NationalsProspects.com

Plugging Away at the Watchlist

Just a quick post to let folks know (A) the site has not gone dark (B) I’m about halfway through writing the reports on the players.

MLB Pipeline will be releasing its Top 100 on Friday, which will likely be the next post. Otherwise, the lament since before the pandemic remains in place. Unless you consider the signing of a 17-y.o. Bahamanian IFA big news.

Not that the big club has been much more active… or more on-brand, signing a failed prospect, a journeyman reliever, and a veteran probably past his prime. We’ve yet to learn who’ll get dropped from the 40-man, but the odds are it’ll be fringe reliever or someone the Nats feel confident they can outright to Rochester.

With that, I now return you to your Macintosh Computer Day festivities.

PROGRAMMING NOTE
The BA Top 30 was released yesterday but today’s an office day in DC = no time to write. Check Todd Boss’s thoughts in the meantime.



13 Commments

  1. Joey Gallo oddly fits the Nats short term needs
    A guy who swings lefty
    Can play three positions on a rebuild club and can be flipped at deadline for something more than a box of Spauldings .
    Plus name helps certain fans endure during a rebuild : Gallo aka head to the wine rack !

    1. There’s one GM in baseball above all others who loves to accumulate failed prospects. Alas, Kieboom already plays for him. (Welcome former consensus top 10 player [and Boras client] Joey Gallo, whose career BA [.197] is actually worse than Kieboom’s [.199].)

      The Nat lineup likely will feature three consensus top 10 in baseball guys, and they’ll be viewed as the most disposable parts of the team: Robles, Senzel, and Gallo. (Abrams and Gore ranked in the top 10 on some lists, but it wasn’t consensus. Ruiz and Kieboom ranked as high as #11.)

      1. Even with his low batting average, Gallo is a league average bat thanks to his patience and power. Two qualities that the Nats sorely lacked last season. Note that Gallo was (by modern baseball standards) dirt cheap and that to be a “success” all he has to do is be better than Dom Smith (92 OPS+; 90 wRC+) was last year. Since even hitting .177 last season Gallo did that (101 OPS+; 104 wRC+) that’s a solid bet.

        Gallo also provide positional flexibility, since he’s a solid OF and 1b as well. It gives the Nats options in case Stone Garrett isn’t fully healthy and/or Meneses struggles at first. Gallo can even play 3b if/when Carter Kieboom and Nick Senzel flop.

        It’s not a signing that vaults the Nats into contention, so if that’s your standard for analyzing any move you’re not going to like it. But it’s a small, sensible move otherwise.

        1. Put me on the record as being very happy with Gallo. A few months back, I even specifically mentioned him as a player (along with Hoskins, Tellez and Urshela) we should be targetting. While it’s been a very long time since Gallo was “good”, even a good month or two could persuade another team to shell out a half decent prospect or two.

          At 1B/LF/DH, we have very little talent of note, so Gallo is instantly an improvement to the team. However, it’s 3B and Nick Senzel’s signing that continues to puzzle me, since we do have several half-competent players there. Senzel is not better than Vargas, Kieboom or Alu. And I fear the $2m they inexplicably paid him may prove to be an impediment to a quick DFA. It isn’t particularly difficult to find a player who can play below average defense at 3B/2B/LF, like Senzel, and it’s especially not difficult to find someone who can outdo Senzel’s .643 OPS over the past 3 years and nearly 900 plate appearances. For all the anguish over just how horrifically bad Gallo’s time in New York was, he still posted a .660 OPS there (and a .740 OPS over the past 3 seasons), which puts into perspective just how ineffective Senzel has been.

        2. Thanks John for the numbers. That makes Gallo a significant improvement over Dom Smith or Alex Call.

    2. I suspect Carter will be in camp trying to make the most of his (most likely) last shot. he won’t be alone in that capacity

  3. Carter’s line in the Mexican Winter League: .281/.400/.402

    Played about half the season (23 games) for Naranjeros de Hermosillo.

    Joey Meneses in 14 games was .225/.310/.388 for my favorite named team Tomateros de Culiacan (English: Culiacán Tomato Growers)

  4. This is the minor-league site, so I’d much prefer to talk about the future, who we hope is Yohandy Morales. If it’s not him, the Nats are pretty stuck, unless they move Wood or House to 1B. I just noticed an anomaly about YoYo that I don’t remember being discussed: despite a .494 SLG across 42 pro games after being drafted, he didn’t hit any homers. Presumably he’s capable, as he had 20 homers in 61 games for U of Miami in the spring of 2023 and 18 in 60 games in 2022.

    It seems like the homers will come. And considering the issues with a number of the other players in the organization, I certainly welcome someone who seems to put contact ahead of swinging for the fences. Morales had a .423 OBP in the minors last summer and .413 across three college seasons. More of that please!

      1. Could be with the wood bat transition. I’m just really glad to see he stayed true to his stroke and made contact. At his size (6’4″, 225), the power should come.

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