Baseball America Releases Its Top 30 Prospects for Washington
In its never-ending quest to generate “more engagement,” Baseball America released its Top 30’s ahead of the 2026 Handbook release.
Consequently, we’ll have to wait to see how far down the list Washington has tumbled (last year was 15) in relation to the rest of MLB or if the additions of Eli Willits and Harry Ford will be offset by the subtractions of Dylan Crews and Jake Bennett, among others for both the former and the latter…
What happened to last year’s Top 30?
| GRADUATED | Dylan Crews, Brady House, Cade Cavalli, Daylen Lile, Robert Hassell, Drew Millas, Nasim Nuñez |
| TRADED | Jake Bennett |
| WAIVED | Zach Brzykcy |
| RULE 5 DRAFT | None |
| DROPPED OUT | Cayden Wallace, Kevin Bazzell, Andry Lara (yes, really), Jackson Rutledge, Elijah Green (finally), Robert Cranz, Tyler Stuart, Christhian Vaquero, Daniel Hernandez |
If you’re math-challenged—or a current appointee to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—more than half of last year’s list is gone from this year’s list. While numerically seven graduates seem like a lot, only one was unexpected and not long delayed. And last year’s caveat about Washington being an also-ran still applies.
And now, after a word from our sponsors… the list:
| 1. SS Eli Willits | 11. RHP Landon Harmon | 21. SS Ronny Cruz |
| 2. RHP Jarlin Susana (3) | 12. OF Sam Petersen | 22. OF Christian Franklin |
| 3. C Harry Ford | 13. OF Ethan Petry | 23. RHP Sean Liñan |
| 4. RHP Luis Perales | 14. OF Andrew Pinckney (16) | 24. RHP Yoel Tejeda |
| 5. RHP Travis Sykora (2) | 15. LHP Jackson Kent | 25. RHP Riley Cornelio |
| 6. LHP Alex Clemmey (6) | 16. 1B Yohandy Morales (22) | 26. LHP Andrew Alvarez |
| 7. SS Seaver King (5) | 17. 2B/SS Marconi German | 27. OF Phillip Glasser |
| 8. SS Luke Dickerson (11) | 18. C Caleb Lomavita (8) | 28. OF Nauris De La Cruz |
| 9. SS Coy James | 19. RHP Miguel Sime | 29. SS Brayan Cortesia (17) |
| 10. SS Angel Feliz (15) | 20. 3B Jorgelys Mota | 30. RHP Griff McGarry |
Bold = 2025 Draft Pick
Italics = 2025 trade acquisition
Like a year ago, it’s hard not to notice that two of the top three guys were picked up in a trade. Add those to the 2025 picks and you’ll get better idea why there was so much churn.
Ultimately, what matters more is how many of these guys will either make it to D.C. or be part of a deal that nets guys for the 26-man roster in the near term (presuming the five-year rebuild is resumed and not restarted, natch).
This is a pretty solid list. While I don’t agree with their placement of each pick, there aren’t any absurd picks. And it does a good job of balancing complete lottery picks, who haven’t played a single game professionally yet (James, Harmon, Sime, etc.) with un-sexy veterans (Morales, Franklin, Alvarez and Glasser).
Some transactions:
Fredericksburg Nationals released LHP Angel Roman.
Wilmington Blue Rocks released LHP Peyton Glavine.
Wilmington Blue Rocks released RHP Matthew Bollenbacher.
Best of luck to these three. Bollenbacher and Roman both had excellent 2024s and Glavine an excellent 2023, but had really poor 2025 seasons. It looks like their stuff (or injuries) just didn’t translate at higher levels.