The Preliminary 2026 Watchlist
It’s December, and we apologize if we’re interrupting your CyberMonday festivities, such as they may be.
Since the restructuring of the minors, I find that the hardest part is what to make of the draft picks. The FCL is pretty much devoted to developing DSL guys and the youngest of the previous summer’s draft picks, in addition to providing rehabs a place to “work on some stuff” – and there’s always a steady stream of those.
Plus, with the asinine decision to move the draft from June to July in concert with the decision to move the FCL start date from mid-June to early May, few guys sign in time to play in the FCL, and only a handful will play in Low-A. Consequently, the Nats have shifted away from signing college seniors to signing college juniors.
Thus, I am more than open to anyone making a case about draft picks who didn’t play, weren’t ranked, and/or weren’t H.S. picks.
So without further ado, let’s go to the caveats (a.k.a. my pre-emptions to the what-abouts):
• It’s not a depth chart. It’s ordered by the highest level played to date. The guys at the top of the column are not necessarily better than the guys at the bottom.
• It’s (mostly) based on 2025 usage. The Nats have a history of rotating IFs between 2B, 3B, and SS, and are usually not very strong at 1B, 3B, or the corner OFs.
• It’s preliminary. I’m relying on my visitors and regulars to comment with omissions, criticisms, and/or suggestions because my time is limited by a commute to DC and/or driving my sons to work. Thankfully, I’ve got a core group of commenters who are smarter than the average bear. If you don’t believe me, spend 20 minutes in the MASN or WaPo comments.
• But ___ was drafted ___ or signed for ____ Draft position or bonus dollars spent has more to do with the market or how the Nats believed it to be. I will concede that those two factors will give some guys more chances.
• Why is ________ only a notable? The answer to this question is usually age. I had thought the new draft might raise the average age a bit, but as far as I can tell, it’s been offset by simply drafting more juniors than seniors.
| C | 1B | 2B/SS | 3B | OF |
| Lomavita | Morales | King | Wallace | Pinckney |
| Bazzell | Brown | Willits | Mota | Franklin |
| Jones | Requena | A. Feliz | L. Arias | Glasser |
| D. Hernandez | Dickerson | Petersen | ||
| R. Cruz | Nunez | |||
| Rojas | Vaquero | |||
| Petry | ||||
| RHP | LHP | ’25 Picks | DSL Guys | Notables |
| Lara | Bennett | James | Carela | O. Martinez |
| Susana | Kent | Sime | Castillo | Boisserie |
| Cornelio | Clemmey | Harmon | Cortesia | Stuart |
| Sykora | Aldonis | Maddox | M. De La Cruz | Liñan |
| Amaral | N. De La Cruz | Swan | ||
| Randall | German | Arguelles | ||
| Cranz | Gimenez | Sullivan | ||
| Sales | Obispo | Johnson | ||
| Y. Tejeda | Reyes | Lunar | ||
| J. Feliz | Torrelles |
We know Travis Sykora and Tyler Stuart are both hurt, having undergone Tommy John surgery late last summer. We think Sean Paul Liñan may be too, given his short stint (two games, five innings) in the AFL and AWOL after that. Three guys aren’t enough for a M*A*S*H unit.
I collapsed the DSL guys and Notables into a single column, largely because there are many more pitchers than hitters. As aforementioned, Elijah Green’s draft position and Victor Hurtado’s bonus money just aren’t enough to make them notable. That may be unfair to Hurtado, who won’t turn 19 until late May, but even Stevie Wonder can see Green just doesn’t have the plate discipline to play professional baseball.
Thanks for putting this together Luke.
A few points of feedback:
On the 2025 Guys: if we look just at signing bonuses, 11th rounder, Jack Moroknek, commanded the 6th highest bonus in his draft class. And his college numbers are good enough to justify it. But I’d also consider a few of the other seniors we drafted. Boston Smith was one of the best hitters in college in 2025. His 189 wRC+ at Wright State was the 11th highest among almost 2400 batters. He also can play catcher, which makes a really interesting combination.
Catcher: our honorable knight, Sir Jamison’s last name is Jones. Nick Hollifield, another ’25er who made a rare appearance, is also interesting enough to add
OF:
Dashyll Tejeda wasn’t quite as good as in 2024, but he held his own in 2025 stateside. I’ve seen some scouting reports predict he could still yet bulk up and add power, and that coupled with his good plate approach and lightning speed could turn into a really interesting toolshed of an OF.
DSL Guys:
Browm Martinez – acquired in the Rosario trade, his numbers in 2025 were excellent before getting hurt.
