The Nationals added left-hander Jake Bennett, outfielder Christian Franklin and right-hander Riley Cornelio to their 40-man roster this afternoon, protecting all three prospects from being lost in next month’s Rule 5 Draft and signaling the new front office’s interest in them as potential parts of the club’s long-term plans.

Faced with a 6 p.m. EST deadline to purchase the contracts of any minor leaguers who are Rule 5-eligible this winter, new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni and his assistants chose to add Bennett, Franklin and Cornelio. None is likely to make the Nats’ Opening Day roster, but all three could find their way to the majors sometime during the 2026 season.

Bennett is the organization’s sixth-best prospect, according to Baseball America. The 24-year-old lefty, a second-round pick in the 2022 draft out of Oklahoma, made 18 starts (plus one relief appearance) for three minor league affiliates this season, finishing with a 2.27 ERA and 1.075 WHIP for Double-A Harrisburg, High-A Wilmington and Single-A Fredericksburg. He went on to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, posting a 4.50 ERA, with a league-high 25 strikeouts and only five walks in 20 innings.

This was Bennett’s first season back from Tommy John surgery, and he was limited to a total of 95 1/3 innings across all of his stops. It remains to be seen if he’ll open 2026 back at Harrisburg or at Triple-A Rochester, but as a new member of the 40-man roster, he’ll be in big league camp next spring regardless.

Franklin, 25, was one of two prospects the Nationals acquired from the Cubs at the trade deadline for right-hander Michael Soroka and quickly made a name for himself with a strong 31-game stint at Rochester to close out the season. Combined with the 86 games he played for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate in Iowa, he finished the year with a .272/.390/.427 slash line, 23 doubles, five triples, 12 homers, 64 RBIs and 19 stolen bases.

The 2022 MLB Draft concludes today before tonight’s All-Star Game. The Nationals have 10 picks this afternoon, one in each of the remaining rounds.

Through the first 10 rounds, the Nats drafted two third basemen, one shortstop, three outfielders, one catcher, two right-handers and one left-hander. They selected three high school players, highlighted by 18-year-old outfielder Elijah Green out of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., with the No. 5 overall pick Sunday night, and seven players from the college ranks.

“There's gonna be some kids out there that maybe got their feelings hurt a little bit,” assistant general manager and vice president of scouting operations Kris Kline said on Zoom call with reporters at the conclusion of yesterday’s selections. “Maybe you want to circle back and they may really want to play. So we'll go back and talk to them about, you know, the guys that said no, we'll go back and talk to all of them that said no, and ask them where they stand, how they feel now. And put the board together to the best of our ability. But that being said, I thought this first two days of the draft was really, really good. A really positive thing for the organization that's kind of in a rebuilding process. Guys did a great job.”

With their first pick of the day, the Nats selected right-hander Luke Young out of Midland College in Texas with the 321st overall pick in the 11th round. He’s listed as 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds.

A reliever for Midland, the 20-year-old went 9-4 with a 3.95 ERA, 110 strikeouts, 27 walks and only three home runs allowed over 79 ⅔ innings this year.