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Watchlist Reports Are Finished

Yesterday, I finished up the last of the 2026 Watchlist reports. That’s the 16th one since the site began, although I more or less punted on the 2021 edition due to the… wait for it… pandemic.

Believe it or not, pitchers and catchers report next Wednesday. Let’s hope it’s warmer then than it’s been lately.

No word on if, whether, or when any Nationals spring training games will be televised. Fearless prediction: February 25, February 28, and March 16, a.k.a. the three road games vs. N.Y. teams. I’d love to be wrong, but I probably won’t be.

In the meantime, enjoy the first day to be above freezing (maybe) since January 23.

14 Commments

  1. Yes Luke it’s that time to watch Ground hogs Day again .
    Well so much for Giants matching up with the Nats on Abrams
    Since SF signed the hesdcase from SD.
    CJ and Seattle ???
    Safe to say there is plenty of storylines to cover just in all the bios of the new faces in player development staff brought in , Luke .
    Interesting that Matt LeCroys two new “ grinder “ players on Red Wings roster both came over from the Reds org .

    1. Oops , Luke : in today’s culture maybe we should use a different phrase besides grinder for guys like the two Matt LeCroy might term as “ Charlie Hustle “ types since grinder has different connotations these days
      Lol

    2. Second time around
      Not just a great R&B song
      Phrase for Justin Wilson’s
      Destiny in DC bullpen ?

    3. Nationals have claimed LHP Ken Waldichuk off waivers from Rays and designated RHP George Soriano (who was claimed last week) for assignment.

  2. Monday morning ( Fleetwood Mac : sing it , Lyndsey B)
    A different type of watch list
    MASH unit watch list
    Trevor Williams , J-Gray , Herz
    And long term SSS
    Stuart – Oh Susanna and Sykora.
    Eric Tolman a nice example of one rebounding in 2025 from an arm injury .
    95 IP logged in a swing roll for Senators who may need him to repeat that in 26.

  3. FWIW I was at Nats’ Fantasy Camp just over a week ago. Kevin Frandsen was there, and when I asked him how many ST games were going to be televised he said “six.”

  5. ESPN just released their top 10 Nats prospects list (and every other org’s top 10): https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47684227/2026-top-10-prospect-rankings-all-30-mlb-teams-kiley-mcdaniel#wsh

    1. Willits (41)
    2. Sykora (58)
    3. Susana (74)
    4. Ford (82)
    5. Fien (117)
    6. Dickerson (121)
    7. Fitz-gerald (133)
    8. King (182)
    9. Rosario (190)
    10. Perales (NR)

    What’s most interesting is those numbers on the right, which is their overall rank. I hadn’t seen anyone rank players in the top 200, and I’m surprised who is – and isn’t – listed in the 100-200 range.

    Dickerson at 121 feels very high. It’s also pretty surprising to not see Clemmey listed. Or for that matter, even Harmon, Sime, James, Cortesia, Feliz, or any of the other hyped but unproven players, when Fien and Dickerson, similarly unproven, are so prominent.

    What’s also interesting is that ESPN/Longenhagen had the Gore haul as the Rangers’ #3, 5 and 6 prospects (plus Ortiz and Cabrera), which is a lot higher than many others’ ratings at the trade time.

    Since the article lists every team’s top 10 and their ratings in the top 200, the Nats’ 9 players in the top 200 is behind only the Rays (4 top 100s and all 10 in the top 200), Twins (6 top 100, 10 top 200, none worse than 166), Brewers (8! top 100 and none lower than 153), Dodgers (5 top 100, none lower than 131), Guardians (7 top 100, none lower than 183). There’s several other teams with 9 players in the top 200 (or teams with more high end talent), like the Nats, so according to ESPN, we’d fall in the 6-14 range on overall org rankings.

    1. Oops. Didn’t see that ESPN had already released their farm system ratings, putting the Nats at 14th: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47684217/2026-mlb-prospect-rankings-farm-systems-kiley-mcdaniel-brewers-guardians-pirates-dodgers-mets, which holds with what I’d said. But I’m a bit surprised we’re 14th behind teams like the Red Sox. They’ve got 5 top 100s, but none in the 100-200 range. But with these rankings, real, high end talent trumps depth.

  6. Avoiding the spam filter with another link in the post, BA also released their farm rankings, putting the Nats at 16th: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2026-mlb-farm-system-rankings-for-all-30-teams/

    Of the 3 to do so, the Nats have now been ranked:
    Athletic/Law: 6th
    ESPN/McDaniel: 14th
    BA: 16th

    Law really seems to be the outlier here. No one else has been nearly has high on Fien or King as Law. Though, no one has been as low on Ford, Susana and Sykora as Law, so maybe it’s a wash.

    1. I don’t spend much time worrying about farm system rankings, as long as they are not terrible. With the recent graduations (Wood, Crews, Lile, Lord, etc.) the system was bound to take a hit. And so many of the prospects that they have are high-ceiling/lower floor types that the ranking is going to be very volatile. If one believes in the upside, the ranking improves (Law). If one is more cautious, the 12-16 rankings show up. Same system, legitimate takes.

      1. Agreed on the farm rankings.

        First, while I’m sure all of these media outlets are trying to rank in good faith, it’s the media not player development guys putting together these rankings. Not only do they lack the same level of contact and information as the MLB front-office people, the media people’s livelihoods are not at stake in their player evals. This is essentially Mel Kuiper ranking Shaddeur Sanders as the best player in the 2025 NFL Draft (and a lot of NFL Draft pundits putting 1st round grades on Shaddeur), when the 32 NFL GM didn’t have Sanders ranked in the top 3 rounds.

        Second, can’t put a lot of stock in specific ranking numbers. It is just not an exact science. Kind of silly to make a big deal whether a guy is ranked 64 or 96 or 126. So subjective to “rate” and “project” a 18 year-old pitcher who has only played in the Dominican Summer versus a college infielder who has played one season of minor league baseball versus a HS outfielder who was just drafted and got 38 ABs in Class A. At best these are guessestimates at worst they are dart throws.

        Third, the accuracy of the ratings and projections really fade after the very top guys. Pretty safe bet that the top 5, 10 even 20 prospects will be solid MLB players absent injury (which is another variable which can’t be projected), but after that, who really knows which prospects’ minds and bodies will develop and which ones will diminish (or have some other outside force negatively impact their development)?

        Put another way, neither Law nor ESPN nor the Athletic really know which organization is #10 versus #16 in prospect talent. The top and bottom of the organizational rankings have some validity. After that, it’s subjective assessments and guesswork.

  7. Nats broadcast schedule is out: https://x.com/Nationals/status/2019520118448177167

    Eight Spring Training games televised on Nats TV. As someone here predictive, two of them are against the Yankees and Mets. A handful of other games are available on radio. Pretty sure this is on the low end of Spring Training coverage for most Spring Training games, but seems in line with what the Nats ST coverage under MASN.

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