And Now We Wait…
It seems like this is early, but it’s not. What’s different this year is that the AFL rosters have not been released whereas last year they were still pending.
As alluded in the comments, next up is probably the minor-league awards, which are typically named during the final home series (a.k.a. this weekend). In the spirit of what you typically see prior to the Emmys or Oscars, I’ll repeat my fearful predictions:
HITTER
Should win: Phillip Glasser
More likely: Yoyo Morales
PITCHER
Should win: Riley Cornelio
More likely: Alex Clemmey
BASERUNNER
Should win: Marconi German
More likely: Andrew Pinckney
DEFENSE
Definitely not Caleb Lomavita. I can barely run this site, let alone watch enough games to have a credible opinion. Life is a lot different than when this site was born. That said, I can totally envision the Nats naming someone like Seaver King to distract from their disappointing production… just like they did with Elijah Green last year (though there was certainly enough raw talent to make that believable).
NATIONALS WAY
Phillip Glasser and/or Riley Cornelio. This would be an easier call had the Nats not called up so many guys to fill the numerous holes at the AAAA level.
Clemmey has already been named the Nationals Minor League Player of the Year by the Boys in Durham, so I’m much more certain with that pick.
Of course, all of this is presuming that the Interim front office will do this and/or won’t scale back to just two players the way it was 15 years ago. Given the autopilot nature of things since Rizzo’s departure, they probably will repeat the exercise without giving much thought. And do the awards again.
The AFL starts two weeks from yesterday. I haven’t heard from Lee, but I am considering him retired and will thank him in this space again for his service to the site. As mentioned when the rosters dropped, with so many pitchers, there may be several days where no National appears, so this may be fortuitous.
With that, I’ll close this post and wish those who celebrate a shanah tovah umtukah. Otherwise, you can celebrate National Dogs in Politics or National Great American Pot Pie Day.
Thanks again, Luke for a 15th year of coverage!! Essential daily reading.
As big as a fan as I am of Morales, I don’t think he’ll get HotY. Though, that raises the question of, if not him, who else? The logical choices would be one of Lile, House or Hassell, who had very good abbreviated minor league seasons. Though Lile has only played 47 minor league games and 86 major league games. He might snag a couple RotY votes. But Hassell has still played more minor league games (76) than major league games (66). For that reason, I think they’ll award it to him.
Thanks Luke for another outstanding year of providing valuable insight of the Nats minor leaguers!
ty Luke and Lee!!
the waiting is the hardest part
Tom Petty!
I’ll also move forward my comment from yesterday evening:
Last-game-of-the-regular season thanks to Luke for his faithfulness to this site. We really appreciate it.
Some interesting slicing and dicing:
Morales: 128 G, 219 TB, .769 OPS, 110 wRC+
Glasser: 124 G, 191 TB, .793 OPS, 136 wRC+
Pinckney: 125 G, 194 TB, .780 OPS, 110 wRC+
Schnell: 129 G, 242 TB, .799 OPS, 113 wRC+
I think Glasser wins Nationals Way instead of batter.
—
Adding today, I’m not buying Will’s sales pitch for Hassell winning MiLB hitter award. It’s not that he’s not deserving (.839 OPS, 126 wRC+), I just think that they’ll see him as already graduated. House played 65 games at AAA with .873 OPS, 128 wRC+, but I don’t think they’ll give it to him either.
Of the four I listed above, it’s interesting that only Morales is thought of as a prospect, and a divisive one at that. It wasn’t a bad year for hitting prospects overall with the deserved promotions of Lile, House, and Hassell, but also it’s disappointing that so many in the lower minors who are more highly touted than the quartet above didn’t do much.
I would also nominate one of Will’s favorites, Sam Petersen, as being in the awards running, even though he only played 57 games and was a bit old for the age levels. Not a lot of guys post an OPS of close to .900 (.887) in the Wilmington graveyard.
I’m not sure if Petersen’s AFL trip is a reward, or an admission that other OFs in the system haven’t lived up to expectations, or both. However you slice it, it’s a good opportunity for him to flash.
Just want to distinguish between who I “want” to win HotY and who I “think” will win it. I think Hassell (or Lile or House) will win it. I want Glasser, Morales or Petersen to win it, and have been championing them all season.
On “graduated” prospects: Crews won HotY last year, despite spending the final month and a half in the majors, so I don’t think that disqualifies Hassell (or House or Lile)
They like to give the award to guys who “should” win it, rather than the outright “best performing” players. Otherwise, Dashyll Tejeda (146 wRC+) was the clear “best” hitter last year, and if you want to award it to a full-season, state-side player, then… Phillip Glasser would’ve won it last year (139 wRC+), far better than Crews’ 117 wRC+. Morales too would’ve been a better choice last season as well (132 wRC+).
