Nationals fire pitching coach Derek Lilliquist, replace him with Paul Menhart

Tom Gatto

Nationals fire pitching coach Derek Lilliquist, replace him with Paul Menhart image

The Nationals on Thursday night made a coaching move in response to their below-.500 start: They fired pitching coach Derek Lilliquist and replaced him with minor league pitching coordinator Paul Menhart.

Washington general manager Mike Rizzo announced the move after the team's 2-1 home victory over the Cardinals.

"We thought there were preparation issues there," Rizzo said in a press conference carried on DAZN's "ChangeUp." "We wanted to get a new message and a new voice. We felt really good about Paul's delivery, the way he feels about this organization and knowledge, both personally and professionally and mechanically, of almost each and every one of our pitchers at the big leagues."

MORE: Watch 'ChangeUp,' a new MLB live whiparound show on DAZN 

Rizzo added that manager Davey Martinez was on board with the decision.

Martinez acknowledged that agreement in his postgame comments.

"At this point, we wanted a new voice and a new face, somebody to relay the message in a different way," he said, per The Washington Post. "As you guys know, Derek’s a good friend of mine. So this is tough."

Lilliquist, 53, was in his second season as the Nats' pitching coach after serving in the same role with the Cardinals from 2011-17. Washington has a 4.82 staff ERA through Thursday, third-worst in the 15-team National League. The bullpen has been the biggest problem area; only closer Sean Doolittle and setup man Kyle Barraclough have been consistently effective in the season's first five weeks. Relievers have a 5.87 ERA in 89 innings through Thursday.

Menhart, 50, will take over the staff Friday. This will be his first major league coaching assignment. He pitched three seasons in the big leagues, 1995-97, with the Blue Jays, Mariners and Padres.

This article has been updated with additional analysis, a quote from Davey Martinez and corrected staff and bullpen ERAs.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.