FanGraphs Releases Top 22 Nats List
The last two installments from FanGraphs came in December 2018 and December 2019, which seems so much longer than 16 months ago.
Yesterday, the 2021 edition was released. I’d say “quietly,” but these days a mouse peeing on a cotton ball is louder than anything about the minors that’s not draft- or college-related.
Before I list them out by scale – which you’ll find depressing anyway – big kudos to FanGraphs for not bullshitting us:
As there was no minor league season in 2020, there are some instances where no new information was gleaned about a player. Players whose write-ups have not been meaningfully altered begin by telling you so. Each blurb ends with an indication of where the player played in 2020
Now, for the list by its Future Value Scale:
| 45+ | Jackson Rutledge |
| 45 | Cade Cavalli, Yasel Antuna |
| 40+ | Andry Lara, Jeremy De La Rosa, Seth Romero, Matt Cronin, Cole Henry |
| 40 | Israel Pineda, Tim Cate, Sammy Infante, Armando Cruz, Joan Adon, Drew Mendoza |
| 35+ | Mason Denaburg, Roismar Quintana, Jackson Cluff, Holden Powell, Zachary Brzykcy, Tres Barrera, Reid Schaller, Todd Peterson |
(Italics = New for 2021; Bold = Improved from 2020 Grey = Declined from 2020)
Obviously, I’m trying to avoid listing numerically, but if you absolutely must, start at the top and then read left to right.
Most of the newbies are 2020 draft picks or signs. Players already in the system to move onto the list are Barrera and Peterson. Graduated since 2020 are Carter Kieboom and Luis García. Will Crowe and Eddy Yean were traded away. James Bourque is gone from the system, while Raudy Read dropped from the list (ostensibly replaced by Barrera and Peterson, respectively).
It’s worth noting that just five of the 13 pitchers (well, four and Mason Denaburg) are tagged as being starters, and even then, they’re back-of-the-rotation types. Yasel Antuna is the sole position player not pegged for the bench or Lyfted from Rochester.
Now, I know some of you will want to defend the IFAs on this list, which if we’re honest (and somebody has to be) are the Obi-Wans of the Nats system, but they’re ranked low because they young, unproven – and with the exception of De La Rosa – unseen.
FanGraphs goes a bit further to hammer home how bereft the system is by comparing the Nats system to the commits and roster of Vanderbilt, which even as a non-follower of college baseball I recognize is to be written about with one hand only.
That may be overkill, but only recently have the powers that be finally recognize what we’ve known for a long time: The Nats have hit rock-bottom as a farm system because they’ve traded away or graduated most of its top-tier talent, and that top-tier is no longer MLB-starter quality.
I know most, if not all, of the casual fans do not care about the system being in such disrepair because… wait for it… the Nats won a World Series, but the money shot in the article is this quote:
[N]ow that the division is so deep and difficult, having the ammunition to make a trade may end up being what separates the wheat from the chaff in the NL East, and every year the Nationals don’t reach the apex of the division is another year closer to Father Time catching up with Scherzer and Co., as he inevitably will.
Or put another way… perhaps you should care if you want to see the Nats win another one with any of the current players.
I’ve always liked Fangraphs, they are a dedicated bunch.
The two things that most stand out are they have ‘knucklehead’ in the Top 10, for whatever reason and there is no mention of Fuentes. A big mistake.
This is probably the last important news until the rosters come out, and they have to be any day now.
I’m not expecting them until late next week. The signal that it might be close will be if/when they put out a notice about credentials. But I also doubt they’ll be holding any meet the team kind of stuff, which I usually can’t attend due to my day job.
You’d think with this 20 month layoff between games there would be some morsels of information given out to the ‘great unwashed’ (their attitude) but we’re still on radio silence.
Luke
I am drinking Seattle’s Best coffee outside this hotel property in WPB watching the Nats lads load up on the morning buses to the training facility some skinny some matured into impressive builds .
The hotel property behind with M
Lol!
My business travels cross paths with Nats …
Not expecting any contact with minor league players. Due to MLB Covid-19 protocols, there will be no host families used this season. At least we can get to the ballpark and see some baseball!!
I agree about the “meet and greets.” We were also told that players are prohibited from staying with host families due to covid.
They need to get players and coaches vaccinated and then shelve a lot of these restrictions. Why shouldn’t a vaccinated player be able to stay at the home of a vaccinated host family? It’s silly. I know no vaccine is 100% effective, but at some point, we need to lean into the science here and stop playing security theater. (And I say that as someone who has vocally supported health and safety regulations throughout this stupid pandemic. At some point, we’ve really done all we can.)
And hygiene theater. Unfortunately, the CDC has been slow to recognize this, along with outdoor masking. Sadly for us, one of the few places it is necessary is a sporting event.
Personally, if it were up to me, I’d require a negative test just to get in the park and vaccination to get prime seats. As it is now, I’m most likely going to have to buy two or three tickets wherever I go this summer, even though I’m fully vaccinated. In other words, my cost of going to a ballgame has at least doubled, perhaps even tripled.
Totally agreed. My local team has raised prices…tough to blame ’em given the lost 2020 season and strict capacity limits where I live.
But I am just so tired of people who cry about their freedums!!1 absolutely refusing to lift a finger for the common good, whether it’s wearing a mask or getting vaccinated or not throwing giant parties in the middle of a pandemic, which just drags this whole thing out for all of us because the idea of doing anything for anyone but themselves apparently treads upon their delicate sensibilities. As far as I’m concerned, get vaccinated or stay home; if you don’t like it, get vaccinated.
I’m sure all the minor leaguers have been fully vaccinated by now. They don’t have the right to be stupid like the Nats and the like.
As SensFan & LM have noted the people in Harrisburg act like no one has been vaccinated yet. Certainly they are selling tickets like no one has.
Agree with Sao; trust the science.
The protocols are coming from MLB, not the minor leagues. I agree a vaccinated player would be safer with a vaccinated family than at a hotel or apartment complex.
I see 30 year old free agent OF Daniel Palka added to the Senators roster. With the farm system in bad shape, it makes me wonder if this will be one of those seasons where Harrisburg gets some older free agents.