Breaking down rosters on Nats farm system

The Triple-A season began last week, with the Rochester Red Wings starting off 2-3. The rest of the minor league season begins today, with the Nationals’ Double-A, High-A and Single-A affiliates throwing out the first pitches of their seasons.

Let’s take a look at the rosters on the Nats farm and where some of the top prospects are beginning the year (with rankings in MLB Pipeline’s top 30 Nationals prospects and Top 100 prospects list in parentheses) …

TRIPLE-A ROCHESTER

Pitchers: Daison Acosta, Joan Adon, Garvin Alston, Andrew Alvarez, Hyun-Il Choi, Clay Helvey, Andry Lara (No. 16), Shinnosuke Ogasawara, Konnor Plikington, Carlos Romero, Jackson Rutledge, Jack Sinclair, Chase Solesky, Tyler Stuart (seven-day injured list, No. 14), Patrick Weigel

Infielders: Darren Baker, Jackson Cluff, Brady House (No. 3), Trey Lipscomb, Nasim Nuñez, Paul Witt, Juan Yepez

Outfielders: Franchy Cordero, Stone Garrett, Robert Hassell III (No. 11), Andrew Pinckney (No. 25)

Catchers: Brady Lindsly, Drew Millas, Andrew Knizner

The Red Wings have five top 30 prospects starting on their roster.

House is 7-for-20 (.350) with a triple, a home run, three RBIs and a .981 OPS. Hassell is 6-for-22 (.273) with a double, an RBI, two stolen bases and an .622 OPS. Lipscomb is 5-for-14 (.357) with two RBIs, a stolen base, two walks and an .867 OPS.

Pinckney is just 1-for-14 (.071) with an RBI, a walk and four strikeouts. Nuñez is 3-for-14 (.214) with three RBIs, three stolen bases, four walks and an .603 OPS. Millas is 4-for-15 (.267) with two triples, one homer, five RBIs, two walks and a 1.086 OPS.

In his Triple-A debut on Opening Day, Alvarez finished five innings with two hits, one unearned run, two walks and six strikeouts. A strong start to the season. Ogasawara pitched six innings of one-run ball in his Triple-A debut Tuesday, with five hits, six strikeouts and no walks on 67 pitches, 41 strikes.

Matt LeCroy is back for his fifth season as the Red Wings manager.

Rochester continues its series this weekend against Lehigh Valley (Phillies).

DOUBLE-A HARRISBURG

Pitchers: Ivan Armstrong, Jose Atencio, Michael Cuevas, Garrett Davila, Marquis Grissom Jr. (No. 23), Cole Henry, Kyle Luckham, Todd Peterson, Holden Powell, Dustin Saenz, Junior Santos, Tyler Schoff, Seth Shuman, Jarlin Susana (No. 2, No. 77)

Infielders: JT Arruda, Phillip Glasser, Cortland Lawson, Yohandy Morales (No. 12), Joe Naranjo, Viandel Pena, Cayden Wallace (No. 10)

Outfielders: Carlos de la Cruz, Jeremy de la Rosa, Daylen Lile (No. 9), Nic Schnell, Donta’ Williams

Catchers: Maxwell Romero Jr., CJ Stubbs

The Senators have five top 30 prospects on their Opening Day roster.

Susana gets his first crack at Double-A after going 4-10 with a 4.34 ERA, 1.312 WHIP and 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings in 24 starts between High-A Wilmington and Single-A Fredericksburg last year.

Lile slashed .255/.343/.371 with a .714 OPS, 15 doubles, four triples, three homers, 21 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 73 Double-A games last year. Wallace went 8-for-43 (.186) with a double, three RBIs, a stolen base and two walks in 11 games with Harrisburg after coming over from the Royals in the Hunter Harvey deal and returning from injury. Morales slashed .269/.362/.384 with a .745 OPS, 11 doubles, one triple, five home runs, 34 RBIs, four stolen bases and 31 walks in 69 games with the Senators.

Grissom posted a 2.87 ERA, 1.021 WHIP and 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings in 27 appearances and 31 ⅓ innings with Harrisburg after his promotion from Wilmington last year.

Longtime Harrisburg radio broadcaster Terry Byrom announced this week that 2025 will be his last as the voice of the Senators after 20 seasons. Frankie Vernouski will take over the lead role in 2026.

Delino DeShields is back for his third season as manager.

Harrisburg begins their season with a three-game set in Erie (Tigers).

HIGH-A WILMINGTON

Pitchers: Anthony Arguelles, Wander Arias, Alex Clemmey (No. 5), Riley Cornelio, Marc Davis, Bubba Hall, Chance Huff, Yeuris Jimenez, Jackson Kent (No. 20), Thomas Schultz, Jared Simpson, Travis Sthele, Mikey Tepper, Samuel Vasquez

Infielders: Marcus Brown, Armando Cruz, Gavin Dugas, Seaver King (No. 4), Murphy Stehly

Outfielders: Branden Boissiere, Brenner Cox (No. 30), Elijah Green (No. 24), Jared McKenzie, Brandon Pimentel, Johnathon Thomas, T.J. White

Catchers: Caleb Farmer, Caleb Lomavita (No. 8), Matt Suggs

The Blue Rocks have six top 30 prospects on their roster.

