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Washington Nationals calling up Erick Fedde for MLB debut in place of Stephen Strasburg?

Multiple reports tonight say the Nationals will call top pitching prospect Erick Fedde up to make his MLB debut in place of Stephen Strasburg on Friday.

By Patrick Reddington
New York Mets v Washington Nationals Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

According to reports tonight, the Washington Nationals will call top pitching prospect Erick Fedde up from Triple-A Syracuse to start in place of Stephen Strasburg Saturday against Colorado.

Nats’ skipper Dusty Baker was asked earlier today about the possibility of Fedde filling in for the injured Strasburg, who dealt with a nerve impingement in his right forearm during what ended up being two-inning outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks this past Sunday.

“He’s an option,” Baker said Wednesday afternoon. “I mean, he’s an option. Everybody is an option right now.”

“You might be an option,” Baker joked with the reporter who asked.

Fedde, 24, worked in a relief role earlier this season so he’d be prepared for relief work if he was needed out of the pen this season, but he returned to starting over the last few weeks.

“Certainly [Fedde] is an option,” Baker said.

“He was pressed into a relief role out of need at the time, so now we’re stretching back out and he just happens to be on Stras’s same day.”

Fedde, a 24-year-old, 2014 1st Round pick, posted a 3.04 ERA, 3.26 FIP, 18 walks (2.88 BB/9), and 54 Ks (8.63 K/9) in 56 1⁄3 IP over 17 appearances (seven starts) at Double-A Harrisburg before he was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse, where he’s put up a 5.57 ERA, a 4.23 FIP, three walks (1.29 BB/9), and 15 Ks (6.43 K/9) in 10 games (four starts) and 21 IP with the Nationals’ top minor league affiliate.

Nats’ GM Mike Rizzo talked about Fedde as a possibility this season two weeks back, in an interview with 106.7 the FAN in D.C.’s Sports Junkies, when he was discussing which pitchers might take Joe Ross’s spot in the rotation after the righty suffered a torn UCL.

“[We’ve] been stretching out Erick Fedde to return to a starter,” Rizzo said.

“He threw three solid innings his last start in Triple-A and he’s building off that to get him to 100 pitches, and if we need to we certainly would not be afraid to go grab him to make his major league debut.”

Fedde will apparently get that opportunity, with multiple sources confirming the original report from New York Post writer Joel Sherman tonight:

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