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ORLANDO, Fla. – For the second time in three years, the Nationals entered the MLB Draft Lottery knowing they were ineligible for one of the top picks. And for the second time in three years, they learned after the fact they would’ve emerged with one of the top picks if not for the event’s convoluted rules.
The Nats will hold the No. 11 overall pick in the 2026 Draft, a position that was already sealed but became official tonight with the completion of the fourth annual Draft Lottery at the Winter Meetings. But had they been eligible, they would’ve been awarded the No. 2 pick after their combination of ping pong balls was drawn shortly after the White Sox’s combination was drawn for the No. 1 pick.
According to Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper, the designated pool reporter witnessing the actual lottery held several hours prior to the televised event, the Nationals’ combination of balls actually came up in four of the first nine draws. Each time, they were ruled ineligible, and another draw was made.
Why were they ineligible? The rules MLB established when creating the lottery in 2022 say that no team may participate in the lottery three consecutive years, and no team that is designated as a revenue-sharing payor (as opposed to receiver) may participate in the lottery in back-to-back years.
Because the Nats won the 2024 lottery – securing the No. 1 pick they would use to draft shortstop Eli Willits – and because they’re considered a revenue-sharing payor, they were ineligible this year. Despite finishing with the majors’ third-worst record, they could only pick 11th in next summer’s Draft. (They will, however, hold the third pick from the second through the 20th rounds.)
If this all sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because a similar scenario played out two years ago, at the 2023 Winter Meetings in Nashville. Because they won the No. 2 overall pick in the inaugural lottery the previous winter (which they used to draft Dylan Crews), they were ineligible to win again, even though their ping-pong combination was drawn for what would’ve been the No. 1 pick.
So, if you’ve lost track amid all this confusing mumbo-jumbo, if not for the lottery rules designed to discourage teams from tanking, the Nationals would’ve held the second, first, first and second picks in the MLB Draft over a four-year stretch.
Nevertheless, new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni was eager to watch tonight’s televised lottery in person and now start preparing for his first draft with the Nats after playing a major role in the Red Sox’s front office over the last decade.
“I kind of came up through the game working in amateur scouting, and it still remains a huge passion of mine, no matter how removed from it you get,” Toboni said. “I’m really excited, and I think this is the time of year where you really start to sink your teeth into who are the players that are going to go in the top-15 picks, or top-30 picks, whatever it might be. You start really doing your homework on who might be a fit at, in this case, pick 11 for us. That’s super-exciting.”
