SF Giants move on from top pitching prospect in mock trade with Nationals

The SF Giants have yet to make a move to acquire a rotation arm. This team needs upside at the front and the middle of their rotation. If the Giants turn to the trade market to address the rotation, MacKenzie Gore is a name that would make sense. 

SF Giants should pounce on Mackenzie Gore

Gore has been mentioned as a possible trade candidate since the trade deadline. It’s never come to fruition, but with the Nationals organization undergoing a full reset, it’s likely he will be on his way out of the nation's capital soon. The Nationals have already begun making moves, as they acquired No. 42 prospect in Harry Ford in a trade with the Seattle Mariners.

Jim Bowden, a former MLB executive and current writer for The Athletic, recently envisioned a mock trade between the Giants and Nationals that would see the team land Gore.

The Giants would receive Mackenzie Gore and the Giants would receive top pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt and left-handed pitcher Jacob Bresnahan. It is a trade that does benefit both teams. From the Nationals' perspective, they receive a young controllable arm that they can develop in their system with Whisenhunt. As for the Giants, they get a legitimate middle-of-the-rotation arm in Gore. 

Gore is under team control for two more years, as he doesn’t hit free agency until 2028. He is arbitration eligible as of 2026. This trade alone would fit their model of wanting a more cost-efficient pitcher with upside. It works from a trade perspective, but also from the upside perspective. 

Gore is only 26 years old and was a massive addition when the Nationals traded Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres. He carved out a name for himself and has been a bright spot arm for the Nationals. Over the last three seasons, Gore has pitched over 130 innings in every season. He saw his highest workload in 2024 with 166.1 innings and pitched nearly 160 in 2025. 

The good upside is he has great strikeout ability. Gore has punched out 150+ batters in each of the last three seasons and set a career high this season with 185. In addition, his strikeout rate was the highest of his career (27.2%), increasing from 24.8% in 2024. He gets batters to chase, good swing and miss ability, but does need to work on his walks. 

One thing that has been a cause for concern is how Gore starts the season. Gore gets off to very hot starts and pitches well to begin the year. However, once July rolls around, his metrics take a bit of a dive. In 2024, from July 1 to September 30, Gore had a 4.20 ERA and in 2025 in that same time frame he had a subpar 5.93 ERA. Is it the hotter summer weather? Wearing down early? Maybe the cool night breeze in San Francisco would do him justice. 

There is plenty of enormous upside with Gore and he is a pitcher worth having. He has a five-pitch mix and his secondary pitches (curveball and slider) have played extremely well off his four seam fastball. Also, he had three pitches with whiff rates above 40%. At the end of the day, he is a pitcher with upside and fits the mold of being a starter they would not have to spend a lot of money on.

Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, MacKenzie Gore as a top three for the rotation is magnificent. President of baseball operations Buster Posey would be wise to make it happen.