It was Juan Soto’s chance for redemption. After falling to eventual repeat champion Pete Alonso in the semifinals of last year’s Home Run Derby at Coors Field, this year’s event gave the Nationals slugger the chance to be a part of a star-studded field and win it all.

It’s hard to deny Soto twice. And with the eyes of the sporting world focused on Hollywood (including super agent Scott Boras sitting in the front row behind home plate), one of the game’s biggest stars stood on top of it all in more ways than one.

Soto won the 2022 Home Run Derby tonight at Dodger Stadium, beating Mariners rookie Julio Rodríguez 19-18 in the finals. Soto joins Bryce Harper, who beat Kyle Schwarber in an electric finale in 2018 at Nationals Park, as the only Nats players to win the Home Run Derby.

“It feels amazing,” Soto said on the broadcast after the win. “All of the hard work I put in and everything. It just feels amazing.”

After hitting the clinching home run, Soto launched his bat in the air in celebration and was mobbed by his father, Juan Sr., and brother, Elian, other Dominican players from across the major leagues, and Nationals manager Davey Martinez, who joined Soto this week as part of the National League coaching staff.

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.

The All-Star break, for better or worse, is all about the future of the Nationals. Juan Soto’s potentially dwindling future with the organization. Elijah Green and all the other 2022 draft picks’ potential future with the organization.

These are franchise-altering days, developments that could determine whether this team has a chance to be a winner again in the near-term or not for many more years to come.

But those guys alone aren’t going to decide the outcome. They’re going to need others to surround them, especially younger players who come up through a revamped farm system.

So it’s also a good time to take stock of that farm system, one that still ranks near the bottom in baseball according to most publications that produce such rankings but undoubtedly is home to a handful of potential high-end building blocks who could make a difference, some sooner than others.

De Jon Watson, in his first year as the Nationals’ director of player development, recently met with beat writers to provide insight into many of the organization’s top prospects. Here’s what he had to say about them, along with a midseason update on each …

The second day of the 2022 MLB Draft is underway, with the Nationals set to make eight picks between the third and 10th rounds this afternoon.

They started this year’s draft by selecting 18-year-old outfielder Elijah Green out of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. The son of former NFL tight end Eric Green, he is said to potentially be “an impactful superstar,” according to longtime assistant general manager and vice president of scouting operations Kris Kline.

In the second round, the Nats selected left-hander Jake Bennett out of the University of Oklahoma. They got their big starting pitcher in Bennett, who is listed as 6-foot-6 with a wingspan over 70 inches on the mound. The Nats previously drafted Bennett out of Bixby (Okla.) High School in the 39th round of the 2019 draft, but the southpaw decided to follow high school teammate and current top prospect Cade Cavalli to Norman. They are now reunited in the Nats farm system.

Then they turned their attention to the eight picks on Monday, and by the end of the afternoon, the Nats had eight more prospects for their minor league system.

“I thought it went really, really well," Kline said on a Zoom call with reporters after the conclusion of the 10th round. "It was one of those drafts where it was a position-player-heavy draft. And so the pitchers you wanted, you either got them or you didn't. You ID'd them early. Some of them were hurt. Some of them were healthy and got hurt. Some were hurt and got healthy. It was just one of those years.”

The Washington Nationals selected eight players on the second day of Major League Baseball’s 2022 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 third baseman Trey Lipscomb from the University of Tennessee. Lipscomb hit .355 as a senior in 2022 while leading the Southeastern Conference and ranking fifth nationally with 80 RBI. He ranked in the top five in the conference in slugging percentage (2^nd, .717), total bases (2^nd, 180), home runs (4^th, 22) and runs scored (4^th, 68) en route to being named First-Team All-SEC.

In 2022, Lipscomb was a First-Team NCBWA All-American, Second-Team ABCA All-American, Second-Team Baseball America All-American, Second-Team Collegiate Baseball All-American, Third-Team D1Baseball.com All-American and a Third-Team Perfect Game All-American. He was also a Dick Howser Trophy finalist and Golden Spikes Award semi-finalist.

