Three Nats Make the BA Top 100
It’s Top 100 season again, and the Nats have held serve with three Nats making Baseball America’s 2025 Top 100 prospects.
Two of three are here for the first time, as James Wood—last year’s #11–graduated to the big club while Brady House was dropped from the list (though ostensibly not too far off as MLB Pipeline has him ranked as the #7 Third Base prospect).
Dylan Crews returns at #6 for 2025, while he’s joined by RHPs Travis Sykora (#59) and Jarlin Susana (#67). And the hits don’t stop ’til we get to the top.
Here’s a look at the three, reprinted with permission 😉 from the 2025 Watchlist and Player Reports that are almost finished. MLB is expected to release its Pipeline Top 100, so I supposed there’s a chance their evaluators may sneak a fourth prospect into its list:
DYLAN CREWS
With the, um, prospect of garnering an extra draft pick, the Nats made sure to keep Crews just under MLB’s rookie thresholds so he can potentially win the 2025 ROY award. The better news is that absent the Super Two subterfuge that’s now a moot point, Crews is a nearly a lock to make Washington’s Opening Day roster and spot in the lineup – most likely right field until Jacob Young’s slipper turns into a pumpkin. Or Robert Hassell is ready.
TRAVIS SYKORA
The wait was worth it. Sykora did not pitch in 2023 and was carefully managed in 2024 with his first appearance coming in May and did not pitch more than five innings and or with less than six days’ rest. He throws hard (94-96) with his “offspeed” pitch being his low-80s slider. There is some concern that less than 50% of pitches were in the strike zone, though some of that is that he likes to work at or above the top of the zone. While some may fantasize he’ll be skipped past High-A, there’s no reason to believe he’ll be treated differently than Cade Cavalli and asked to endure Wilmington for a few starts.
JARLIN SUSANA
It might be safe to say that 2024 was the year that Susana went from a thrower to a pitcher. There weren’t as many 100+ mph pitches but there a lot more swing-and-miss 88-to-90mph sliders as his 13.6 K/9IP suggests. He also has a low-90s changeup, which is not as as refnined. Developing it may be the key to whether he ends up starting or relieving as he goes up the ladder. The smart money says they’ll give him every opportunity to work on refining the change at AA in 2025.
Interesting to observe House’s bungee act on BA’s list.
House has gone:
22: 59
23: unranked
24: 48
25: unranked
Which is a bit silly and reactionary if you ask me.
Happy to see Sykora and Susana getting their due.
as a non-subscriber I couldn’t seem to find a link to the list. I started to listen to the YouTube discussion but my brain exploded. those boys must be paid by the word.
one of the fellas was all in on Crews however, said that when all was said and done he could end up being the best of the bunch
I really want Crews to be a superstar. The Nats desperately NEED for him to be a superstar. But I’ll remain a little on edge about that until he actually hits pro pitching like he is one. In 100 MiLB games last year (AA/AAA) he was above average, but not off the charts: .270/.342/.451/.792. He had a 115 wRC+, 21 doubles, 6 triples, 13 homers, and stole 25 bases. He had a 20.5% K rate that he maintained at the MLB level (19.7%), as did the 8.0% walk rate (8.3% at MLB). His MLB slash line wasn’t great, but at this point I’m just glad to see that he wasn’t striking out too badly. He got his feet wet at the MLB level, which was most of the point.
Sometimes it takes time to click. That was the case with the guy Crews gets compared to, the #3 pick Wyatt Langford. Langford ended up with 16 homers in the majors in 2024, but eight of them came in the last month of the season.
KW, I too have been underwhelmed with Crews’ performance to date. He was billed as a generational talent, and in comparison to even just his draft class peers (Langford even Jacob Wilson), his production feels pedestrian. However, an above average RF with a 115 wRC+ is a surprisingly valuable player.
Jackson Chourio basically had this season in 2024. He posted a 117 wRC+ (6.8BB%/21.1K%), and split his time between RF and LF, playing good defense there. That season was worth 3.9 WAR!
It doesn’t taken Soto-esque batting lines to accrue significant value, especially when you’re well above average at the other things, like defense and baserunning, which Crews is. I have to keep reminding myself this.