Cade Cavalli made his long-awaited return to the big league mound in August 2025, and in his 48.2 innings pitched, he flashed brilliance, posting a 95th percentile chase rate, 95th percentile barrel rate, and 93rd percentile groundball rate. Outside of a disastrous outing against the Yankees in August, where he allowed 7 earned runs over 2 1/3 innings, Cavalli was extremely productive in his starts, giving up more than 3 runs just once.
One of the few areas in which Cavalli struggled in his return to action in 2025 was against right-handed hitters, who had his number with a .381 opponents batting average and .990 opponents OPS, much worse in comparison to his .221 opponents batting average and .651 opponents OPS against lefties. He bumped up his curveball and sinker usage and bumped down his fastball and changeup usage against righties, but it wasn’t enough to keep them from hitting at a high clip against them.
The good news is that, entering the 2026 campaign, it appears Cavalli is working on a new pitch that will give him an edge against righties. According to Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal, Cavalli has spent the offseason working on a sweeper for his arsenal, a pitch similar to a slider, but less sharp and with more verticality. If he can get a feel for it and incorporate the pitch into his pitch arsenal, he may finally have the answer he’s been looking for to getting right-handed hitters out consistently.
The sweeper has been around for many years, with Corey Kluber throwing a version of the pitch in the 2010s, but it gained popularity within the last few years, surging in usage in 2022 and 2023. Today, it’s a weapon in the arsenal of some of the best pitchers in the league, with Garrett Crochet and Paul Skenes ranking near the top in run value with the pitch.
The slider is the more traditional pitch that pitchers use to get same-side hitters out, so why a sweeper for Cavalli? My theory is that a sweeper will tunnel better than a slider with Cavalli’s curveball, his most used pitch against righties at 33%. Pairing a sweeper with his curveball will not only give hitters another pitch to worry about, but it also prevents them from being able to sit on Cavalli’s curveball in any given count.
Pitchers tinker with new pitches all the time, and while they don’t always stick due to lack of feel or command, Cavalli being able to keep the sweeper in his arsenal would be massive in his development as a frontline starter for the Nats. With improved success against righties, as well as more and more experience against big league lineups, I believe Cavalli has what it takes to not only potentially start on Opening Day for the club in 2026, but in years beyond.