In the fourth round, Washington selected outfielder Brenner Cox from Rock Hill High School in Frisco, Texas. Cox hit .288 with eight doubles, three triples, four home runs, 19 RBI, 31 walks, 30 strikeouts, 26 stolen bases and 29 runs scored during his senior season at Rock Hill. He was ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 2 prep outfielder in the state of Texas. Following the 2021 season, Cox was named Texas All-State and a Second-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball.

With their fifth-round pick, the Nationals selected outfielder Jared McKenzie from Baylor University where is he the school’s all-time leader in batting average (.389). In 2022, McKenzie was second in the Big 12 with a .383 batting average, 82 hits and 62 runs scored. He hit 10 home runs, 44 RBI, 14 doubles and four triples. McKenzie led Baylor with 134 total bases, a .626 slugging percentage and a .453 on-base percentage. He also produced 30 multi-hit games, tied for second all-time for a Baylor player in a single season.

The Washington Nationals selected prep outfielder Elijah Green out of IMG Academy with the No. 5 pick in the 2022 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.

Green, 18, hit .462 (36-for-78) with 11 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 32 RBI, 15 stolen bases, 21 walks, 21 strikeouts and 40 runs scored during his senior season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. He posted a .592 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage en route to being named a First-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball. He was a pre-season First-Team All-American selection by Baseball America.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound, right-handed hitting outfielder is ranked by MLBPipeline.com as the No. 3 prospect in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft and by Baseball America as the No. 5 draft prospect. He is ranked by Perfect Game as the top high school prospect in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft, by Baseball America as the No. 2 high school prospect and MLBPipeline.com as the No. 3 high school prospect. Among high school players, Baseball America cited him as the “best power hitter” and “best athlete” in the draft.

Following his junior high school season, Green was selected to participate in the 2021 Perfect Game All-American Classic and the 2021 Baseball Factory All-American Game.

The Washington Nationals selected collegiate left-handed pitcher Jake Bennett out of the University of Oklahoma with their second round pick (No. 45) in the 2022 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.

Bennett, 21, went 10-4 with a 3.69 ERA in 20 games (19 starts) during his redshirt sophomore season at Oklahoma in 2022. He struck out 133 batters and walked just 22 in 117.0 innings pitched. He received second-team All-America honors from Baseball America and D1Baseball.com and third-team honors from Perfect Game. He was named First-Team All-Big 12 Conference and to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team.

The 6-foot-6, 234-pound left-hander is ranked by Baseball America as the No. 41 prospect and by MLBPipeline.com as the No. 68 prospect in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft.

A high school and college teammate of current Nationals prospect Cade Cavalli, Bennett was named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball in 2020. He went 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA (1 ER/19.0 IP) with 19 strikeouts and three walks in three starts before the cancellation of the season. In 2021, Bennet struck out 60 batters in 55.1 innings while going 4-3 with a 6.34 ERA in 16 games (13 starts).

Bennett is a native of Bixby, Okla., and graduated from Bixby High School. He was selected by the Nationals in the 39^th round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft but chose to attend the University of Oklahoma. As a senior, he was rated as the top-ranked left-handed pitcher in the state of Oklahoma by Perfect Game. He garnered all-state honors in 2019 and was a three-time Tulsa World All-World honorable mention.

Salvation for the Nationals came not from Juan Soto or Josh Bell. It came not from Josiah Gray or Keibert Ruiz or Luis García. It did not come from any member of their rotation.

No, when the Nats needed to put a stop to a pair of nine-game losing streaks – one of them overall, one of them specifically to the Braves – they turned to the bottom of their lineup and five members of their bullpen.

Yes, it’s true. The Nationals won a ballgame today, toppling the Braves 7-3 to close a wretched final stretch of a wretched first half of the season on an uplifting note at last. 

"It's been a long time," Soto said with a laugh, "but finally we did it."

The formula to produce this curly W bore no resemblance to the one they used to try to win any other game in the last week-plus.

The restaurants and condos and everything else that has sprung up around Nationals Park since 2014 felt unfamiliar to Tyler Clippard, who never got to enjoy the benefits of a reinvigorated Navy Yard during his first stint with the Nationals.

