-1745819772711.png){kind=logo}
The 2023 MLB Draft concludes on its third day this afternoon leading up to tonight’s All-Star Game.
Before we see if Josiah Gray gets to pitch in the Midsummer Classic, the Nationals have their final 10 picks to make, one to start each of the remaining rounds.
Through the first 10 rounds, the Nats have selected two outfielders, four infielders, one catcher, two right-handers and one left-hander. Righty Travis Sykora, the third-rounder, was the only pick out of high school, with the other nine coming out of college.
Vice president of scouting Kris Kline and assistant director of amateur scouting Mark Baca said at the conclusion of the 10th round last night that the Nationals are confident they will sign all 10 of their first picks, including Sykora, who has a commitment to Texas. And they’ve already started.
The Nationals announced this morning the signing of five of their picks from yesterday:
There was a natural reaction for some to Sunday’s news the Nationals drafted Dylan Crews of disappointment. Not because the Nats made a mistake taking the LSU center fielder with the No. 2 overall pick, but because the Pirates prevented them from taking Paul Skenes by making the LSU ace the No. 1 pick in the country.
For months, we kept hearing about the perfect couple the Nationals and Skenes would make. Fans and club officials alike were formulating 2024 rotations in their minds. Players openly talked about welcoming him into their clubhouse next spring and then showing the 21-year-old he wasn’t quite ready for the big leagues yet.
Of course Skenes was going to wind up a National. How could he not?
So when the announcement came shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday that the Pirates had selected him, the subsequent selection of Crews felt like some kind of letdown.
News flash: It shouldn’t feel that way. The Nationals just got themselves a bona fide No. 1 pick with the No. 2 pick, one of the most accomplished college players ever, as much of a slam-dunk prospect as you’re ever going to find.
The Nationals made eight picks between the third and 10th rounds of the MLB Draft yesterday. They’ll conclude this year’s draft with 10 picks this afternoon, spearheaded by vice president of scouting Kris Kline and assistant director of amateur scouting Mark Baca.
Of their first 10 selections, the Nationals have selected two outfielders, four infielders, one catcher, two right-handers and one left-hander. Righty Travis Sykora, the third-rounder, was the only pick out of high school, with the other nine coming out of college.
“I think we did a super job,” Kline said on a Zoom call with reporters after the 10th round last night. “Everybody in there making our pool money work to the best of our ability and that kind of translated into three first-round picks at the top of our draft. So it was a good day. Good first two days for us. So pretty good.”
Because of the high number of college players and even with the lone high schooler, the Nationals feel confident they will sign all 10 of their picks from the first two days: “Yeah, we feel confident we'll have that all taken care of,” Kline said.
A lot has already been written about the No. 2 overall selection and No. 40 pick Yohandy Morales, both of whom are two of the next top Nats prospects.
The Nationals knew they were going to get their pick of the best position player or the best pitcher when they went on the clock for the No. 2 overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft.
When Louisiana State University right-hander Paul Skenes went off the board to the Pirates at No. 1, it was clear the Nats were going to land the best position player in fellow LSU Tiger Dylan Crews.
The accolades for the outfielder are nearly endless.
He was the No. 1 draft prospect per Baseball America and No. 2 per MLB Pipeline. He was the recipient of the Golden Spikes Award and Rawlings/American Baseball Coaches Association Gold Glove while winning the national championship with LSU this year. He was a consensus first-team All-American, Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and named to the SEC All-Defensive Team in 2022 and 2023.
By being named the SEC’s best player for the second straight season, he became the first player to win the award in consecutive years.
The Washington Nationals selected eight players on the second day of Major League Baseball’s 2023 First-Year Player Draft. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Scouting Operations Kris Kline and Director of Scouting Operations Eddie Longosz made the joint announcement.
The Nationals kicked off Monday’s action by selecting right-handed pitcher Travis Sykora from Round Rock High School (TX) in the third round. As a senior, Sykora struck out 108 batters in 58.0 innings, allowed just seven earned runs on 22 hits (1.09 ERA) and issued only 15 walks. He was ranked the No. 36 draft prospect by Baseball America and the No. 40 draft prospect by MLBPipeline.com. He was ranked the No. 29 overall prospect by Perfect Game and the No. 5 right-handed pitching prospect. Perfect Game also ranked him the No. 2 prospect from the state of Texas and top right-handed pitching prospect in the state.
