2025 The Nats Report Nationals Top Prospects (Part 4)

Editors Note: Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Part 5, and our top ten list!

Perhaps the most under-discussed part of the Nats' fall from perennial contender to perennial doormat after the 2019 season was their complete inability to develop, both when they were good and since, the quantity of non-sexy role players needed to sustain good teams throughout the grind of playing 162 games over six months, plus playoffs. Guys get hurt, or become ineffective, or just plain tired, and the sheer number of bodies necessary to get through a full season is extraordinary. Take the Dodgers, who have made the playoffs twelve years in a row. Here's how many players have appeared in a major league game each year beginning with 2013: 50, 50, 55, 55, 52, 53, 47, 40 (COVID year), 63, 52, 61, 62. The Nationals over the same time period? 44, 40, 46, 43, 49, 54, 52, 44 (COVID year), 61, 59, 50, 51.

That's a noticeable difference, right? In aggregate it's a delta of 47, meaning that over a dozen years the Dodgers have used an entire year's worth more of players. Now, there could be any number of reasons for this. Perhaps the Nationals have been better at keeping players healthy (although they famously fired and turned over their entire training staff during this period, so that seems doubtful). Perhaps the organizational embrace of old-school methods for so long led to/encouraged more players playing through nagging injuries. Or perhaps they habitually have had less depth throughout their system, and less comfortable with calling upon those options when a reliever's shoulder was starting to bark, or when a bench bat was dealing with plantar fasciitis, or whatever the case may have been.

Regardless of the reason(s), by 2019 there were only a handful of part-time players of consequence who were fully homegrown products: Michael A. Taylor, Wilmer Difo, Andrew Stevenson, Adrian Sánchez, and Austin Voth (Ryan Zimmerman was a part-time player that year, appearing in just 52 games, but that obviously wasn't the plan going in). The Nats just stopped producing even replacement-level talent and depth for years, and that's what caught up with them when the 2019 core - the "viejos" - got old (and they got old QUICKLY), and why they utterly combusted in 2021 after Trea Turner jammed his thumb on the triple of his birthday cycle and a couple days later Kyle Schwarber pulled up lame rounding first base.

That's all a long way of saying that while this tier of ten players may not be the most exciting group in the world, with some potential late-inning relievers being the most intriguing of the names, good organizations manage to pump these kinds of players out (and use them at the major league level!) year after year after year. They might win you four or five games over the course of a season at most, but teams are better off if they are growing a significant number of these types of players in-house rather than continually scrambling to find them in free agency, on the trade market, or on the waiver wire.

Tier 4: Quality Role Players

#29 Orlando Ribalta

Pos: RHRP | 2025 Age: 27 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: AA/AAA/MLB |

MLB Comp: supersized Tyler Clippard?

Acquired: 2019 amateur draft, 12th round/363rd overall

ERA: 2.82 | WHIP: 1.288 | FIP: 1.88/4.57 | IP: 54.2 | K/9: 12.8 | BB/9: 5.3

A huge (6’7”, 245) reliever with an upper-90s fastball and a changeup as his swing-and-miss, Ribalta opened 2024 practically unhittable at AA (2 runs in 18 innings against 32 strikeouts), then got off to the traditional Rochester slow start for pitchers before finding his way (he maintained a double-digit strikeout rate throughout). He then got hit around in a four-game major league cameo, but there’s a capable setup man buried in there. Lest Nationals fans forget, Clippard was a fastball/changeup guy who carried the bullpen for years - it can be done. Ribalta will likely be fighting for one of the last bullpen spots in the spring, and if/when he wins one he has a lot to prove yet at the major league level - specifically his walk rate, which simply has to drop below five per nine - that he can be more than a mop-up man.

#28 Marquis Grissom Jr.

Pos: RHRP | 2025 Age: 23 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: A+/AA |

MLB Comp: normal-sized Tyler Clippard

Acquired: 2022 amateur draft, 13th round/381st overall

ERA: 2.21 | WHIP: 1.057 | FIP: 2.26/3.89 | IP: 53 | K/9: 9.5 | BB/9: 2.2

Grissom was an unexciting reliever from the time he was drafted until 2023, when he cut his walk rate by over a third (4.5 to 2.9) for Fredericksburg and then improved his command again in 2024. That put him on a path to potentially reach the Washington bullpen as early as this summer, since he will be Rule 5-eligible for the first time next December. His major question is going to be whether he can continue living up in the zone (41% fly ball rate) without super-high strikeout totals against major league hitters - the changeup might be a really good MLB pitch, but his mid-90s fastball is pretty straight (fastball shape is perhaps not a technology that the Nats development staff has unlocked yet, like they are a little behind the curve in a game of Civilization VI). I am inclined to bet on a guy who a) already made one major advancement in his skillset and b) is the son of a former All-Star, and even if it doesn’t end up working out three seasons of a young reliever with options is a good thing to have for any contender.

