NationalsProspects.com

Vote for Your Favorite Bats

In years past, this was a look at the guys most likely to get traded away. Now, it’s a look at who’s the favorite trade deadline pickup from the past couple of years.

Here’s how it works… Send me your Top 10 list of minor-league position players (40-man guys are eligible as long as they have rookie status; three by my count) to enfieldmass-top10bats[at]yahoo[dot]com (link will open your preferred email client) or post them in the comments.

I’ll compile the votes and score them in reverse order (#1 = 10 points, #2 = 9 points… #9 = 2 points, #10 = 1 point). When it feels like I’ve got a sizable number of submissions, or if it’s time to refresh the site with a new post, I’ll “close the polls.”

Now that the N.L. has joined the 20th century, you need not consider defense as much as you might have in years past – Lord knows the Nats don’t – even in positions that are usually defense-first (*cough* Wilson Ramos *cough*).

Then we’ll review the 12th NationalsProspects.com Top 10 Bats List.

The Winter Meetings are still another week away, which for the MASN Commenters and readers of the N.Y. Post (a.k.a. Darwin’s waiting room) is the Aaron Judge and Jacob deGrom sweepstakes.

With the new CBA, there’s a new wrinkle: A lottery for the No. 1 pick in the next First-Year Player Draft. As we know all too well, the 2022 Nats (55-107) are among the teams with the best chance of landing the spot, just as they’ve “earned” the #1 pick in the Rule 5 draft.

Otherwise, fans of the big club are probably better off rooting for the pending sale to either go through or for the Nats to pull back the offer. No word on what the current odds are for either outcome, but it’s probably a safe bet that so long as the MASN debacle remains unresolved, a sale of the club is unlikely.

18 Commments

  1. Hassell, Wood, Green, House, Vaguero, De La Rosa, MacKenzie, Cox, White, Quintana.
    Honorable mention: Cruz, Lipscomb, Lile.
    Sure is nice to have too many instead of before when to have three or four at best.

    1. I was going to post a comment about how with the franchise sale in limbo that December shopping May have a $ General
      Feel to it
      Csndeleiro makes two Ex Tigers reeled in . Two Tigers by the tail right ? Lol
      He’s an interesting addition to bookend with Pal Joey .
      This years version of Pal Joey signing ?
      Switch hitter to boot
      Way to go , Watson . Elementary !
      Good chap !
      The evening fog last night as my dog went on patrol felt like the setting for a Hitchcock sleuth setting story

  2. Luke poignant point .
    The MASN pact fubar is an albatross
    My comment this morning is more a different theme aside from FAV bars
    More like
    Bats to awaken and show up on the radar aside from those kids from the Soto deal and top 20 prospects list
    Case in point an example : Can STROHS
    Brew a new recipe for success in elevating to Harrisburg and that ban box for hitters ?? Ricardo Mendez ???

  3. This is the first time in AGES that the bats list will be interesting. In recent years, it completely fizzled by #4 or 5. My, how the tables have turned, as I suspect my arms list will fizzle in about the same place now.

  4. Since there have been a lot of injuries and most of these are relatively new to the organization due to trade, draft or IFA; this is based more on reputation than actual performance.
    1. Haskell
    2. Wood
    3. Green
    4. House
    5. Vaquero
    6. A. Cruz
    7. De La Rosa
    8. Alu
    9. Lile
    10. T.J. White
    HM: Pineda, Lipscomb, Cox, Quintana

  6. This is always one of my favorite exercises of the year to reflect on the overall state of the farm.

    1. Robert Hassell
    2. James Wood
    3. Brady House
    4. Elijah Green
    5. TJ White
    6. Jake Alu
    7. Trey Lipscomb
    8. Jeremy de la Rosa
    9. Israel Pineda
    10. Armando Cruz

    Honorable Mention: Baker, Vaquero, Cox, Millas, Frizzell, Vega, McKenzie, Quintana, Lile

    Theses 19 are the entirety of whom I’d consider “prospects”. Some not listed are young enough (Mendez, Infante) to play themselves back into consideration, and some might pull an Alu and morph into a real prospect at a relatively old age (Jacob Young), but they’re all long shots.

    However, it’s nice to have 19 semi-legit prospects to choose from. I remember in the recent past struggling to name 10 actual hitting prospects (Nick Banks was my 10th pick in 2019 batting .271/.327/.443 as a 24 year old in A ball…)

      1. OK Will, you made me look. The only real dud from my picks last year was Boissiere (#9). I actually had White at #3, so I guess I got on that bandwagon early. From my comments: “I tried to come up with some vision where Casey, Alu, and Mendez (already Rule 5-eligible) defy age and get remarkably better, but I couldn’t.” Well, kudos to Alu for proving me wrong! Also: “I tried to convince myself that Mendoza, Antuna, Infante, and Pineda will live up to their physical gifts, but I doubt it (but would be glad to be proven wrong).” Shout out to Pineda for proving me wrong as well.

        1. Jake ‘no respect’ Alu and Israel Pineda were the 2 breakout hitters in the upper tier of the system. Both were very exciting July thru September.

  8. I know I’m jumping the gun, and potentially influencing the outcome (hopefully), but I’m really pleased to see the rest of the commentariat has also finally given up on Yasel Antuna as a prospect (last year’s #6 bat).

  9. OK, I’m not going to overthink this. I have 21 names on my list. None of them is Antuna.

    1. Green
    2. Wood
    3. House
    4. Hassell
    5. Alu
    6. Pineda
    7. White
    8. Frizzell
    9. Baker
    10. Quintana

    I ranked the top four based on potential ceiling and then the other six heavily weighted toward what they did in 2022. Of the top four, Hassell is the closest to realizing his potential, but the others could have massive power . . . or massive contact issues (Green and House in particular). Vaquero supposedly has a high ceiling as well, but he didn’t premiere stateside and he didn’t do all that much, so he doesn’t make my list. De la Rosa raked while repeating A but fizzled badly at A+. Honorable mentions/interesting draftees: de la Rosa, Vaquero, Cruz, Lile, Lipscomb, McKenzie, Cox, Stehly, Millas, J. Young (52 SBs), Infante (17 HRs). Notably, 11 of the 21 are outfielders.

  10. from the Wapo article on new staffing: Of the 18 created positions, one is on the major league staff, five are in the research and development (analytics) department, and are for player development, spread across the team’s top five minor league affiliates.

    good to see the trend continuing in spite of ownership uncertainty

  11. Interesting that two infield optiions now on Nats roster are two former Cubs farm hands
    Davey will have quite the infield rotation options with Vargas, Alu , JC , Pal Joey , Garcia , and the rehabbing CarterK.

    1. Yep, we have now switched from D-back retreads to Cubbie retreads. Sigh. The Candelario signing certainly seems to diminish Alu’s chances for making the big club in the spring, unless Kieboom isn’t fully healthy.

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