With the Nationals rebuilding, most of last year’s Top 10 has graduated from prospect status (e.g., Keibert Ruiz) and/or turned into a pumpkin (e.g. Jackson Cluff).
Believe it or not, only 16 different players were nominated across the seven ballots (including mine), giving us…
- James Wood
- Robert Hassell
- Elijah Green
- Brady House (2)
- T.J. White (5)
- Chrithian Vaquero
- Jake Alu (9)
- Jeremy De La Rosa
- Armando Cruz (3)
- Trey Lipscomb
Others receiving votes: Israel Pineda, Will Frizzell, Daylen Lile, Darren Baker, Jared McKenzie, Roismar Quintana
We’re now back to the list being almost half newbies, and half holdovers as it was from 2015-2019 – four to be precise (last year’s rank in parentheses).
Four more were acquired: Two by trade (guess which two!) and two by draft. The Nigel Tufnel on this list very nearly fulfilled the inference made in this space from last year’s poll (“Pineda will resume hitting like Raudy Read”). To be honest, I was expecting more votes for Frizzell.
Unlike last year, only one or two of these guys have a chance at making the big club next summer; assuming, of course, his surgery went well (Relax, Jake Alu is fine). Given how slow promotions were this past summer, we might only see one or two of the rest make it to the upper minors.
Next up: the reliev…er, pitchers.