Up until the point they finally decided it would not happen, the Washington Nationals were hoping their rehabbing 23-year-old lefty MacKenzie Gore would be able to get back on the mound to make his debut with the club after he was acquired from the San Diego Padres in the blockbuster deadline deal for Juan Soto and Josh Bell.
“I would expect to see him sometime in one of the last handful of games down the stretch here,” GM Mike Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN in D.C.’s Sports Junkies on September 28th.
Two days later, Nationals’ skipper Davey Martinez announced their decision to have Gore shut it down following four rehab outings at Triple-A Rochester in the Nats’ system in which he was healthy but showed signs of still needing to build up his arm strength and stamina.