Green reaches High-A for the first time since being the No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 draft. He slashed .208/.293/.355 with a .649 OPS, 14 doubles, four triples, 13 homers, 54 RBIs and 39 stolen bases last year in 106 games with Fredericksburg while being named the Nats’ minor league Defensive Player of the Year.

Cox also reaches Wilmington for the first time after hitting .204 with a .701 OPS, 11 doubles, three triples, eight home runs, 42 RBIs and 29 stolen bases in 90 games last year with the FredNats.

King and Lomavita are the Nats’ top two draft picks from last summer who will make their High-A debuts. King, selected No. 10 overall out of Wake Forest, slashed .295/.367/.385 with a .751 OPS, one doubles, three triples, 10 RBIs, 10 stolen bases and nine RBIs in 20 games at Single-A. Lomavita, selected No. 39 overall out of the University of California, Berkeley with the pick acquired in the Harvey trade, hit .213 with a .556 OPS, two doubles, 10 RBIs, three stolen bases and five walks in 17 games with the FredNats. He was a non-roster invitee to major league spring training to start this year.

Clemmey was acquired in the Lane Thomas trade with the Guardians and went 0-1 with a 4.30 ERA, 1.304 WHIP and 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings in six starts with Fredericksburg. Kent, a 2024 fourth-round pick out of Arizona, will be making his professional debut.

Jake Lowery is in his first season as the Wilmington skipper after leading Fredericksburg to the 2024 Carolina League championship.

Wilmington opens its season with three games at Brooklyn (Mets).

SINGLE-A FREDERICKSBURG

Pitchers: Austin Amaral, Merrick Baldo, Merritt Beeker, Adam Bloebaum, Matthew Bollenbacher, Gavin Bruni, Robert Cranz, Kevin Dowdell, Davian Garcia, Alexander Meckley, Erick Mejia, Ryan Minckler, Bryan Polanco, Angel Roman, Yoel Tejeda Jr., Erik Tolman

Infielders: Everett Cooper III, Randal Diaz, Jorgelys Mota, Roismar Quintana, Yoander Rivero, Jackson Ross, Carlos Tavares

Outfielders: Moises Gallardo, Elijah Nunez, Nate Ochoa, Nick Peoples, Cristhian Vaquero (No. 26)

Catchers: Kevin Bazzell (No. 13), Christian Fagnant, Nate Rombach

The FredNats will begin their defense of the Carolina League championship with nine players that played in the 2024 playoffs en route to the title, nine members of the Nationals' 2024 draft class and four top 30 prospects (two starting on the injured list).

Vaquero’s 2024 season ended with a right shoulder injury while diving back into first base in a pickoff attempt during the deciding game of the FredNats’ championship run. He hit .190 with a .593 OPS, 16 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 32 RBIs and 29 stolen bases in 103 Single-A games.

Bazzell, a third-round pick out of Texas Tech last summer, slashed .273/.433/.386 with an .820 OPS, three doubles, one triple, nine RBIs and 11 walks to 10 strikeouts in 14 games with the FredNats.

The FredNats will start the season with six players on the injured list, including Travis Sykora. The Nats’ top prospect (No. 68 on Pipeline’s Top 100) is returning from offseason hip surgery and aiming to return to game action in May. The 6-foot-6 righty was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Year in 2024 after going 5-3 with a 2.33 ERA, 0.906 WHIP, 129 strikeouts and 13.7 strikeouts per nine innings across 20 starts.

Infielder Rafael Ramirez Jr. (Thomas trade), outfielders Sam Peterson (No. 28) and Teo Banks, and right-handers Juan Abreu and Brayan Romero are also starting the year on the IL.

Billy McMillon takes over as the Fredericksburg skipper.

The FredNats start with a weekend series on the road in Carolina (Brewers).

Other top prospects yet to be assigned to an affiliate are infielders Luke Dickerson (2024 second-round pick out of high school at the Rookie-level Florida Complex League, No. 6), Angel Feliz (2024 international signee at rookie ball, No. 15), Brayan Cortesia (2025 international signee at rookie ball, No. 19), and outfielder Victor Hurtado (2024 international signee at rookie ball, No. 18).

Right-hander Jake Bennett (No. 17) has yet to be assigned as he works his way back from his September 2023 Tommy John surgery. He was last on Wilmington’s 60-day injured list. Infielder Kevin Made (Jeimer Candelario trade with Cubs, No. 27) has also not been assigned yet. He ended last season on Harrisburg’s seven-day injured list.