#27 Jackson Kent

Pos: LHSP | 2025 Age: 22 | B/T: L/L | 2024 Level: NCAA |

MLB Comp: Mitchell Parker

Acquired: 2024 amateur draft, 4th round/108th overall

Like most pitchers in the current draft era, Kent did not throw in the minors last year after the Nats took him from the University of Arizona (where his head coach was former Nationals bench coach Chip Hale), and he should open 2025 with the FredNats as a relatively advanced college arm. While his funky delivery might call to mind Parker, Kent neither walks nor strikes out as many batters as the Nats’ 2020 fifth-rounder. Check back in June to see how his professional debut is going.

#26 Zach Brzykcy

Pos: RHRP | 2025 Age: 25 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: AA/AAA/MLB |

MLB Comp: mirror image Sean Doolittle

Acquired: signed as an undrafted free agent, 7/1/2020

ERA: 2.04 | WHIP: 0.821 | FIP: 3.23/3.82 | IP: 35.1 | K/9: 11.0 | BB/9: 3.6

Notwithstanding an ugly MLB cup of coffee at the end of the season (9 runs in 5.2 innings), Brzykcy has the highest promise of any of the Nats’ relief prospects. After tearing his UCL in spring training 2023 and missing that season, his timeline has been shifted back a little. Scrabble Two’s high fastball and ginger-bearded appearance both resemble his pitching strategy coach; hopefully Brzykcy can establish himself as a similarly reliable major league reliever this spring.

#25 Andrew Alvarez

Pos: LHSP | 2025 Age: 26 | B/T: L/L | 2024 Level: AA/AAA |

MLB Comp: Nestor Cortes without the weird windups

Acquired: 2021 amateur draft, 12th round/353rd overall

ERA: 3.90 | WHIP: 1.329 | FIP: 3.55/4.95 | IP: 131 | K/9: 7.8 | BB/9: 3.6

The 2023 Organizational Pitcher of the Year started this past season by throwing five no-hit innings as Harrisburg’s Opening Day starter, and less than two months later had earned a promotion to Rochester. Like virtually all pitchers joining the Red Wings, Alvarez struggled there at first but was generally reliable down the stretch, culminating in a ten-strikeout performance against the Iowa Cubs to close the season. If he makes it through the Rule 5 draft (he was left unprotected), he might figure in the Nats’ plans as a depth starter as early as next year. Alvarez doesn’t possess elite velocity but has a good feel for pitching, and Nats’ staff raves about his intensity on his start days, like a store-brand Max Scherzer. He spent two weeks on the injured list in July but had no issues later in the season, and given that he cleared 130 innings should have no restrictions in 2025. He might not be exciting as a pitcher, and he might still walk too many guys, but good teams have Andrew Alvarezes to eat up spot starts and injury stints at the back end of their rotations.

#24 Brad Lord

Pos: RHSP | 2025 Age: 25 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: A+/AA/AAA |

MLB Comp: Diet Logan Webb

Acquired: 2022 amateur draft, 18th round/531st overall

ERA: 2.43 | WHIP: 1.195 | FIP: 3.05/3.81 | IP: 129.2 | K/9: 9.4 | BB/9: 3.4

No one exemplified the stunning change in Nationals pitching development quite like Lord, who entered spring training last year as a cromulent but pretty undistinguished member of the Wilmington rotation and then four months later was in Rochester after carving up the Eastern League and winning consecutive Pitcher of the Month awards as a member of the AA Harrisburg Senators. Even given that the Eastern League trends very pitcher-friendly, Lord was en fuego throughout his dozen starts there, only allowing more than two runs once while pitching to a 1.40 ERA at the level in 70.2 innings and finishing his Harrisburg tenure with nine straight quality starts (never hitting 100 pitches in the process). While he hit the Rochester wall, he did enough in AAA that he is going to be a candidate to start for the Red Wings on Opening Day and be in the mix for the first starting pitcher called up who is not already on the 40-man roster. Lord works with a four-seamer/sinker/changeup/slider mix, but the sinker and its arm-side run is the star of the show. If you’re looking for a Jake Irvin-Mitchell Parker-DJ Herz breakout candidate, Lord might be your guy.

