Luis Avilán has made 454 big league appearances since 2012, plus another 48 in the minors. All have come in relief. He hasn't started a game since he was a 22-year-old Braves prospect at Double-A, nearly a decade ago. So when the veteran left-hander took the mound for the bottom of the first Thursday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., he immediately realized something looked different. "It was just a little weird, just for the fact that, just the first inning, the...

Luis Avilán has made 454 big league appearances since 2012, plus another 48 in the minors. All have come in relief. He hasn't started a game since he was a 22-year-old Braves prospect at Double-A, nearly a decade ago.

So when the veteran left-hander took the mound for the bottom of the first Thursday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., he immediately realized something looked different.

"It was just a little weird, just for the fact that, just the first inning, the mound is perfect," Avilán said in a Zoom session with reporters afterward. "It doesn't have any more holes, just yours. It was a little funny."

Avilán, who is attempting to make the Nationals roster as the second left-hander in their bullpen, found himself in a most unusual position Thursday night. He was the team's opener against the Marlins, tasked with pitching the first (and possibly the second) inning as manager Davey Martinez considered whether this is a strategy he'd like to use for real at times this season.

How'd it work out in this case? Not bad, despite some trouble right out of the chute. Avilán pitched two innings, allowing one run on two walks without a hit. His one true mistake: a leadoff walk of Jazz Chisholm to begin the bottom of the first. The Marlins' speedster promptly stole second and third bases, putting him in position to score on Starling Marte's sacrifice fly.

"I should dominate that guy," Avilán said, referring to Chisholm. "But at the end of the day, we're all humans. I threw a walk. The guy can run, man. He stole two bases. They pretty much scored without any base hits."

More important, in Avilán's mind, was the fact he retired five of the six right-handed batters he faced. That's been a real problem area for him the last two seasons with the Mets and Yankees, when righties hit a robust .370 with a .620 slugging percentage.

"Everybody knows that I dominate lefties," said Avilán, who has held such hitters to a paltry .206 average in his career. "But the last couple years, I've been a little ineffective against righties. So it's really important to me to show up this spring training and being able to get righties out. So it was really encouraging for me to do that today."

If Avilán is going to make the Nationals roster, he'll need to prove he can get all hitters out. With the three-batter-minimum rule in place once again, they can't keep a true lefty specialist in their bullpen. If they want a second southpaw to go along with projected closer Brad Hand, they need him to be effective against righties as well as lefties.

Avilán has made a decent case for himself this spring. In seven appearances covering 8 2/3 innings, he has allowed two runs on eight hits, walking four while striking out 10. He has also seen in increase in velocity, with his fastball topping out at 93 mph after averaging 90.5 mph the last three seasons.

His competition comes in the form of fellow lefties Sam Clay (3.12 ERA in seven games) and T.J. McFarland (3.60 ERA in nine games). Actual pitching performance will be the leading criteria for the team's decision-makers, but Avilán's experience and bubbly personality don't hurt his cause.

"He's one of those guys, he's fun to be around," Martinez said. "Obviously he loves the game. He loves to be out there. Seems like he's having fun. He's done well, he really has. We've got some big, tough decisions to make here in the next couple of days."

As a veteran in big league camp on a minor league deal, Avilán could choose to opt out and seek a job elsewhere if the Nationals don't put him on their opening night roster. But he strongly suggested Thursday he prefers to stay with the organization, even if it means opening the season at the alternate training site in Fredericksburg and eventually moving to Triple-A Rochester.

"I mean, I'm really glad to be here," he said. "I'm honored to be on this team. I like what I've seen so far. I'm sure if they don't have an open spot for me in the beginning, I'm sure at some point they're going to give me a chance based on the performance that they're seeing this spring training. So I'm perfectly comfortable to go there and wait for my turn."