For those reasons, I think they’ll again default to the guy with the best stats among the top 5 or so batters, but I’d love to be wrong. Morales would definitely benefit from someone hyping him up, after being repeatedly battered for underperforming, despite statistically doing the opposite. But I won’t belabor that point, as I’ve made my case many times before.
I’d also love to see Petersen win it as well, but due to the limited playing time, I don’t think he will. And you’re right that the AFL nod, while deserved, isn’t necessarily a harbinger of value. Glasser got a AFL spot last year, and they let him wallow away, repeating the level in Harrisburg for about 4 months too long this year.
The actual results are in (honorable mention to Luke for accurately predicting that the Nats would find a way to honor Seaver King, even if it was baserunning instead of defense; Luke knows how the Nats operate):
Congratulations to our 2025 Minor League Players of the Year!
· Hitter of the Year — INF/OF Phillip Glasser
· Pitcher of the Year — RHP Riley Cornelio
· Defensive Player of the Year — OF Cristhian Vaquero
· Baserunner of the Year — INF Seaver King
· Nationals Way Award — OF Andrew Pinckney
Congrats to these guys. And congrats to the organization for making honest picks on Glasser and Cornelio. King was 30 for 34 stealing bases, so it’s hard to dispute his choice, although perhaps he would have topped 40 with a better OBP. It’s good to see some recognition for Vaquero, who did improve significantly this year, even if not (yet) the superstar we were promised. Also good to see love for Pinckney after a 20/30 season.
Well deserved for Glasser! Overdue, even!
Talk about consistent. His 136 wRC+ this year is actually a modest step back from last season’s 139 wRC+, which was a slight improvement on 2023’s 133 wRC+. He just keeps delivering results, and it’ll be hard to ignore him when he’s been doing it for so long now.
I’m curious, did the Nats list him as INF/OF? Because that’s an interesting distinction, when he only played 9% of his season in the infield (11 of 124 games at 2B, his last start there coming on May 17th, almost exactly 100 games ago).
The Nats’ release on the minor league awards was really detailed.
https://curlyw.mlblogs.com/nationals-announce-2025-minor-league-awards-aea1df5b6307
For Glasser, they listed all of his positions:
The former 10th-round pick in the 2023 First-Year Player Draft appeared in left field (91 G), designated hitter (20 G), second base (11 G) and right field (3 G) in his third professional season.
Also, Gore and Thompson to the IL; Ps Julian Fernandez and Ribalta (AGAIN) to the MLB active roster.
Thanks for the link. It’s a good read, albeit depressing at points, particularly in how they can manipulate stats to make them sound more impressive. In crafting a positive narrative for King’s season, you get this tidbit, which made me laugh/groan: “King also ranked in the top 10… in batting average (9th, .244)” If I’m getting this correctly, they’re only looking at qualified players in A ball or higher (if you included FCL and DSL, King would rank 12th). In which case, the Nationals have a grand total of 15 batters from which to be assessed against. That King is 9th “best” in batting average, it also means he was 6th worst. lol.
Also, it was a fun retrospective of previous winners. 2021 elicited the same laugh/groan: “2021 INF/OF Jake Noll (Player of the Year), RHP Cade Cavalli (Pitcher of the Year), OF Donovan Casey (Defensive Player of the Year), INF Jordy Barley (Baserunner of the Year), INF/OF Jack Dunn (Nationals Way)”
What an inauspicious list… and it wasn’t even long ago!
FWIW, the 2024 “Nationals Way” winners were Daylen Lile and Brad Lord… So, maybe that award is the key to future success at the MLB level.
It seems likely that Pinckney will see time in the majors sooner or later. The question is more whether it will be with the Nats with the OF logjam. One would think that an OF or two would be included in trades this winter.
Pinckney won’t be a Rule 5 decision until next year, but they have choices to make on Schnell and Franklin among the OFs. (And as Will keeps saying, why in heck do they keep playing Glasser in LF when they have so many OFs?)
Julian Fernandez number one pick by Giants 2013
One wonders if Felipe Alou out in Giants org nodded his head on his drafting ?
He was signed by the Rockies out of the Dominican in 2013..
Was picked by the Giants in the 1st round of the Rule 5 draft in 2017.
Thanks so much to Luke for another season of NationalsProspects, and to all and sundry for keeping the conversation going. It seems that the Nats are about to make their moves for a new POBO and GM, so here’s to the future!
From the Washington Post:
The Washington Nationals on Wednesday were finalizing a deal to hire Boston Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni as their head of baseball operations
Toboni played (barely) at Cal. Among his Cal teammates:
Marcus Semien and former Nat Tony Renda.
The winners:
Hitter of the Year: Glasser
Pitcher of the Year: Cornelio
Defensive Player: Cristhian Vaquero
Baserunner: Seaver King
Nats Way: Andrew Pinckney
From Jessica Camerato’s newsletter this AM