Riley Cornelio’s breakout season earned recognition this week, as the Washington Nationals named the Pine Creek graduate their Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

Cornelio, 25, posted a 3.28 ERA in 134 1/3 innings with 135 strikeouts across three levels.

He started the season at High-A Wilmington, where he had spent the full 2024 season. He dropped more than 2.5 points off his ERA at that level (5.56 in 2024 to 3.03 through seven starts) before moving up to Double-A, where he continued to flourish with a 2.31 ERA and 0.980 WHIP (walks and hits per inning) in 66 1/3 innings across 12 appearances with Harrisburg.

That landed Cornelio yet another promotion, as he closed the season with eight starts at Triple-A Rochester. He went 1-3 with a 5.35 ERA with the Red Wings. He closed strong, giving up two earned runs and three hits across eight innings in his final two starts, striking out 12.

Cornelio, who attended TCU, led Nationals minor leaguers in ERA, starts (26), opponents batting average (.204) and went 6-1 with a 2.05 ERA at home.

The 2019 Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year, Cornelio went 8-2 with a 2.14 ERA as a senior for Pine Creek in 2019 while batting .446 with 33 RBIs.

The Nationals drafted him in the seventh round out of TCU in the 2022 MLB Draft.