Baseball America Releases Its Top 30 Prospects for Washington
While the prospect book is not yet in hand, Baseball America’s Top 30 has been released. The MLB Pipeline is hot on their heels with the Top 100 expected today. So let’s get to it, shall we?
Somehow, the Nats managed to maintain their #7 ranking. Why “somehow?” Because for the second straight year, they have a Rule 5 pickup within their ranks and for the seventh straight year, it’s eight guys who will turn 25 (or older) this year.
As has been the case for even longer, this is a top-heavy system in which the gap between the first 10 and the last 10 is substantial. We can lament the lack of depth or recognize that this is how GM Mike Rizzo operates.
What happened to last year’s Top 30?
| GRADUATED | Thad Ward, Jake Irvin, Jose Ferrer |
| TRADED | None |
| RELEASED | None |
| RULE 5 DRAFT | None |
| DROPPED OUT | Andry Lara, Roismar Quintana, Matt Cronin, Evan Lee, Tim Cate, Gerardo Carrillo, Aldo Ramirez, Will Frizzell |
That’s eight dropouts for the second straight year. While many of these are long overdue, I find it surprising that Lara has dropped so fast. He pitched nearly 100 innings and finished fairly strong – 2.67/3.62/0.93 with only one HR allowed over his last six starts (27IP). Quintana perhaps a little less, even if my bias might be as simple as “Here’s the one guy I think Sandy Leon might be able to take in a footrace.”
Before I go any futher, let me reveal the list with a few observations (last year’s ranking in parentheses):
| 1. OF Dylan Crews | 11. OF Daylen Lile (27) | 21. C Israel Pineda (19) |
| 2. OF James Wood (1) | 12. OF Victor Hurtado | 22. C Drew Millas (25) |
| 3. 3B Brady House (5) | 13. LHP Jake Bennett (11) | 23. RHP Cole Henry (13) |
| 4. RHP Cade Cavalli (4) | 14. RHP Travis Sykora | 24. SS Angel Feliz |
| 5. 3B Yohandy Morales | 15. LHP DJ Herz | 25. SS Kevin Made |
| 6. RHP Jackson Rutledge (9) | 16. 3B Trey Lipscomb (24) | 26. OF Jeremy De La Rosa (8) |
| 7. OF Robert Hassell (2) | 17. SS Nasim Nunez | 27. SS Armando Cruz (12) |
| 8. SS Christian Vaquero (6) | 18. OF Jacob Young | 28. 2B Darren Baker |
| 9. OF Elijah Green (3) | 19. OF Andrew Pinckney | 29. 1B T.J. White (10) |
| 10. RHP Jarlin Susana (7) | 20. RHP Zach Brzykcy (21) | 30. LHP Mitchell Parker (14) |
For the second straight year, a Rule 5 pickup made the list. This could strictly be that he was (A) well-regarded for Miami, a system that’s generally well-regarded for generating talent (B) a 2nd Rd. pick in 2019 (C) BA loves incumbents.
Here’s a change: There are only seven IFAs on the list, two of which were acquired by the Nats. Overall, there are six guys Rizzo has picked up over the past three trade deadlines and five Nats-drafted HS guys. You may recall that before the 2020 season, there were five HS picks in the entire system.
Lara and Quintana may take solace that they weren’t the only guys that fell far down the list (let’s pretend they’re nos. 31 & 32) – De La Rosa fell 18 spots to #26, White fell 19 places to #29, and Mitchell nearly dropped from the list despite being added to the 40-man.
Wow SS Angel Feliz just signed
Which prospect will come out of the woodwork and surprise all us bleacher fans here by August ??
The state of the Nationals farm pitching is bleak, to put it as nicely as possible.
9 arms, each of which have significant concerns related to their health (Cavalli, Bennett, Brzykcy, Henry) or ability to translate hype into actual results (Rutledge, Susana, Sykora). The only two who’ve actually (inconsistently) performed well are Herz and Parker. After Herz’s excellent season (including showcasing his wares in front of the scouts in the AFL), I’d have expect him to get a bigger boost in these rankings, it’s especially strange when contrasted with Rutledge’s rating, but alas…
Related to the above, it should be noted how 6 of the 8 players to drop off the list were pitchers.
I dont see dylan crews.
Typo. It’s fixed.
Ferrer graduated and has not been released.
Fixed.
No Crews?
Good question. Nats have deep farm system if the #2 pick in the 2023 draft can’t crack the top 30.
Typo. It’s fixed.
Yes, the system is top heavy. But I think that it’s clearly better than it has been even beyond the top 4-5. The guys who are in the teens would have been in the back end of the top ten in previous years.
Adios Curly W?
This Summer amateur draft crucial for adding a few more arms
I think Thad Ward dropped out and did not graduate from last year’s list.
He hasn’t reached BA’s limits of 3o games or 50 IP.
But he did reach MLB’s limit of 45 days on the active roster… and it wasn’t even close as he was on the 26-man roster from Opening Day of 2023 until July 3rd. We define prospect as rookie-eligible, which means we follow MLB’s limits, not BA’s.