No. 8 prospect Cavalli staying positive during 18-month recovery

WASHINGTON – Right-hander Cade Cavalli entered Spring Training hoping 2024 would be his comeback season from Tommy John surgery. His return will have to wait until ‘25, but he is heading into the offseason feeling healthy and embracing the path to getting back to starting form.

“I just feel like I’ve got to keep a positive outlook on it; that’s who I am,” Cavalli, ranked as the Nationals’ No. 8 prospect, said prior to the Nats’ 3-0 loss to the Royals on Wednesday at Nationals Park. “So I’ve got to stay true to myself and understand that this is just part of the process. Not everybody comes back in 12 or 15 months. Sometimes it takes 18, and I'm feeling really good in month 18. That's what it took, but we just kind of ran out of time in the season. I just understand that that was out of my control, and I don't think there's any reason to dwell on things that we can't control.”

Cavalli underwent Tommy John surgery on March 22, 2023 -- just seven months after making his Major League debut on Aug. 26, 2022. He recovered all of last year, continued his program in Spring Training, and made three rehab starts before being shut down because of “dead arm” after throwing three innings with High-A Wilmington on June 21.

“I felt really good before I went out for the rehab assignment, and then the arm just didn't catch up with the body,” Cavalli said. “We were synced up, the stuff was playing great and we were happy with where we were at. So we just had to let the arm catch up, and we did that. It’s all feeling like it's coming together now, and I feel healthy. I feel like the body's moving well and we like how the ball's coming out.”

After also being sidelined for a period of time because of the flu, Cavalli got back to his rehab program at Nationals Park and the club’s training complex in West Palm Beach, Fla. In the final week of the regular season, Cavalli threw a 25-pitch bullpen session on Wednesday at Nationals Park. He worked on his entire pitch mix, cleaning up his upper half and connecting to his lower half.

“We want to understand that he's a big part of this team -- not just now, but in the future,” said manager Dave Martinez. “As much as we can get him here without disrupting his rehab, we want to get him here.”

Cavalli is excited to be on a regular throwing program this offseason, rather than one based on rehab. He will go back to Tulsa, Okla., take some time off from throwing, and then build up for camp.

“I think that we gave it all that we could, we did everything right,” said Cavalli. “This was the part of it where you can start questioning, the natural thoughts come in, like, ‘What did we do wrong? What did we not do? Was there more that we could do?’ And I think that we checked off everything that's gotten people back to being healthy.

“It’s different sometimes whenever you have a higher velocity guy getting back into it quicker, and sometimes the arm just hasn't caught up yet. The body and everything felt really good, and there were times where it was like, that's normal stuff, we're throwing firm, the stuff is spinning very well. And then there were times where it’d come out, and the arm just hadn't responded from the day prior or something."

Cavalli continued: “So we were very easy with it, and we wanted to make sure that when the time's right, that it's healthy and ready to go. We ran out of time this season. I hate it because I want to be out there more than anything. I miss competing like crazy, and we just kind of ran out of time. So I’m very excited, there’s a lot of fuel for the fire for 2025, and I know that I have the support of the guys here. It's great knowing being able to go work in the offseason knowing those things.”

Cavalli, a first-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft out of Oklahoma, looks forward to rejoining a Nationals starting rotation that was highlighted this season by promising young arms, including DJ Herz, 23, who tossed five innings of one-run ball Wednesday, Mitchell Parker, 24, MacKenzie Gore, 25, and Jake Irvin, 27.

“Knowing him, he's going to get after it. He always does,” said Martinez. “He's going to come to Spring Training [in the] best pitching shape he could possibly be in and be ready to go out there and compete. With his injury going down, we saw some other guys step up and [they] have done really well. To add him in a mix with the guys we have now, it’s pretty awesome. It's going to be a good problem to have to have all these guys ready to go in Spring Training.”