Once he jogged in from the home bullpen Thursday night to cheers from an appreciative fan base that remembers what he meant to this organization and found himself on the mound again, that’s when everything seemed right with the world.

“It felt like I was home,” Clippard said. “It was a familiar feeling, for sure. Having the curly W on me gives me a lot of confidence, for whatever reason. I just feel good out there. That’s how I felt today. It was a lot of fun.”

It certainly helps when you also pitch two scoreless innings, which is exactly what the 37-year-old did in his 415th career appearance for the Nationals, but his first in eight seasons. After bouncing around between eight different franchises since 2015, Clippard rejoined the Nationals this spring on a minor league contract, then spent the last three months making his case at Triple-A Rochester to be called up.

The call finally came Wednesday, when Clippard made the long drive to D.C. and arrived in time for the nightcap of a split doubleheader against the Mariners, having spent much of that time reminiscing about the path that led him back here.

The Washington Nationals returned from rehab and reinstated right-handed pitcher Aníbal Sánchez from the 60-day Injured List and optioned right-handed pitcher Mason Thompson to Triple-A Rochester. To make room for Sanchez on the 40-man roster, right-handed pitcher Stephen Strasburg has been transferred to the 60-day Injured List. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcements. 

Sánchez, 38, joins the Nationals for the first time in 2022. He made four Minor League appearances this season, one in the Florida Complex League and three for Triple-A Rochester. Sánchez combined to go 0-1 with a 4.02 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 15.2 innings. In his last start in Triple-A on July 8, he worked 5.1 innings and allowed one earned run on four hits. 

A 15-year veteran, Sánchez will return to the Major Leagues for the first time since 2020. He is 112-113 with a 4.05 ERA and 1726 strikeouts in his career. In two seasons with the Nationals (2019-20), he is 15-13 with a 4.52 ERA, including going 11-8 with a 3.85 ERA during the Nationals 2019 World Series season. Sánchez went 1-1 with a 2.50 ERA in three starts during the 2019 playoffs.

Thompson, 24, went 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA in seven games this season.

You know all that talk about Juan Soto having a disappointing first half, about being unworthy of the All-Star selection he received last weekend? It doesn’t really apply anymore, because the Nationals star is hitting out of his mind right now and bringing his season totals up to the kind of standard we expected all along.

With homers in both ends of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Mariners, Soto continued his July onslaught at the plate. Over his last 17 games, he’s batting .400 (20-for-50) with four doubles, five homers and 19 walks.

All of that has brought Soto’s season OPS up to .892, sixth-best in the National League.

In fact, Soto now owns a higher on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS than Josh Bell, who for the majority of the last three months has unquestionably been the Nationals’ best offensive player.

With homers in four of his last five games, Soto seems to have figured out his power stroke before heading to Los Angeles for Monday night’s Home Run Derby.

It’s time for more baseball. After dropping the opener of their day-night doubleheader to the Mariners, the Nationals are back at it this evening with the makeup for Tuesday night’s rained out game.

Erick Fedde gets the start on the heels of one of his worst outings of the year. Pitching Friday night in Atlanta, he was roughed up for eight runs in three-plus innings. The issue, as it has been so often, was an inability to put away hitters. During one stretch in the second inning, Fedde got ahead in the count 0-2 to five consecutive hitters but didn’t retire any of them. He’s got to find a way to take advantage of those advantageous situations.

The Mariners, meanwhile, have right-handed reliever Erik Swanson opening tonight’s game but then intend to hand the ball to a familiar face after that: Tommy Milone. Yes, the same lefty who made his major league debut for the Nats in 2011 (and homered!) and then returned to pitch for them for a brief while in 2018. The 35-year-old has been all over the place during his career, but he’s still getting the job done, entering tonight’s expected “bulk relief” outing with a 3.60 ERA in four relief appearances.

In case you missed the news, the Nationals also brought back a familiar face to their own bullpen, calling up Tyler Clippard from Triple-A Rochester. That move, though, comes at the expense of Tanner Rainey, who has been placed on the 60-day injured list with a sprained elbow ligament.

