Three position players (zero pitchers) make top 100 prospects list

The Nationals are well-positioned to fill long-term holes in the outfield and infield from within their own farm system. Top pitching prospects? Not so much, at least according to Baseball America.

The industry's leading ranker of minor leaguers unveiled its annual top 100 prospects list Wednesday, and three members of the Nationals organization (Victor Robles, Carter Kieboom, Luis Garcia) were included.

Robles, the dynamic young outfielder, was deemed the 11th-best prospect in baseball heading into the 2019 season. That actually represents a slight drop for Robles, who last year was deemed the No. 5 prospect before suffering a nasty elbow injury that sidelined him for three months.

Kieboom, the prized middle infielder who appears to be on the cusp of making his big league debut, was listed as prospect No. 41 by Baseball America. The Nationals' first-round pick in the 2016 draft is expected to open the season at Triple-A Fresno and perhaps could reach the majors sometime this summer.

Garcia, an 18-year-old infielder signed in July 2016 out of the Dominican Republic, checked in at No. 61 on the prospect list. He's expected to open the season at Double-A Harrisburg and potentially chase down Kieboom on the organizational depth chart.

As a whole, the Nationals farm system appears to be in better shape now than it was last year, when Baseball America included only two players (Robles and Juan Soto) in its top 100 prospects list. But the lack of an elite pitching prospect does continue to stick out like a sore thumb for an organization that has long prided itself on developing great arms.

Five Nationals pitchers (Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, Erick Fedde, A.J. Cole and Joe Ross) made the Top 100 list in 2015. It's been a steady decline since, and now for the second straight year the organization has no pitching prospects on the list.

Fedde and Ross, who each have battled injuries, will be competing for the No. 5 starter's job on the opening day roster. Giolito and López have endured mixed results since their inclusion in the Nationals' trade with the White Sox for outfielder Adam Eaton. Cole opened last season as the Nats' fifth starter but was quickly dumped and wound up spending the rest of the year in the Yankees' bullpen.

The Nationals hoped to have another wave of young arms coming up through their system, but at the moment none have reached the upper levels of the minors. Left-hander Seth Romero (a controversial first-round pick in the 2017 draft) was punished by the organization for violating team rules in spring training, didn't make his 2018 debut until midsummer and wound up needing Tommy John surgery that may cost him the entire 2019 season.

The club's top pitching prospect for now appears to be 2018 first-round pick Mason Denaburg, a lanky 19-year-old right-hander who has yet to throw his first professional pitch.