RHPs:
Davian Garcia – got hit hard in Wilmington, but had a good enough stint in Fburg to not entirely get dropped
Eddy Yean – the prodigal son returns. He was good enough for Pittsburgh, that he’s one of our better high level RP prospects (and still young at 24)
Robert Cranz (or is this who you were referring to with Crandall?) – had a great season while being way too old for his level. Then got hurt and will likely miss all of 2025. Still, what he was doing in 2025 showed a glimpse of a very good potential player.
LHPs:
Andrew Alvarez – hasn’t lost rookie eligibility yet and his 2025 in DC put him on the map
Jake Eder – also as best I can tell still has rookie eligibility. Will no doubt have a long chance to make his case in DC in ’26.
“Other Notables”
Since this is no longer a MASH category, I’d suggest dropping it altogether. Some guys are prospects albeit slightly old, like Swan, others are burnouts like Boissiere, others old and injured, like Stuart, others young and injured, like Linan. As a result, it’s a weird mix of players, and it took me a while to realize Orelvis Martinez was stashed away here with mostly a bunch of other arms, even if Martinez is younger than half the guys listed here.
Dropping the notables is the opposite of a non-starter… It’s always been a hedge.
Luke the force used the force !!
Isn’t it ironic don’t you think ? ( to paraphrase Alanis Morrissettte ) Paul T s first add to the big board from outside the org is a former Gypsy band Athletic
Until that org plays in Vegas I will call them Gysey band . Put a tambourine around the elephants neck in the logo .
There are some guys listed that I consider non-prospects, but I don’t think that’s really much of an issue with this kind of exercise. A watchlist should be maximalist, as all we’re doing to breaking out the third-ish of the organization that’s worth keeping an eye on. I’m not going to argue for anyone being removed.
And the unlisted guys I do have have as (mostly fringe) prospects that aren’t listed have already been name checked by Luke and Will. Alvarez is the only one in my top 30, and him just barely. The others are Hurtado, D Tejeda, Green, Browm Martinez and Eder. All these guys are pretty fringy, but if the bar is just “worth keeping an eye on”, I think they qualify. I’d add Alvarez to the LHP portion of the list, and the rest of them to “notables”
You’re not wrong… I would hazard that 5-10 guys in the Nats’ Top 30 list from any ranking would not be ranked in any other organization, with the possible exceptions of the Angels and Rockies.
True, sadly. The MLB.com list for the Nats, in its top nine, includes four 2025 draft picks plus two injured pitchers who likely will miss 2026. Two others are 2024 draft picks who didn’t set the world on fire (King and Dickerson). That leaves Alex Clemmey as the only guy who had a full pro season, isn’t injured, and exceeded expectations.
Thanks for doing this again this year Luke. Here are my inputs.
1. Agree with Will and SMS about adding Alvarez.
2. Who is Crandall? I see where Will thinks it might be Cranz, if so, I agree with having him.
3. If have Cranz should probably have Davian Garcia, especially since he was a 21 yo starter with a 3.47 ERA between LA and HA.
4. Under the ‘25 Picks, Maddox only pitched 5 innings as an 8th rounder with minimal signing bonus, would probably replace him with Moroknek.
5. Is Jimenez under DSL supposed to be Gimenez?
6. Don’t know that Requina at 1B and D. Hernandez at C did enough to be included. I assume you had Requina because you wanted a third 3B and Hernandez because of his signing bonus?
7. I know you don’t like relievers, but I would include the ones on the 40 man since there’s a good chance we will see quite a bit of them in DC. I believe Fernandez, Lao, Poulin and Eder still have rookie eligibility.
8. I knew Grissom struggled at AAA, but he was only 23 last year and I wouldn’t give up on him yet.
Some Nats tidbits:
– Luis Garcia makes his Dominican Winter League debut tonight (Gigantes)
– Nats picked Phils prospect OF Leandro Pineda as a minor league FA
Ah yes, the time honored tradition to trying to rehabilitate Phillies failed OF prospects.
Pineda got some low-level prospect buzz in the past, but I don’t really understand why. He’s had exactly one above average season with the bat (2024) out of 6 professional seasons, and he’s very much a bat-first prospect (playing exclusively RF and 1B).
In past years, I’d hold out no hope, but I’m curious to see how the player development shake up will yield results. Not sure Pineda is necessarily the guy for this (guys like Willits or Dickerson or even King, I’ll be watching more closely), but there’s at least a glimmer of something interesting here.