BB across 60.1 innings in his 13 starts with Rochester this season.

Cavalli hasn't pitched since June 16 after complaining of arm soreness, as the Nationals keep an eye on his workload, Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post reports.

EDGE Analysis

The official term from the club is "concerted load management", but whatever you call it, it will result in Cavalli having his turn in the rotation skipped at times during the season. "We're putting the [focus] on playing deep into the season, through the minor league season and being available beyond," Nats general manager Mike Rizzo said Friday. "Because our plan is always to play through October... I think we've kind of adapted that, kind of morphed into that being the best way to achieve the goals. The goal for player development is to develop these guys mentally, physically and emotionally to finish a full major league season." Cavalli has had an up and down campaign for Triple-A Rochester, but he seemed to have turned things around before seeing a drop in his velocity in his most recent outing, posting a 2.17 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 29:11 K:BB through 29 innings over his last five starts.

Cavalli didn't make it out of the first inning in Tuesday's game against Triple-A Lehigh Valley, giving up five runs on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts. He now has a 7.62 ERA and 1.57 WHIP through seven starts this season.

EDGE Analysis

Cavalli's control issues were always going to catch up with him at some point, and it seems Triple-A is that point -- his results this year haven't been much different from his six starts at the same level last season (7.30 ERA, 1.90 WHIP). That 4.5 BB/9 is bad enough, but he's also been surprisingly hittable, having given up 30 hits in 28.1 innings with an unremarkable 8.6 K/9 this year. There's some bad luck involved in those stats (.345 BABIP, 47.2 percent strand rate), but no matter how you slice it, he's lost some of his prospect luster.

Cavalli was reassigned to minor-league spring training Saturday, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.

EDGE Analysis

Cavalli was being considered for a spot in the Nationals' Opening Day rotation this spring, but he'll need some time in the minors to begin the year after he posted a 14.04 ERA and 1.80 WHIP in 8.1 innings across three appearances (one start) in the Grapefruit League. However, if the right-hander performs well at Triple-A Rochester early in the 2022 campaign, it wouldn't be surprising to see him make his major-league debut at some point this year.

Cavalli gave up three runs on five hits over three-plus innings in Friday's Grapefruit League start against the Cardinals, striking out three without walking a batter. After the game, Nationals manager Dave Martinez didn't rule out the possibility of Cavalli being part of the Opening Day rotation, Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post reports. "I like it. Let's just say that: I like it," Martinez said. "You know, he'll get another start down here [in five days] or pitch in another game, and then we'll see."

EDGE Analysis

The 23-year-old right-hander breezed through the first inning before running into trouble in the second after Nolan Arenado led off the frame with a double. Cavalli eventually squelched that St. Louis rally by picking Harrison Bader off second base then inducing two weak grounders, before rebounding for a 1-2-3 third that included a strikeout of Paul Goldschmidt. Starting the season at Triple-A Rochester remains the most likely path for Washington's top prospect, but the Nats lost Max Scherzer in the offseason and Stephen Strasburg (neck) may not return until mid-May, so the team has plenty of innings up for grabs. If Cavalli impresses Martinez again in his next outing, the decision on sending him back to the minors could get a lot tougher.

Cavalli gave up one hit and struck out six over three scoreless innings during Sunday's Grapefruit League game against the Astros.

EDGE Analysis

The 23-year-old right-hander entered the game in the seventh inning and wasn't facing any of Houston's big-league bats, but it was still a very impressive performance from Cavalli. After scuffling a bit over six starts at Triple-A Rochester at the end of last season, the Nationals' top prospect is expected to return to that level to kick off 2022, but if he keeps dealing this spring there's a chance he could break camp in the big-league rotation as a fill-in for Stephen Strasburg (neck). Even if the club resists the urge to start his service-time clock right away, a major-league debut at some point this season for Cavalli seems almost assured.

Cavalli is focused on not giving hitters too much credit and learning to trust his stuff this season, Maria Torres of The Athletic reports.

EDGE Analysis

The 23-year-old top prospect tore through High-A and Double-A last year before hitting a wall at Triple-A, posting a 7.30 ERA over 24.2 innings for Rochester and seeing his strikeout rate plummet while his BABIP soared, but the issue for Cavalli seemed to have been overthinking things rather than fatigue or mechanical issues. "He'd want to [throw the perfect pitch] and then the count would be 3-2," said Michael Tejera, the pitching coach at Triple-A Rochester last year. "He'd give hitters too much credit -- without needing to." Cavalli acknowledged that he needed to start thinking more like a pitcher than a hitter, as he was a two-way player in college, and at Triple-A he found himself trying to anticipate what pitch the hitter was expecting rather than sticking to the game plan. Cavalli's stuff is more than good enough for him to thrive in the majors, and once he shows that he's learned from his mistakes last season he could be ready to make the jump into Washington's rotation.

The Nationals promoted Cavalli from Double-A Harrisburg to Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday, Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post reports.

EDGE Analysis

Washington's top pitching prospect will level up for the second time this season after he previously moved to Harrisburg in mid-June following a brilliant seven-start run at High-A Wilmington to begin his professional career. As was to be expected, Cavalli didn't dominate at Double-A nearly to the extent that he did at High-A, but his 2.79 ERA (2.60 FIP) and 18.5 K-BB% over 11 outings still made him one of the best hurlers on the circuit. Cavalli will now get a chance to get his feet wet at the highest level of the minors for the next month, potentially setting the stage for an early or mid-season promotion into the big-league rotation in 2022.

Cavalli has posted a 3.80 ERA, 1.56 WHIP and 32:17 K:BB across 21.1 innings (four starts) since being promoted to Double-A Harrisburg.

EDGE Analysis

The strikeout rate is nothing short of fantastic and he's still doing a great job limiting hits and homers, but Cavalli has struggled with walks against the more selective hitters in Double-A. Even so, it's hard not to be impressed that he's struck out a total of 103 batters in 62 innings while allowing just two home runs all season. If he can fine-tune his command over the remainder of the campaign, he'll certainly remain on track to make his MLB debut next season.

The Nationals promoted Cavalli from High-A Wilmington to Double-A Harrisburg on Monday, Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post reports.

EDGE Analysis

Though he didn't make his professional debut until May after getting selected in the first round of the 2020 first-year player draft, Cavalli already entered the season as the Nationals' No. 1 pitching prospect. He's more than justified the hype through his first seven pro starts, limiting opponents at High-A to a .171 average while generating 71 punchouts to go with a 1.77 ERA and 0.90 WHIP in 40.2 innings. The right-hander's sketchy injury history during his college days at Oklahoma will likely prompt the Nationals to manage his innings carefully for the remainder of 2021, but with a strong showing at Double-A to close out the season, Cavalli could put himself in position to earn an early call-up to the majors in 2022.