Patrick Reddington: The Nationals' yearly search for a gem

With the 57th pick of last June's draft, the Nationals selected left-handed pitcher Andrew Suarez out of the University of Miami.

Suarez, 21, and a 6-foot-2 southpaw, went 6-3 with a 2.95 ERA in 16 starts for the Hurricanes, walking 15 (1.23 walks/nine innings) and striking out 87 (7.14 strikeouts/nine innings) in 109 2/3 innings pitched.

"We tried to take the best player available," assistant general manger and vice president of scouting operations Kris Kline told reporters when asked about the Nationals' philosophy going into the draft. "We got Suarez from the University of Miami who we love. Big lefty. Physical kid. Up to 97 (mph) with a plus slider and a plus changeup that commands his stuff very well."

The Nationals took Erick Fedde out of UNLV with the 18th overall pick just days after the right-hander had Tommy John surgery, then selected Suarez, who'd undergone surgery to repair a labrum issue in his left shoulder in his freshman year in 2012.

"He has not missed any time since then," Kline said, noting that Suarez pitched in 2013 and 2014 without any issues. "So that gives us comfort level and our doctors (a) comfort level in taking the player."

"The velocity has been there," Kline continued. "The secondary stuff is there. Everything is crisp. He throws strikes.

"Tremendous competitor. He had a really good year this year. We're never going to take a hurt guy, whether it's a guy like Fedde, or somebody that's going to require surgery unless we feel that he can get to the big leagues quick. Suarez fits that criteria. And he's healthy right now. 100 percent."

Kline projected that Suarez could eventually end up as a "middle-of-the-rotation starter."

He didn't sign with the Nationals though. The 57th overall pick was assigned a slot value of $987,800.

"We couldn't come to an agreement on his value," Nats GM Mike Rizzo told 106.7 The Fan's Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier last July. "We had a value in our minds, he had a value in his mind and the numbers just didn't work."

"They said they were just going to offer me slot (value)," Suarez told Miami Herald writer Susan Miller Degnan. "I wasn't going to sign for slot, and we didn't agree in negotiations. And that was it, pretty much."

As Rizzo explained, however, the Nationals knew they had the protection of getting that pick again this June if Suarez didn't sign.

Washington signed free agent Max Scherzer this winter, and gave up its top pick, which would have been 27th overall, so the compensation pick for not signing Suarez is now the Nationals' top pick in the 2015 draft.

The last two times the Nationals have picked in this range, they've gone with college arms, Suarez last season and right-hander Jake Johansen in 2013.

Rizzo explained in an MLB Network Radio interview heading into the 2013 Draft how the Nats would approach the process after giving up their top pick when they signed free agent right-hander Rafael Soriano that winter.

"We pick 68th," Rizzo said. "And there have been plenty of good players taken 68th. I remember we took Jordan Zimmermann, I think, 66 or 67th and over the years, there (have) been a lot of good guys taken in those rounds."

"We're all going to get together in Washington," Rizzo continued, "put the board together, just like we have every other year, and it doesn't matter that we don't pick until 68th, we're going to line them up and when our pick comes, the magnet that's at the top of the board, we're going to take and we're going to sign and develop and hopefully he can contribute to us."

Johansen, former Nationals assistant GM Roy Clark explained, was a little bit of an under-the-radar arm that the Nats had their eye on.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander was coming off a 7-6 campaign with the Dallas Baptist Patriots, which saw him put up a 5.40 ERA, 26 walks (2.65 BB/9) and 75 strikeouts (7.64 K/9) in 15 games and 88 1/3 innings pitched.

"We know he doesn't have good numbers," Clark said. "If he had good numbers, he wouldn't have gotten out of the top 10. But, our guys feel like there are a couple of things that are easy fixes, and we feel like when we get him signed and we turn this kid over to the best player development system in baseball - in our opinion - we think we've got a gem."

Johansen signed a day after the draft. Through 22 1/3 innings at high Single-A Potomac in the Nats system this season, the right-hander has a 2.78 ERA, a 3.34 FIP, nine walks (3.57 BB/9) and 27 strikeouts (10.72 K/9). He projects as a late-inning arm.

Can the Nationals find another gem with the 58th pick this year? Who will be at the top of the board when the Nats' first selection comes around?

Patrick Reddington blogs about the Nationals for Federal Baseball and appears here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. Follow him on Twitter: @federalbaseball. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.