As always, when I make a post to refresh the site, something comes up to predicated an additional post. As the headline gives away, the 2017 Baseball America Prospect Handbook came in the mail today.
For those obsessed with how the Washington organization ranks relative to the rest of MLB, it came in at No. 19. Considering that the Nats traded away four pitchers who would have no doubt made this year’s Top 30, that ain’t bad.
As they did a year ago, the folks in Durham continue to praise the Nationals’ efforts in Latin America, which is also reflected in roughly half of the list being from the D.R. or of Dominican descent. We’ve been seeing (and mentioning) this for several years now, so I don’t think it’s really all that much of a secret except maybe to the folks who run the MASN’s social media or F.P. Santangelo.
As we’ve done before, let’s review how last year’s Top 30 fared:
Graduated (3) – Trea Turner, Wilmer Difo, Sammy Solis
Traded (4) – Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Chris Bostick, Taylor Hearn
Waived (1) – Abel de los Santos
Dropped out (5)
That’s almost half the list. Despite an influx of some IFAs, there are four players who are or will be 25-or-older before midseason, although that includes the not-a-rookie Wilmer Difo (turns 25 in April) and just-barely-a-rookie A.J. Cole (turned 25 last month), so it’s roughly the same as a year ago with Brian Goodwin (turned 26 last November) and Matt Skole (turned 27 last July) taking the place of Sammy Solis and Nick Lee as the aging prospects.
With that, I’ll close out this post with a look at the Top 15 and continue with nos. 16-31 in Part Two. Last year’s ranking, if applicable, in parentheses:
| 1. Victor Robles (3) | 6. Koda Glover (30) | 11. Rafael Bautista (13) |
| 2. Erick Fedde (4) | 7. Luis Garcia | 12. Drew Ward (16) |
| 3. Juan Soto (24) | 8. Carter Kieboom | 13. A.J. Cole (7) |
| 4. Wilmer Difo (6) | 9. Pedro Severino (11) | 14. Anderson Franco (10) |
| 5. Andrew Stevenson (8) | 10. Austin Voth (9) | 15. Jesus Luzardo |