Sykora was a 2023 First-Team High School All-American by Baseball America and was selected to participate in the 2022 Perfect Game All-American Classic.
In the fourth round, Washington selected outfielder Andrew Pinckney from the University of Alabama. Pinckney hit .339 with 12 doubles, three triples, 18 home runs, 58 RBI, 40 walks and 55 runs scored for the Crimson Tide in 2023. Following his junior season, he was named First-Team American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-Southeast Region and Second-Team All-Southeastern Conference.
With their fifth-round pick, the Nationals selected shortstop Marcus Brown from Oklahoma State University. Brown hit .273 with 10 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 36 RBI, 14 walks and three stolen bases during his junior season.
The 2023 MLB Draft continues with Rounds 3-10 this afternoon and the Nationals are set to kick everything off with the first pick of the third round, 71st overall.
The Nationals, of course, lost to the Pirates for the No. 1 overall pick in the inaugural MLB Draft Lottery despite having the worst record in the majors last year by five games. But the draft’s subsequent 19 rounds revert back to the traditional order of worst-to-first, meaning they will have the first pick in each remaining round.
With the No. 2 overall pick last night, the Nationals selected Louisiana State University outfielder Dylan Crews, widely considered to be one of best prospects – if not the best prospect - in this year’s draft as the Golden Spikes Award winner.
“He's got a great skill set,” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “I think he's a guy that's going to fit right in here and be one of the leaders of the core group of guys that's going to be part of the next group of championships that we have here."
To start the second round, the Nats selected University of Miami (Fla.) third baseman Yohandy Morales with the 40th overall selection. The Nationals were surprised the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder was available to them that late, as he was ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 20th best draft prospect.
Kris Kline saw every top hitter in the country this season. He drafted the best of them in Dylan Crews, the Golden Spikes Award winner selected by the Nationals with the No. 2 overall pick Sunday evening.
And it’s quite possible the Nats’ longtime vice president of scouting was even more impressed in some ways with the hitter he selected in the second round of the draft several hours later.
"One of the loudest bats I heard this year," Kline said of University of Miami third baseman Yohandy Morales. "We were pretty happy with that one, to get him at 40."
As much attention was given to the Nationals’ first-round pick - and rightfully so given the talent available and the significance of that selection - internally, club officials believed their second-round pick was going to be just as important to the franchise. Though they lost the No. 1 overall pick to the Pirates via the new draft lottery, they still maintain the first choice for every other round based on their worst-in-baseball record in 2022.
"When you're picking that high (in the first round), it takes care of itself," Kline said. "A lot of the work, most of the work actually, went into pick 40."
In the end, the Nationals didn’t get to make the choice for themselves. The Pirates did it for them.
When Pittsburgh went with right-hander Paul Skenes as the No. 1 pick in this tonight’s Major League Baseball Draft, the Nats made the easy decision to follow with his LSU teammate, award-winning center fielder Dylan Crews, as the No. 2 selection. In the process, the organization used its first draft slot on a position player for only the seventh time in 11 years, though for the third consecutive year.
The Nationals later selected another position player, University of Miami third baseman Yohandy Morales, with the first pick of the second round.
General manager Mike Rizzo, vice president of scouting Kris Kline and their team thought they might wind up having to choose between Skenes or Crews if the Pirates went for a potential cost-saving move and took Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford or Indiana high school outfielder Max Clark with the top pick.
That scenario, which was speculated all week, never came to fruition. Pittsburgh wasn’t scared off by the injury risk of a power pitcher like Skenes and went ahead and drafted the flame-throwing ace anyway.
The Washington Nationals selected collegiate third baseman Yohandy Morales out of the University of Miami with the No. 40 pick in the 2023 First-Year Player Draft on Sunday. President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Scouting Operations Kris Kline and Director of Scouting Operations Eddie Longosz made the joint announcement.
Morales, 21, garnered Third-Team All-America honors from The American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings and First-Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference recognition following the 2023 season.