SEATTLE MARINERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 88 degrees, wind 6 mph out to center field

The Nationals placed Tanner Rainey on the 60-day injured list with a sprained elbow ligament between games of today’s doubleheader against the Mariners, suggesting the team’s erratic closer is out for the remainder of the season and potentially part of the 2023 campaign as well.

Veteran reliever Tyler Clippard, who has spent the last 3 1/2 months pitching for Triple-A Rochester, had his contract purchased and will be in the Nats bullpen tonight for the first time since 2014. But Clippard’s long-awaited return, while sure to please fans, comes as the corresponding move to a major injury to a key member of the roster.

The transactions were announced after reporters had already conducted interviews in the clubhouse following today’s 6-4 loss to the Mariners, so the full severity of Rainey’s injury isn’t yet known. But the decision to immediately place the 29-year-old right-hander on the 60-day IL – typically, pitchers go on the 15-day IL first before getting transferred later to clear a spot on the 40-man roster – suggests the team already knows Rainey faces a long recovery, potentially Tommy John surgery.

That decision hasn't been made yet. Rainey is scheduled to get a second opinion on his elbow, according to a club source, though ligament replacement surgery is a possible outcome.

It had been an up-and-down season for Rainey. He was unscored upon in his first eight appearances, then blew back-to-back save opportunities in May, then another in June. He converted four straight save opportunities in late June but then gave up game-changing homers on back-to-back days to the Marlins during the Nationals’ last homestand.

The Washington Nationals selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Tyler Clippard and placed right-handed pitcher Tanner Rainey on the 60-day Injured List with a right UCL sprain on Wednesday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement.

Clippard, 37, joins the Nationals for the first time in 2022. He went 4-1 with one save, a 2.48 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 36.1 innings for Triple-A Rochester this season. Since May 3, Clippard was 3-1 with a 1.00 ERA (3 R/27.0 IP) in 23 appearances, working 20 scoreless outings.

Twice an All-Star (2011 and 2014) with Washington during a seven-year stint with the club from 2008-14, Clippard was 34-24 with a 2.68 ERA and 34 saves. During his 15-year Major League career, he is 56-48 with a 3.13 ERA in 803 games.

Rainey, 29, went 1-3 with 12 saves and a 3.30 ERA in 29 games this season.

Cade Cavalli’s removal from Tuesday night’s start for Triple-A Rochester was for precautionary reasons, and the Nationals’ top pitching prospect appears to have avoided serious injury.

Cavalli came out of Rochester’s game against Omaha in the fourth inning after throwing a pitch and immediately motioning to the dugout. Red Wings manager Matthew LeCroy told Rochester-based reporter Dan Glickman the issue was with a finger on Cavalli’s throwing hand.

“He had a little thing on his finger,” LeCroy told Glickman. “It wasn’t really a blister, it was a little small piece of skin that got pulled off his finger. He wanted to keep going, but we thought it would be best not to. I think we got it at the right time, so I don’t think it’s going to be an issue.”

Cavalli had been dominating for a second straight start, allowing one unearned run while striking out six through 3 2/3 innings. This after he carried a perfect game into the sixth inning of his previous start. Over his last seven starts, the 2020 first round pick sports a 2.15 ERA, 0.850 WHIP and 43 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings.

Cavalli, along with Single-A Wilmington infielder Darren Baker, was selected to represent the Nationals in Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium. His status for that exhibition is unclear at this point.

With one massive storm cell having already swept through town and more expected later tonight, the Nationals’ series opener against the Mariners was postponed, with a day-night doubleheader now scheduled for Wednesday.

The call was made around 8:15 p.m., some 70 minutes after the originally scheduled first pitch and about 2 hours after the heaviest of the rain fell during a downpour that included intense wind, lightning and thunder.

The postponement might have been made official earlier if not for the fact this is a two-game series between interleague opponents who rarely face each other. With a 12:05 p.m. finale scheduled Wednesday before the Mariners fly to Texas to open a weekend series Thursday night, the notion of waiting it out tonight was intriguing.

But as more rain began to fall after 8 p.m., with more lightning visible and thunder audible, the Nationals announced the postponement and subsequent doubleheader on Wednesday.

