Recently an entertainer in World Wrestling Entertainment named Buddy Murphy began calling himself “Professional Wrestling’s Best Kept Secret” – with all due respect to his creative catchphrase, I believe we should start calling Washington Nationals’ reliever Matt Grace “D.C. Baseball’s Best Kept Secret”.

Last season Grace was quietly effective for the Nationals, producing a 4.32 ERA, 1.360 WHIP and 31 strikeouts against 18 walks over 50 innings pitched.  An 8^th round pick by Washington in the 2010 MLB Draft from UCLA, Grace steadily rose through Washington’s minor league system before reaching the majors in 2015.  The 29-year-old Grace does a solid job minimizing home runs and inducing ground balls, with a career 61.1% ground ball ratio.  Grace is especially effective against left-handed hitters, allowing a meager .232/.315/.235 batting line in 2017.

In addition, Grace brings a unique element to the Nationals’ relief corps, notably his ability to throw multiple innings, as he threw 2 or more innings 8 separate times in 2017.  Grace does not overwhelm with his pure stuff, as his sinking fastball sits around 91mph and he has a good, but not great slider; however he locates his pitches well and has some natural deception in his delivery to disrupt opposing hitters’ rhythm.

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The National League East is filled with many top left-handed batters, namely Freddie Freeman, Jay Bruce and Michael Conforto – Matt Grace should see plenty of opportunities this summer to try and neutralize these talented lefties.  Also, Washington’s lack of a solid #5 starter and the absence of a true long-reliever should also give Grace multiple opportunities to pitch this season.  Therefore, the team’s bullpen will be counting on Grace’s ability to both neutralize quality left-handed hitters and occasionally pitch multiple innings in 2018.

Much like a Swiss Army Knife, you do not realize how valuable Matt Grace’s versatility is until you need him and Washington will be counting on him as a vital component of their relief corps this season.  Now, is there any chance we can convince him to enter each game to a loud “shushing” sound?

*Originally published at MASNSports.com on 4/6/18*