TAMPA BAY, Fla. — Over the offseason, Washington Nationals pitching coach Simon Mathews held a baseball in front of his laptop camera and told his Opening Day starter, in subtler terms than these, that he may know a way to get a few more superstars out.Mathews dug the nail of his index finger into a seam, placed his middle finger across the outside and tucked his thumb underneath the ball. Cade Cavalli listened closely as his new pitching coach talked through some physics concepts too jargon-y to fit in this story. The idea basically boiled down to this:If you throw with this arm slot, using this grip, and it comes out of your hand like this, then it will move like this and break a hitter’s brain.“And it was true,” Cavalli said.“Going into it, I had a little bit more confidence that this new grip was going to work, because they analyzed my slot, they analyzed my hand position, my spin axis —,” he continued on, as if he were ready to name another 10 variables that made the pitch dance towards the plate.In essence, the staff had a blueprint. All Cavalli had to do was work.While one of baseball’s best offenses has carried the Nationals this far — they are 40-38 heading into Monday’s four-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies — what they accomplish on the mound could dictate what comes next for the organization.Next being the trade deadline, a potential postseason push and the years of contention they hope lie ahead.Why it's too early to talk about the MLB trade deadlineKen RosenthalThe Nationals entered Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays with the least valuable pitching staff in baseball, according to FanGraphs. This weekend, their bullpen twice gave a lead away. That both belies the work that is happening behind the scenes and emphasizes how important it is for the Nats to nail the other half of the game.While the Nationals experimented with pitch design in years past, there wasn’t a defined process across the organization, nor a defined pitch design team. This winter, they hired pitching director Grayson Crawford — formerly of the New York Mets and Yankees, two forward-thinking organizations in pitching development — to lead that effort alongside Mathews, assistant pitching coach Sean Doolittle and others.The early returns have been more than promising, with help from pitching coaches across the organization and buy-in from pitchers.Cavalli is one of many pitchers in the organization who have added a pitch with help from the new regime. He and relief pitcher Brad Lord are the most obvious beneficiaries in the majors. Both have added a sweeper. Both told a similar story of progress; of some experimentation in catch play, followed by a throw that made it click and some tinkering that followed.How exactly has that worked out?The sweeper itselfCavalli has thrown the pitch 153 times and allowed just five hits. (.139 batting average against)Lord has thrown the pitch 118 times and allowed just three hits. (.130 batting average against)