The No. 20 draft prospect according to MLBPipeline.com and No. 26 draft prospect according to Baseball America, Morales hit .408 with 13 doubles, 20 home runs, 70 RBI, 30 walks, 55 strikeouts, seven stolen bases and 58 runs scored in 61 games. He posted a .475 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage. Morales ranked in the ACC in batting average (1st, .408), slugging (3rd, .713), OPS (3rd, 1.187), RBI (4th, 70) and home runs (6th, 20).
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound junior reached base in 55 of his 61 games in 2023, hitting safely in 50 of those contests. Morales also posted four multi-home run games and 19 multi-RBI games, including three five-RBI performances.
As a sophomore in 2022, Morales was named Second-Team All-Region by ABCA/Rawlings and Second-Team All-ACC after he hit .329 with 17 doubles, three triples, 18 home runs, 59 RBI, 34 walks, six stolen base and 65 runs scored.
The Washington Nationals selected collegiate outfielder Dylan Crews out of Louisiana State University with the No. 2 pick in the 2023 First-Year Player Draft on Sunday. President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Scouting Operations Kris Kline and Director of Scouting Operations Eddie Longosz made the joint announcement.
Crews, 21, was the winner of the 2023 Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the top amateur player in the country. In addition, he garnered consensus First-Team All-American honors and won a Rawlings/ABCA Gold Glove following the 2023 season. Crews was named the 2023 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Player of the Year for the second consecutive season – becoming the first player to win the award in back-to-back seasons, and was a member of the SEC All-Defensive Team two years in a row (2022-23). He was a finalist for the Dick Howser Award (top collegiate player).
The No. 1 draft prospect according to Baseball America, Crews hit .426 with 16 doubles, two triples, 18 home runs, 70 RBI, 71 walks, 46 strikeouts, six stolen bases and 100 runs scored in 71 games as he helped lead LSU to its seventh national championship in the 2023 College World Series. He posted a .567 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage. Crews led the SEC and ranked among NCAA Division I hitters in runs scored (1st, 100), walks (1st, 71), hits (2nd, 110), on-base percentage (2nd, .567) and batting average (3rd, .426).
The six-foot, 205-pound junior reached base safely in all 71 games in 2023, a streak that extends to 75 games dating to the end of the 2022 season. Crews hit safely in 26 straight games from Feb. 19 to April 1 of this season. He hit .495 (49-for-99) with an .879 slugging percentage, 11 doubles, nine homers, 35 RBI, 27 walks, three stolen bases and 46 runs scored during the streak.
Crews was a consensus First-Team All-American and the SEC co-Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2022. He hit .349 with 11 doubles, four triples, 22 home runs, 72 RBI, 42 walks, five stolen bases and 73 runs scored in 62 games. He was Louisiana State’s first SEC Player of the Year since 2012, and his 22 home runs were the most by an LSU player since 2009.
As the baseball world turns to tonight’s Major League Baseball Draft and the upcoming All-Star Game festivities, there were still games to be played today before the close of the season’s unofficial first half.
For the Nationals, that meant going for a series win against the first-place Rangers before they make the second overall pick later tonight.
It’s been a tough week – and to a greater extent month – for the Nats on South Capitol Street. Entering today’s finale, they had lost 15 of their last 17 home games, last night’s 8-4 win being one of the two exceptions.
But after losing six straight at home after Friday, the Nationals now enter the All-Star break as the winners of two straight with this afternoon’s 7-2 victory over the Rangers in front of 17,547 fans in attendance.
“Well, it's a good way to finish off. Boys played well," manager Davey Martinez said after the game. "It was good. You're playing a team that's got some horses over there. To come out the way we did the last two games was awesome. These guys, I'm proud of the way they're playing and the way they played."
The day before the All-Star break is always a slow one. It’s especially slow when playing a noon game after a night game that included an hour and 17-minute rain delay.
Guys are packing their bags to head home for the break and making sure all of their gear is ready to be shipped to meet the team in St. Louis at the end of the week.
So let’s talk more about the Nationals’ biggest development over this weekend, shall we?
Joey Meneses’ swing may be back.
After only hitting two home runs over the first 87 games of the season, he hit three in less than 24 hours in the previous two. Over the first two games against the Rangers, Meneses has gone 4-for-8 with a double, three homers, four RBIs and no strikeouts.
