Nats Take Thad Ward in Rule 5 Draft
For the first time since 2010, the Nats made a selection during the MLB phase of the Rule 5 Draft, taking Boston Red Sox minor-leaguer Thad Ward.
Ward, who will fit right in having already had Tommy John surgery last year, made 13 starts across four levels in 2022. He posted a line of 2.28/2.69/1.15 with 66 strikeouts and 19 walks over 51⅓ innings. Ward is expected to be hidden in the bullpen used in long relief, with the goal of keeping him on the 26-man roster through 2023 and under team control for the next five years.
Scouts describe Ward as a wormburner with a low-90s sinker and a “sweepy” low-80s slider. He can also throw a four-seamer, a cutter, curve, and change. Ward, who turns 26 next month, was drafted in the 5th round of the 2018 Draft out of the University of Central Florida.
The Nats passed on the rest of the Rule 5 draft, with 15 players taken in the MLB phase and 67 selected in the Minor-League phases. That included Josh Palacios, who split time between Rochester and Washington last summer after he was claimed on waivers from Toronto in April. Palacios will now try to make it back to The Show in the Pirates organization.
A couple of, um, minor items from his eminence at Ballpark Digest to pass along:
● MLB will require all minor-league facilities to have foul-pole-to-foul-pole netting by 2025. As much as I’d like to think this is about safety, even Stevie Wonder can see this is about limiting liability – even if most of those lawsuits fail.
● Ballpark Digest Editor/Publisher Kevin Reichard gets credit where credit is due by attending “both sides” of the Winter Meetings. As you might imagine, the MiLB side is far more subdued. Facility standards are still unclear, aside from MLB wanting more and more upgrades (see above), though MLB has given teams an additional year to comply.
Reichard notes that MLB is foisting many of its national promotions onto MiLB (e.g., the horrible Marvel uniforms) without regard to cost. Plus, he says there’s an overall feeling that MLB is unwilling to sign off on the kind of promotions that have made MiLB unique, if not fun. At some point, the experience will be so homogenized that the only difference may be the cost.
maybe it’s too much to hope for a glitzy Rule 5 pickup but this seems like a solid gamble. he kind of short arms the ball up there bet has movement on all his pitches. as is most always the case, improved command will be the key.
I am truly Carnak the mystic
Mentioning Frankie Tostados yesteday
Wow !
now looks like they’ve purchased 1B Francisco Tostado who Seattle selected in the MiLB portion of the draft form the Giants.
Ward looks like an astute pick, but I’m surprised Rizzo passed entirely on the minor league side of things. 27 of the other 29 teams made picks, meaning just about everyone else saw there was value to be had, and the Phillies even drafted 7(!) players. Looking at the state of Harrisburg and Rochester in this upcoming season, I cannot understand how Rizzo thought we couldn’t improve on the pretty miserable quality (granted, Wilmington and below should be pretty deep).
I get it, most of the players drafted in the minor league part, especially, rarely turn into any value. Just look at our 4 picks from last season for evidence of that. But you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and with the state of this franchise from top to bottom, we need to be taking all the shots we can.
Completely agree. I’m shocked that the Nats didn’t participate in the minor-league portion of Rule 5. There can’t be many organizations that have less talent at the AAA and AA levels right now. The cavalry (supposedly) is coming, but at the moment, they really could stand some upgrades.
And as much as we like to think that the talent in the system is improving — and it is — it was kind of telling that MLB.com immediately declared a guy who had been left exposed in Rule 5 (Ward) to be the #13 prospect in the Nats’ system.
There’s no downside to the pick. He either sticks or he doesn’t, but he’s certainly worth a shot.
a hundred grand here, a hundred grand there pretty soon you’re talking about real money. apologies to Everett Dirksen
On a lighter note, I’ll give the Nats an A+ so far with the quality of names they’re acquiring if nothing else. How can you beat Francisco Tostado plus Stone Garrett riding in from Reno? And how many other teams have a Thaddeus?
Red Sox To Sign Chris Martin To Two-Year Deal
look at this guy’s career and I dare you to tell me you know what Rizzo should do next