#23 Kevin Bazzell

Pos: C/3B | 2025 Age: 22 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: A |

MLB Comp: Keibert Ruiz with less pop but better wheels

Acquired: 2024 amateur draft, 3rd round/79th overall

AVG/OBP/SLG: .273/.433/.386 | HR: 0 | SB/ATT: 1/3 | wRC+: 148

A catcher with a 60-grade hit tool that should allow him to play another position if there’s no room behind the plate? Who has walked at least as often as he has struck out at every stop since he entered college? Sign me up! Bazzell only got a brief taste of low-A after being drafted this summer, but he hit well in his 14 games for Fredericksburg, helping them down the stretch of their Carolina League championship run. He should return to the FredNats this spring (presumably with Caleb Lomavita in Wilmington) and catch three to four days a week while spending the other two or three at the hot corner or possibly designated hitter. Given that he only caught one year of his two playing in college, he needs some more work behind the plate, but this is a good athlete who should figure that part out.

#22 Andrew Pinckney

Pos: OF | 2025 Age: 24 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: AA/AAA |

MLB Comp: Lane Thomas

Acquired: 2023 amateur draft, 4th round/102nd overall

AVG/OBP/SLG: .258/.329/.362 | HR: 8 | SB/ATT: 27/37 | wRC+: 102/81

Pinckney was not your typical senior sign in the 2023 draft - he was an All-SEC performer who had, among other things, gone yard off of Paul Skenes when Alabama played LSU. Much like Nats fan favorite Thomas, his player comp here, Pinckney is a great athlete and good fastball hitter who can at least fake it in center field, but might not have a good enough eye to be a first-division regular. It’s more likely that he’s the short side of a platoon at the end of the day, but that has value. He has already reached AAA a little over a year after being drafted, and should be an everyday player there in 2025. Let’s see if the power shows up in force this year now that he’s out of the Eastern League.

#21 Jackson Rutledge

Pos: RHP | 2025 Age: 26 | B/T: R/R | 2024 Level: AAA/MLB |

MLB Comp: Felix Bautista (Dr. Jekyll) or Daniel Cabrera (Mr. Hyde)

Acquired: 2019 amateur draft, 1st round/17th overall

ERA: 6.40 | WHIP: 1.676 | FIP: 5.39 | IP: 130.2 | K/9: 9.4 | BB/9: 5.7

Rutledge has been in the organization longer than any other player on this list, and has reached a make-or-break point - 2025 will be his final option year (after which the Nationals will either need to keep him on the 26-man roster for good or DFA/non-tender him). The big righty struggled mightily with his command in Rochester this past season, with a sky-high walk rate and nine hit batters contributing to that ugly ERA. Still, the fact that his FIP was a full run lower suggests that he was at least partly victimized by bad luck. Given where he is on his career timeline and the organization’s needs, I think it is high time for Rutledge to be converted to the bullpen and let him really air it out in one-inning stints with his high-90s heat and big-breaking slider (although he doesn’t reach out and drop his pitches over the plate the way you would expect of a dude who is 6’8”). The Nats under Rizzo have typically dragged their feet on moving guys to the pen, but with just one option left, now is the time to do it if the team wants to try to get some value out of their oldest first-round pick still with the organization.

#20 Jake Bennett

Pos: LHSP | 2025 Age: 24 | B/T: L/L | 2024 Level: 60-day IL |

MLB Comp: mirror image Jake Irvin

Acquired: 2022 amateur draft, 2nd round/45th overall

Bennett missed the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2023, but assuming he doesn’t go all Cade Cavalli (see how I snuck both of the other Oklahoma pitchers in there) on us this spring, he should be good to go for about 100 innings in 2025 as he continues to recover, likely starting in high-A Wilmington. Bennett’s best pitch is his changeup, which is more like fellow southpaw DJ Herz than fellow Sooner Irvin, but unlike Herz he doesn’t have quite the same swing-and-miss kind of stuff. Prior to tearing his UCL he was the rare organizational pitcher who was drafted with existing command (he had excellent walk rates in college and in the minors until he started showing signs of injury in mid-2023), and that will be a big thing to watch as he gets back on the mound this spring (that and his fastball velocity, which in the past has hovered mostly in the mid to low 90s with occasional upper 90s juice). If he performs post-surgery, Bennett is a candidate to move up as far as AAA, although an MLB debut would be unlikely unless he is really good this season.

That does it for our biggest grouping, a full fifth of the list. If three of these guys become even light-usage regular bench/bullpen types it would be a nice win for the organization. Tomorrow we will return with a quintet of high-variance yoots (I hope you read that in the voice of Vinny Gambini), none of whom is older than 20 years old.