Before we turn our attention to the Nationals’ No. 2 overall pick in tonight’s MLB Draft and the upcoming All-Star Game festivities, there is still one more game to be played before the unofficial first half of the season ends.
The Nats will look to close this first part of the season on a high note, one of the few they’ve seen at home this season. They have lost 15 of their last 17 home games and need a win this afternoon for some sort of momentum heading into the break.
Patrick Corbin will hope to lead the Nats to that victory in his 19th start. The left-hander is 5-10 with a 5.13 ERA and 1.593 WHIP this season. He got knocked around for six runs and 10 hits over five innings during his July 4 start against the Reds, which came after one of his best starts as a National in the form of seven shutout innings and nine strikeouts against the Mariners. Corbin is 4-3 with a 4.75 ERA and 1.373 WHIP in eight interleague starts this season.
A familiar face will start for the Rangers. Dane Dunning was a first-round pick (29th overall) by the Nats in the 2016 draft. The University of Florida product was traded that December along with Lucas Giolito and Renaldo López to the White Sox in exchange for Adam Eaton. Dunning was traded again in 2020 to the Rangers as part of the two-player package for Lance Lynn.
The 28-year-old right-hander is enjoying his best year in the majors with an 8-1 record, 2.61 ERA and 1.100 WHIP over 19 appearances (11 starts). He’s pitched to a 2.28 ERA over his last four starts, allowing no more than two runs in any of them. His only start against the Nationals came last year here in D.C., when he completed six innings of one-run ball while taking a no-decision in the Nats’ 2-1 win.
Since they arrived in Washington nearly two decades ago, the Nationals have been in this position – owners of one of the top two picks in the Major League Baseball Draft – twice. In each case, they owned the No. 1 pick. And in each case, they drafted a generational talent whose name and reputation were already well-known throughout the sport.
Tonight, they’re back in this position for the first time since 2009-10, when they selected Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper and set a course toward an eight-year run of success and an eventual World Series title.
It’s not the No. 1 pick this time around. But if ever there was a year to have the No. 2 pick, this appears to be it. No matter who they end up with, the Nationals are going to draft a player every notable expert insists is good enough to be the No. 1 player selected in the country. Not to mention one who should find himself on a fast track to the big leagues.
“This pick could be somebody that changes us really quick, within one or two years,” manager Davey Martinez recently admitted. “It’s definitely exciting how this is all going to work out.”
There was little drama the last time the Nats were here. Everybody knew Strasburg was the choice in 2009, and everybody knew Harper was the pick in 2010. That’s not the case this time.
Forgive anyone who sat through today’s proceedings at Nationals Park and worried things were going to end up just like they did the previous five days here. It was hot again. It was humid again. It rained again. A first-place team was in the visitors’ dugout again. Surely, another loss by the home team was forthcoming again, right?
Not so fast. The conditions may have felt familiar, but the end result was most unfamiliar. The Nationals actually won.
Yes, for only the second time in their last 17 home games, the Nats emerged victorious, storming out to an early lead against the Rangers, then weathering another rain delay before cruising to an 8-3 win before a crowd of 29,042 that barely remembered how to celebrate such an occasion.
That crowd was treated to a 4-0 lead by the Nationals before they even made an out in the first, an 8-0 lead by the time the third inning came to a close.
"I talk about it all the time: It's a lot different ballgame if you go out there and score first," manager Davey Martinez said. "I hope these guys learned today by going out there and putting some runs up on the board early, our pitcher gets to relax a little bit, and they get to relax a little bit and have some fun. Hopefully, we come out tomorrow and do the same thing."
Jeimer Candelario is back in the Nationals lineup after one day off with a knee injury, but he’s not back at third base yet.
Candelario, who was struck in the right knee with a pitch during the 10th inning of Thursday’s loss to the Reds, sat out Friday night’s series opener against the Rangers. He attempted to take swings in the cage prior to the game but wasn’t comfortable doing it.
The 29-year-old gave it another try today and felt better, telling manager Davey Martinez he could hit but probably not play the field. So he’ll serve as designated hitter for this afternoon’s game.
“We talked to him; he said he could hit,” Martinez said. “We’ll just DH him today, and hopefully by tomorrow he’ll get back on the field.”
