The Washington Nationals have been one of the most successful franchises in baseball the past four seasons. However there were some lean times in the early years of the team’s return to Washington, as 2006-2010 provided Nationals fans with significantly more losses than victories. During this difficult period in franchise history, one of the few bright spots for the Washington Nationals was former #31, left-handed starting pitcher John Lannan.
After a distinguished career at Siena College, the Washington Nationals selected Lannan in the 11th Round of the 2005 MLB Draft. Lannan struggled in his first year and a half in the minor leagues before breaking out in 2007, blazing through three minor league levels before making his major league debut against the Phillies on July 26, 2007. Notably in his debut, he hit Chase Utley and Ryan Howard back-to-back in the 5th inning, prompting overzealous umpire Hunter Wendelstedt to eject Lannan from the game, the first pitcher in many seasons to be ejected in his first major league game. Lannan made five additional starts in 2007, posting a 4.15 ERA in 34.2 innings pitched and putting him in a strong position to begin 2008 in the Nationals starting rotation.
2008 found Lannan establishing himself as a rotation mainstay, posting a 9-15 record with a 3.91 ERA over 31 starts and 182 innings pitched. Following this solid season Washington tabbed Lannan as their 2009 Opening Day starter, an unfortunate 12-6 loss against the Marlins. Otherwise the rest of 2009 was another productive season for Lannan, as he posted a 9-13 record with a 3.88 ERA over his 33 starts and 206.1 innings pitched. These numbers put him in line to be Washington’s Opening Day starter again to begin the 2010 season.
Opening Day 2010 might have been the low point in Nationals franchise history, as the stadium was overrun with intoxicated Phillies fans and the team was stomped 11-1: Lannan struggled this day, lasting only 3.2 innings and allowing 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks before departing. This start foreshadowed much of his 2010 season, as he was demoted to Double-A Harrisburg in June due to poor performance and was only recalled because of Stephen Strasburg’s season ending injury. Lannan did pitch better once he returned to the majors, finishing the season with a 4.65 ERA over 143.1 innings pitched for the Nationals.
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Although Lannan spent much of the 2012 season in the minors, he played a significant role for the team working as their 6th starter, including a memorable and gutsy performance in July leading the team to a big victory against the Atlanta Braves. Lannan was one of the several September call-ups for Washington, taking the spot of Strasburg after the infamous shutdown late in the year. Overall Lannan produced fairly well for Washington in this unique role, posting a 4-1 record and a 4.13 ERA in 32.2 innings pitched in 2012. That said Lannan’s growing salary through arbitration, in addition to the pitching depth in the organization, forced the team to make the difficult decision to non-tender him and made him a free agent. Lannan would finish his career in Washington with a 42-52 record and a 4.01 ERA in 783.2 innings pitched.
Soon after being granted free agency, Lannan signed with rival Philadelphia for a 1-year $2.5 million dollar contract with performance bonuses. Unfortunately the move up I-95 and the smaller Citizens Bank Park was not kind to Lannan, as he struggled most of the season producing a feeble 3-6 record and a 5.33 ERA in 74.1 innings, before succumbing to a season ending knee injury in late July. The Phillies outrighted Lannan to the minor leagues after the season, which he refused, thus becoming a free agent.
A few months later Lannan signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets, in hopes of earning a spot on the roster during spring training. Lannan did in fact make the roster out of spring training as a reliever, but pitched only 4 innings over 5 appearances for the Mets while allowing 7 earned runs before the team outrighted him to the minors. Lannan elected free agency after the season and signed with the Colorado Rockies as a minor league free agent in November of 2014.
Lannan has spent the 2015 season pitching for Colorado’s Triple-A team, the Albuquerque Isotopes, posting a respectable 3.97 ERA over 95.1 innings pitched. Still only 30-years-old, he is patiently waiting for his opportunity to pitch for the Rockies, or another organization, later this summer.
John Lannan is a terrific example of perseverance and reliability in the history of the Washington Nationals. Despite an underwhelming draft pedigree and a fastball that barely scraped 90mph, Lannan maximized his skills to produce a quality 8-year major league career, throwing over 850 major league innings. Though he was not part of the team the past few years, the success the Washington Nationals and their fans are experiencing today is in small part due to the yeoman-like efforts of John Lannan. Here’s hoping Washington honors this pioneer with a bobblehead and a “John Lannan” night sometime in the near future.
Wasn’t there some issue between Lannan and the Nats Front Office? I seem to recall he was vocal about being under appreciated.