2024-2025 Offseason News
Editors Note: Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Part 5, and our top ten list!
After explaining the ranking methodology and revealing the first tier of players in our top fifty Nats prospects, we are back with the next level, a group of seven players mostly from the lower levels (only one has reached AA thus far) who all have something to prove to move on up. All but two of them will be 22 or younger for the bulk of the 2025 season, so time is on their side, but they all come with question marks. You might find your personal favorite sleeper prospect in this tier.
Tier 2: Future Bench & Bullpen Pieces?
#42 Sam Petersen
Pos: OF | 2025 Age: 22 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: A |
MLB Comp: Jacob Young
Acquired: 2024 amateur draft, 8th round/230th Overall
AVG/OBP/SLG: .364/.400/.591 | HR: 0 | SB/ATT: 5/5 | wRC+: 177
Petersen’s referenced stat line is among the smallest sample sizes, as he only played in seven minor league games after being drafted this summer. Still, he also hit .333/.459/.571 with 17 bags in 18 tries for Iowa last spring. The profile is very Jacob Young-ish, albeit with a bit of pop, but otherwise, he is an athletic and fast outfielder who will probably open 2025 as a regular in Fredericksburg. He should spend most or all of next season with the Fredericksburg Nationals stabilizing an outfield picture that otherwise has lots of question marks, and then he will probably get a chance to move through the system starting in 2026.
#41 Roismar Quintana
Pos: 1B | 2025 Age: 22 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: A/A+ |
MLB Comp: Juan Yepez
Acquired: signed as an amateur international free agent, 7/2/2019
AVG/OBP/SLG: .250/.354/.350 | HR: 4 | SB/ATT: 2/4 | wRC+: 114/107
Quintana, laughably listed at a mere 175 pounds, is already thick enough (I would bet the over on 225) that he is more of a first baseman than an outfielder at 21. He has been a pretty slow mover to this point but is still young for the level at high-A and gets some grace for having his professional debut delayed by a year because of the pandemic. He has produced double-digit walk rates in the last two seasons, but his swing has many moving parts (slow rocking load, sometimes collapsing backside). It has also produced unimpressive power, with a slugging percentage of .364 beyond rookie ball. If he can scrape a .400 SLG in the hitting graveyards of Wilmington and Harrisburg in 2025, he might have a chance to be the short side of a DH platoon.
#40 Jared McKenzie
Pos: OF | 2025 Age: 24 | B/T: L/L | 2024 Level: A+ |
MLB Comp: a poor man’s reverse Lane Thomas
Acquired: 2022 amateur draft, 5th round/141st overall
AVG/OBP/SLG: .252/.310/.359 | HR: 6 | SB/ATT: 13/19 | wRC+: 87
McKenzie repeated high-A Wilmington in 2024 (apart from an injury rehab assignment), but after getting off to a hot start, his bat cooled off considerably during the dog days of summer, and he wound up with a very blah final line. He will nevertheless likely start 2025 in AA-Harrisburg, given where other system outfielders are likely to end up, and the thing to watch with him is whether or not he can push his walk rate closer to double digits. If he can, he can end up as the long side of a platoon in a corner spot, with enough athleticism to fake it in center field if necessary. Otherwise, he is more likely an ORG filler as the (at best) eighth outfielder in the system.
#39 Carlos Tavares
Pos: 1B/OF | 2025 Age: 19 | B/T: L/L | 2024 Level: R-FCL |
MLB Comp: Jesse Winker
Acquired: signed as an amateur international free agent, 1/15/2023
AVG/OBP/SLG: ..276/.409/.460 | HR: 1 | SB/ATT: 0/0 | wRC+: 134
One of the few members of the 2023 DSL disaster who deserved a promotion to stateside rookie ball last year, Tavares improved at the plate in Florida, walking more often than he struck out and hitting for much more (doubles) power. He’s a bit thick already for a teenager at 6’2” and 190, and has already mostly moved to first base, hence this ranking - the bat will have to keep up for him to be a real prospect. But 19-year-olds with 16% career walk rates don’t grow on trees (Juan Freaking Soto didn’t have one that high until 2018), and he should get every opportunity to prove that his performance so far is legit at low-A Fredericksburg this spring.
#38 Dustin Saenz
Pos: LHP | 2025 Age: 26 | B/T: L/L | 2024 Level: AA |
MLB Comp: reverse Kyle Hendricks
Acquired: 2021 amateur draft, 4th round/112th Overall
ERA: 6.54 | WHIP: 1.688 | FIP: 4.46 | IP: 42.2 | K/9: 6.3 | BB/9: 3.6
Crafty lefty alert! Saenz had been methodically moving through the system, earning midseason promotions in 2022 and 2023, until he opened 2024 on the injured list and remained there until July. When he returned, it was ugly, although the two-run difference between his FIP and ERA suggests that bad luck was responsible for at least part of that. Saenz will never blow anyone away, but he must get his walk rate back down to the ~2.3 range it was in before this past season. Being a southpaw, he will continue to get opportunities if there is room for him in the organization. However, he will probably need to prove some combination of health and effectiveness in Harrisburg to start 2025.
#37 José Feliz
Pos: RHP | 2025 Age: 19 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: R-DSL |
MLB Comp: Kirby Yates
Acquired: signed as an amateur international free agent, 1/15/2023
ERA: 2.96 | WHIP: 0.942 | FIP: 2.97 | IP: 45.2 | K/9: 10.6 | BB/9: 2.2
I like Feliz a lot, as he stood out in the DSL this past summer, even though that is generally a pitcher-friendly league. I’m keeping him down here for the time being because he was a year older than the standard first-timer in the Dominican. After all, he’s still on the small side (6’1”, 170), and his performance in the Florida Complex League will give us a much clearer picture of what he might turn into. Feliz currently works in the low nineties with his fastball, and his secondary offering (a slider) doesn’t have a ton of bite right now, so he’s currently more of a command-over-stuff pitcher. Not that that’s bad - “command” used to be a dirty word in Nats pitching development (and scouting). Still, it was hard to argue with Feliz’s results last year - a sub-1.000 WHIP and strong walk and strikeout rates augur well for his future growth.
#36 Dashyll Tejeda
Pos: OF | 2025 Age: 19 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: R-DSL |
MLB Comp: Jacob Young (again) or outfield Nasim Nuñez
Acquired: signed as an amateur international free agent, 4/13/2023
AVG/OBP/SLG: .304/.432/.456 | HR: 2 | SB/ATT: 46/54 | wRC+: 144
After being part of the Nationals’ historically awful 2023 DSL team (11-39, -140 run differential in 50 games) and not exactly showering himself in glory (.139/.292/.165 in 96 PA), Tejeda repeated the level and was instantly a breakout star, carrying a 1.000+ OPS into mid-July and running wild on the basepaths. The big question is, can he sustain anything close to this year’s production in Florida in 2025, or was his performance more due to age/repetition than skill improvement? I’m hopeful for the former, but consider a ranking this low as a hedge. He does appear to have a strong eye for the strike zone regardless, as his walk rate was good in both seasons in the Dominican. That plus his speed should at least make him a good leadoff candidate going forward, and if he does well in the FCL this spring do not be surprised to see him move to Fredericksburg when the complex closes in midsummer.
We will be back tomorrow with the third tier of prospects!
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