The Nationals sorely missed Candelario’s bat during Friday’s loss, one that saw them score only two runs, each via Joey Meneses solo homers. Candelario has statistically been the team’s second-best hitter this season, trailing only Lane Thomas with 12 homers and an .814 OPS. He’s also second in the National League with 27 doubles.
Will the Nationals win a home game today? If they do, will they pop champagne in the clubhouse? At this point, anything’s possible.
Having begun this homestand 0-5, and having lost 15 of their last 16 home games overall, the Nats are desperate for something positive to happen on South Capitol Street. The good news: All the top relievers should be available today after sitting Friday night. So if Jake Irvin can give them five or six quality innings (no guarantee, of course) they should at least be in a good position to compete late.
Above all else, though, this lineup needs to start scoring some runs. The Nationals have totaled 14 runs on this homestand, an average of 2.8 per game for those who need help with the math. They’re asking an awful lot of their pitching staff to compensate for that. Perhaps they can finally enjoy some success this afternoon against Rangers lefty Andrew Heaney.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. TEXAS RANGERS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms, 86 degrees, wind 6 mph right field to left field
NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
DH Jeimer Candelario
1B Joey Meneses
C Keibert Ruiz
LF Stone Garrett
3B Ildemaro Vargas
2B Luis García
CF Alex Call
Joey Meneses didn’t need to be told. He knew how long it had been since he’d hit a baseball over a fence in a game.
Not that it stopped anyone and everyone from talking to him about it. Which, in turn, made it awfully hard not to think about it.
“Absolutely,” the Nationals designated hitter said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “It seems like everybody reminds you of that. Friends. Teammates. Just in general, it seems like you get a comment saying: ‘Why aren’t the home runs coming?’ So you always have it in your mind.”
Perhaps that’s what prompted Meneses to do what he did in the bottom of the sixth Friday night: Toss his bat in defiant celebration and look at his dugout after he ended a two-month home run drought with a two-homer game.
“It’s somewhat of a relief,” he said. “I can take a deep breath and relax a little bit. It’s my job to hit, so it was great to be able to hit two home runs today.”
On the night they lost for the 15th time in their last 16 home games – a stretch of futility that is increasingly hard to fathom – the Nationals saw Trevor Williams give up two runs early and two runs late. They saw Joan Adon make his 2023 major league debut and give up home runs to two of the first three batters he faced. They saw Joey Meneses finally end his power slump with a pair of solo homers.
All of those developments were notable within the context of this particular game, a 7-2 loss to the Rangers. None was necessarily earth-shattering in the larger scheme of things.
In this rebuilding season, the focus has been and will continue to be on the handful of young players who could be building blocks for the future. And CJ Abrams has always been near the top of the list of players who fit that description.
So the most significant thing that happened tonight may not have been the end result, but the name of the player Davey Martinez wrote down in the No. 1 position on his lineup card.
"He's had almost 300 plate appearances now, so I think it's time," the manager said. "I think it's time we push him up, see what he can do. He's got all the ability to be a really good leadoff hitter. Now he's just got to understand what he needs to do every day to do that: That's to be consistent, not chase and try to get on base. Not try to do too much."
A Nationals pitching staff that was overtaxed the last few days will have a fresh arm for the final series of the first half: Joan Adon.
Adon was recalled from Triple-A this afternoon, giving the Nats someone who could churn out a good number of innings if needed out of the bullpen against the Rangers. Left-hander Joe La Sorsa was optioned to Rochester to clear a roster spot.
The events of the last two days made some kind of move inevitable. La Sorsa threw 51 pitches in two innings of relief Wednesday night, making him unavailable to return until at least Saturday. Jordan Weems threw 27 pitches that night, then returned to throw 28 on Thursday, likely knocking him out a few days as well.
The 1-hour, 43-minute rain delay in the second inning Thursday really threw a wrench into plans, with starter MacKenzie Gore unable to continue after throwing only 17 pitches. Manager Davey Martinez wound up using six relievers to cover the remaining 8 2/3 innings necessary in a 10-inning loss to Cincinnati.
Hence the decision to promote Adon, who was scheduled to start for Rochester on Thursday night but was instead informed he was to report to D.C. The 24-year-old right-hander has made 15 starts at Triple-A this season, going 2-5 with a 4.81 ERA and 1.578 WHIP.
