PROSPECT REVIEW: ARMANDO CRUZ
Age on opening day 2024: 20
How acquired: Signed as international free agent, January 2021
Ranking: No. 26 per MLB Pipeline, No. 18 per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: DARREN BAKER
Age on opening day 2024: 25
How acquired: Drafted in 10th round in 2021 from University of California, Berkeley
Ranking: No. 24 per MLB Pipeline, No. 26 per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2023
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: DREW MILLAS
Age on opening day 2024: 26
How acquired: Traded with Richard Guasch and Seth Shuman from Athletics for Yan Gomes, Josh Harrison and cash in July 2021; originally drafted in seventh round by Athletics in 2019 from Missouri State University
Ranking: No. 22 per MLB Pipeline, No. 28 per Baseball America
MLB debut: Aug. 28, 2023
PROSPECT REVIEW: ISRAEL PINEDA
Age on opening day 2024: 23
How acquired: Signed as international free agent, July 2016
Ranking: No. 21 per MLB Pipeline, No. 21 per Baseball America
MLB debut: Sept. 11, 2022
PROSPECT REVIEW: ANDREW PINCKNEY
Age on opening day 2024: 23
How acquired: Drafted in fourth round in 2023 from University of Alabama
Ranking: No. 19 per MLB Pipeline, NR per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2026
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: KEVIN MADE
Age on opening day 2024: 21
How acquired: Traded with DJ Herz from Cubs for Jeimer Candelario and cash in July 2023; originally signed as international free agent by Cubs from Dominican Republic, July 2019
Ranking: No. 15 per MLB Pipeline, NR per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: JEREMY DE LA ROSA
Age on opening day 2024: 22
How acquired: Signed as international free agent, July 2018
Ranking: No. 17 per MLB Pipeline, No. 13 per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2024
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: TREY LIPSCOMB
Age on opening day 2024: 23
How acquired: Drafted in third round in 2022 from the University of Tennessee
Ranking: No. 14 per MLB Pipeline, No. 15 per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: CRISTHIAN VAQUERO
Age on opening day 2024: 19
How acquired: Signed as international free agent, January 2022
Ranking: No. 9 per MLB Pipeline, No. 9 per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2027
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: YOHANDY MORALES
Age on opening day 2024: 22
How acquired: Drafted in second round in 2023 from the University of Miami (FL)
Ranking: No. 7 per MLB Pipeline, No. 8 per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2026
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: DAYLEN LILE
Age on opening day 2024: 21
How acquired: Drafted in second round in 2021 from Trinity High School in Louisville, Ky.
Ranking: No. 6 per MLB Pipeline, No. 14 per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: ELIJAH GREEN
Age on opening day 2024: 20
How acquired: Drafted No. 5 overall in 2022 from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
Ranking: No. 5 per MLB Pipeline, No. 5 per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2026
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: ROBERT HASSELL III
Age on opening day 2024: 22
How acquired: Traded with MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, James Wood, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell in August 2022; originally drafted No. 8 overall by Padres in 2020 from Independence High School in Thompson’s Station, Tenn.
Ranking: No. 8 per MLB Pipeline, No. 4 per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2024
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: BRADY HOUSE
Age on opening day 2024: 20
How acquired: Drafted No. 11 overall in 2021 from Winder-Barrow High School in Winder, Ga.
Ranking: No. 3 (No. 40 overall) per MLB Pipeline, No. 3 (No. 56 overall) per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: JAMES WOOD
Age on opening day 2024: 21
How acquired: Traded with MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell in August 2022; originally drafted in second round by Padres in 2021 from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
Ranking: No. 2 (No. 7 overall) per MLB Pipeline, No. 2 (No. 7 overall) per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2024
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
PROSPECT REVIEW: DYLAN CREWS
Age on opening day 2024: 22
How acquired: Drafted No. 2 overall in 2023 from LSU
Ranking: No. 1 (No. 4 overall) per MLB Pipeline, No. 1 (No. 3 overall) per Baseball America
MLB ETA: 2024
* Projected by MLB Pipeline
Now that the 2023 season is a wrap, we’ve taken broad looks at the year that was for the Nationals. Individual player reviews will start coming out on a daily basis this week, with Mark Zuckerman handling the major league roster and me taking a look at some of the top prospects.
But before we take a deeper dive into each player's performance, I wanted to have one overarching view of the minor league system in the form of a fun exercise.
Overall, the Nats’ minor league system did not fare too well this year in terms of win-loss records. The Dominican Summer League Nationals finished 11-39, the Florida Complex League Nationals 24-25, Single-A Fredericksburg 65-63, High-A Wilmington 55-75, Double-A Harrisburg 59-77 and Triple-A Rochester 66-80.
But among those results, there were some really strong individual performances.
“The best part of the minor league season was that all the players that we really were looking forward to take a step forward, we believe have,” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “We think that was a success in that regard.”
Nationals' general manager Mike Rizzo likes to create competition.
It’s something he talks about every spring training. Whether it’s bringing in an experienced veteran, a struggling journeyman or a rising prospect, the longtime GM has always believed the more competition the better,
He has brought that philosophy to the minor league farm system, as well, adding an influx of young talent over the past couple of years through the draft, trades and international free agent market.
Looking at the Nationals’ top 16 prospects per MLB Pipeline, 10 were drafted by the organization, five were acquired via trade and one was signed as an international free agent. Eight of them at one point played at Double-A Harrisburg, a handful of them together for an extended period of time.
“It's been good. Really just creating competition between those affiliates, like within the affiliates,” said Jackson Rutledge, who made his first 12 starts of the season with Harrisburg before eventually making his major league debut with the Nats two weeks ago. “Even in Harrisburg when we were there, we had so much talent there it was like guys were competing to see who was going to be the dude that week. And that changed from time to time. And I think that's always positive just to have internal competition in a healthy way. And I think we have that. Certainly, a lot of the pitching staffs I've been on there's been a 'Who's gonna be the top guy' sort of competition and I think that just creates a good training environment, a good competition environment. Something that's gonna be good for us.”
The Nationals have undoubtedly been better top to bottom in 2023 than they were in 2022.
At the major league level, they are already on pace for a 15-win improvement from their 55 wins last year. They’ve improved their run differential by more than 100 runs. Their team batting average is more than five percentage points higher, and their team OPS is more than 20 percentage points higher. Their rotation ERA is down by almost a full run, and their WHIP and opponents’ batting average against have also improved.
But with another last-place finish in the National League East coming, their fourth straight since winning the 2019 World Series, the Nats are far from calling this season a success.
“The team's playing better than expected,” said general manager Mike Rizzo. “I don't think that it's a successful season, but it's a very encouraging season. Nobody wants to aim to win 70 games in a season. We want to win 97 games in the season. So that's our goal. That's always been our goal. But this is a good step in the right direction to that. I'm really excited about what's coming down the pike and the players that are going to be the next core group of the championship team that plays in National Park.”
Some of that core group is already playing at Nationals Park.
It’s a sad, yet happy day in Washington, D.C. One that, unfortunately, was coming sooner rather than later.
Sean Doolittle, the dominant Nationals reliever and fan favorite, announced his retirement today.
Where do you begin with a player and person who has meant so much to an organization and a city?
Let’s start on the field, since he’s retiring from the sport.
After coming over in a 2017 trade with the Athletics, the left-hander, who turns 37 next week, posted a 2.92 ERA, 1.007 WHIP and 75 saves (third-most in club history) over parts of five seasons with the Nats. He earned an All-Star selection in 2018 - the game that year took place at Nationals Park - and played an integral role on the 2019 team that won the World Series.
