September 20 : The Nationals announced today that Williams has officially been reinstated, as expected. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander and transferred Adon to the 60-day IL. September 18 : The Nationals are planning to reinstate from the 60-day injured list on Friday, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. The right-hander will get the start at Wrigley Field in his first MLB outing since the end of May. Theyll need to create a 40-man roster spot but could move or to the 60-day IL if they dont anticipate either player returning this season. That would position Williams to make a pair of starts before the Phil Esposito Jersey end of the season. Its a bigger development for the pitcher than it is for the team. Washington is only trying to play spoiler at this point, but Williams is an impending free agent. The 32-year-old has been out for more than three months after being diagnosed with a flexor strain in his throwing arm. Theres only so much he can do in two starts to answer teams questions about his durability. That said, getting back on the mound and showing the caliber of stuff he had early in the season is certainly preferable to ending the year on the shelf. The injury cut short one of the best stretches of Williams career. He worked to a 2.22 ERA in 56 2/3 innings covering 11 starts. He punched out an average 21% of batters faced while getting ground-balls at a 46% clip. Williams isnt overpowering but he throws a lot of strikes and had dramatically changed his home run fortunes. He led the National League with 34 home runs allowed en route to a 5.55 earned run average over 30 starts last season. Hed surrendered just two longballs (0.32 per nine innings) through the first couple months this year. There was some level of luck with Williams early-season results. He probably wouldnt have maintained an ace-caliber ERA over a full season. Williams had clearly taken a step forward relative to last year, though, an improvement that coincided with an increased reliance on his breaking stuff at the expense of his four-seam fastball. The injury also robbed the rebuilding Nationals of a chance to flip Williams at the deadline. He wont be a candidate for a qualifying offer, so they wouldnt get any kind of compensation if he walks in free agency. Washington has a rotation consisting of , , , and . Zuckerman notes that theyll go to a six-man staff once Williams returns through seasons end. Corbin is playing out the final couple weeks of his $140MM free agent deal. The other four pitchers are under club control for an extended time. Each of Irvin, Gore, Parker and Herz has turned in an ERA between 4.07 and 4.44 on the season. That group has tailed off in the second half, though, and none of them look like budding top-of-the-rotation arms. Gore probably has the highest ceiling, but he has yet to truly put everything together over an extended stretch. With likely to mi s next season and injury history, the Nats need to add at least one high-end starter if they hope to compete for a playoff spot in 2025. Corey Crawford Jersey