CHICAGO – Brady House’s double-promotion in the last month from Single-A Fredericksburg to High-A Wilmington to Double-A Harrisburg was an aggressive one, Mike Rizzo readily admits. But the Nationals general manager believes the 2021 first-round pick can handle that jump, and didn’t hesitate to make the move earlier today.
“We just thought he was ready,” Rizzo said. “We’re going to challenge him to the next level, and we’ll see how he does. No expectations. It’s an aggressive level for him.”
House, the 11th overall pick two summers ago from Winder-Barrow (Ga.) High School, has enjoyed a major bounceback season after spending much of 2022 on the injured list dealing with a nagging back ailment. The organization had him return to Fredericksburg to begin the season, but promoted him to Wilmington one month ago and then watched him continue to perform at a high level.
House posted a .908 OPS in 16 games at High-A, even better than the .869 mark he produced in 36 games at Single-A. He also took well to his position switch from shortstop third base, all of which convinced the Nationals he was ready for another jump so soon.
“With the transformation over to third base, I think he feels very comfortable defensively,” Rizzo said. “And he’s done so well offensively, we felt he was going to end the season at Double-A anyway in our minds. So when he was performing so well, we thought: ‘He’s performing well. We’ll get him to Double-A, since he’s going there anyways.’”