The two teams will begin the day with their originally scheduled 12:05 p.m. game, with Josiah Gray (who was supposed to start tonight) getting the ball for the Nationals. Fans who held a ticket to tonight’s postponed game can now use it for Wednesday’s 6:05 p.m. game, with Erick Fedde making the start.

Due to very severe weather predicted to move into the area this evening, MLB has approved the postponement of tonight's game.

The game will now be played on Wednesday, July 13 at 6:05 p.m. as part of a split doubleheader. Wednesday's originally scheduled game will begin at 12:05 p.m.

The Washington Nationals return home to D.C. for a six-game homestand, opening with a quick two-game set against the Seattle Mariners followed by a four-game series against the divisional rival Atlanta Braves. Single-game tickets for all Nationals home games are on sale now starting at just $9. Fans interested in purchasing tickets should visit nationals.com/Tickets. 

The season’s seventh homestand features a Value Day; U.S. Marine Corp Day; Camp Day; Intern Night; three University Days; STAR WARS™ Day; a Juan “Solo” bobblehead giveaway; City Connect uniforms; Summer Reading Sunday; Signature Sunday; Kids Run the Bases; and more. 

As a reminder, if you would like to cover any events at Nationals Park, please contact Valerie Todryk Krebs at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Devon Bridges at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for credentialing information in advance of the event.

TUESDAY, JULY 12 vs. SEATTLE MARINERS (7:05 PM)

Value Days

Juan Soto could’ve skipped the Home Run Derby, and nobody would’ve batted an eyelash. He already put on a show last year at Coors Field, and given most sluggers’ reluctance to partake in the annual pre-All-Star Game competition, he would’ve been excused had he said no this time.

Soto, though, embraces the idea of going head-to-head with some of baseball’s best power hitters, especially on this stage. And then when you consider the positive effect last year’s Derby seemed to have on his second half performance, there was no way he was going to decline the invitation for Monday’s big show at Dodger Stadium.

“I mean, for me, it worked last year,” he said with a laugh this afternoon. “You see the second half that I had. I’m just going to try and see how it feels in there, and try to enjoy the show. At the end of the day, it was really good. It was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot, and I’m going to try to do the same thing. Being around all those stars, being a part of it, even if I don’t win I’m going to try to enjoy it as much as I can.”

Soto joins an already impressive field, with back-to-back defending champion Pete Alonso, Ronald Acuña Jr., Kyle Schwarber and Albert Pujols having committed so far, and three more names still to come.

“I would love to see Albert hitting bombs,” Soto said of Pujols, whose first Derby appearance came in 2003 when Soto was 4. “He was amazing when he was in his first Home Run Derby, and I want to see how fun it can be. It might be his last Home Run Derby.”

On the heels of a rough road trip against division contenders, the Nationals return home this week, with another four-game series against the Braves looming before the All-Star break. Before that, though, comes a quick two-game interleague series with the Mariners. It’s the first time these two franchises have met since 2017, only the sixth head-to-head series ever between them. (The Nats will return the favor with a two-game trip to Seattle next month.)

The Mariners, unfortunately, are as hot as any team in baseball right now, riding an eight-game winning streak into this series. They’ve done with excellent pitching, including from tonight’s starter: Chris Flexen, who hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his last eight starts. The right-hander shut out the Padres over 6 2/3 innings in his last start July 4, which means he’s had plenty of rest entering tonight’s outing.

Josiah Gray was great in his last start, striking out a career-high 11 in a 3-2 win at the Phillies six days ago. The right-hander will look to pick up where he left off tonight against a Mariners lineup that ranks 11th in the American League in runs and batting average, though seventh in homers and second in walks.

All of this, of course, is contingent upon the weather. The forecast isn’t great, with strong storms expected throughout the region late this afternoon and this evening. Given that this is only a two-game series, with a 12:05 p.m. start Wednesday, you’d think they won’t be so quick to postpone tonight. But as always, we’ll see what Mother Nature (and MLB) has in store.

SEATTLE MARINERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Thunderstorms, 84 degrees, wind 8 mph out to right field