De La Rosa trying to keep up with Nats' top outfield prospects

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

Signing bonus: $300,000

2023 levels: High-A Wilmington

2023 stats: 93 G, 383 PA, 338 AB, 44 R, 81 H, 16 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 42 RBIs, 13 SB, 7 CS, 41 BB, 129 SO, .240 AVG, .324 OBP, .361 SLG, .685 OPS

Quotable: “It’s sound across the board. At every position, I think we have somebody. In the outfield especially, where we have James (Wood). He will be getting a lot of reps in center field. Jeremy will also be getting reps in center field and right field. And Jacob Young and (Jared) McKenzie, they will be out there, too. All of them are pretty good outfielders with a lot of talent. So we’re going to try to play them as much as they can to help them develop as quickly as they can so they can help us.” – Wilmington manager Mario Lisson on the Blue Rocks’ outfield depth to start the season

2023 analysis: After splitting time between Single-A Fredericksburg and Wilmington and suffering a broken hamate bone in 2022, De La Rosa began this season in the Blue Rocks outfield alongside James Wood, Jacob Young and Jared McKenzie.

The outfield competition was thinned out a little bit by T.J. White’s move to first base at the start of the season, but there was still plenty of talent for De La Rosa to prove his worth with.

Unfortunately, the former top outfield prospect out of the Dominican Republic was unable to recapture the success he had on the farm up until this year that had impressed Nationals officials since he signed as a 16-year-old.

De La Rosa slashed .240/.324/.361 with a .685 OPS with Wilmington. Although he has demonstrated above-average power in the past, he seemed to struggle while still being removed from his hamate injury, hitting only 25 extra-base hits including just seven homers.

He played mostly right field while getting a good amount of reps in center and only a handful in left. But he landed on Wilmington’s injured list in late August, ending his season after just 93 games.

De La Rosa is currently on the Nats’ 40-man roster after being added last offseason to be protected from last December’s Rule 5 draft.

2024 outlook: Back-to-back seasons cut short by injury at High-A have definitely stunted De La Rosa’s growth in the Nats system. And now he’s even further behind the ball due to the large influx of top outfield talent who have moved past him both in rankings and in affiliates.

De La Rosa did a good job of not letting his hamate injury affect his batter’s eye, walking more than 10 percent of the time in his plate appearances. That on-base capability showed the slugger still has patience at the plate, even after two frustrating seasons. And it pairs well with his plus speed, though he only stole 13 bases this year after swiping 39 in 2022.

The Nationals hope he taps back into some of his natural power the further removed from his hamate injury he gets. Without that, his on-base ability, speed and average defense may not be enough to keep him at the same level as some of the Nats’ other top outfield prospects.

Look for De La Rosa to stay healthy in 2024, so he can finally move past Wilmington’s tough home ballpark and test his mettle against the upper levels of the minor league system.