Yesterday, the Nats finalized signings with all but three of their twenty draftees, with one of the last three (second-round pick Ethan Petry) likely to join the fold soon. As has been the case in each of the previous couple of drafts, their fallback plan for a projectable high schooler in the ~nineteenth round (Rowan Pike, in this case) was to opt for college. Getting first overall pick Eli Willits as under slot as they did allowed the Nationals to spread over $9 million across their second, third, fourth, and fifth picks (assuming Petry signs), all of whom were in MLB Pipeline’s top 100 draft prospects.

The Nationals were once great at shepherding elite talent to the majors at the expense of the rest of their system, but lately (apart from James Wood, who entered the system in low-A), they have gotten more role players from within. Where they continue to struggle is in the production of average regulars - something in the range of what Luis García Jr. was a year ago (and his offense is thisclose to being back at league average). Teams that can remain competitive year after year are typically good at producing good middle-class baseball players. Like Milwaukee, which has a lineup eight deep in average to above-average hitters - only three of whom most casual baseball fans have ever heard of - and a pitching staff basically all of whose members have an ERA better than league average.

For all the bellyaching about how the Yankees can buy stars, they are a very good organization at developing pitchers, routinely turning no-name prospects from their own and other organizations into strong setup men and back-end starters, and medium prospects into borderline all-stars. The same goes across town, where the pitcher assembly line David Stearns created in Milwaukee has been brought to Flushing, only now Stearns has more money at his disposal. The Dodgers win the NL West every year because three or four random players from Oklahoma City will step up for a month at a time, while half the major league roster is injured. The Nationals need to hit on some of these guys who may never be stars but are league-average regulars. Hopefully, Petry, Landon Harmon, Miguel Sime Jr., and Coy James give them more chances to do so.

Yesterday was an off-day for the Nationals, who will take on the Twins in Minnesota behind MacKenzie Gore, looking to bounce back from his worst start of the season. The Twins will counter with Zebby Matthews.

One of the things fans can do in a lost season is follow a player or players in the system who interest them for whatever reason. I have several players that I would like to see get an opportunity at a higher level than they currently are at after the trade deadline.

MLB: Robert Hassell III (.324/.427/.514 since getting sent back to Rochester) has more than earned another opportunity to play at the major league level, and my ideal scenario would be that the Nats find a home for Alex Call (though a true grinder and a professional) and carry all of Hassell, Wood, Jacob Young, Dylan Crews, and Daylen Lile for the rest of the season. Other(s) of note: Yohandy Morales should get an audition if the Nats trade Josh Bell or Nathaniel Lowe…start throwing spaghetti at the wall with Red Wings pitchers (Andrew Alvarez, Marquis Grissom Jr., Holden Powell, etc.) and see what sticks in the Nats’ bullpen. Andrew Pinckney has elite speed and enough power potential to do a reasonable impression of Lane Thomas perhaps.

AAA: Phillip Glasser needs to finish the season in Rochester. Best case scenario is that he turns into a Kirkland Signature Ben Zobrist with less power. He’s hitting .302/.390/.412 across 204 minor league games but has always been a bit old for his level - time to see if he can be a call away from a fill-in opportunity somewhere. Other(s) of note: Catcher Maxwell Romero might be worth moving up, particularly if the Nationals wind up moving on from either of Riley Adams or Drew Millas this winter. Riley Cornelio has handled his midseason promotion to AA Harrisburg with aplomb, and this year has proven that more depth options are needed - he can get a start or three in Rochester.

AA: Caleb Lomavita can go to Harrisburg yesterday, and lefty starter Jackson Kent can go with him. I am curious to see if the Nats have Alex Clemmey start a game for the Senators this season.

A+: I have no idea if the Nationals will try to push Elijah Green to finish the season back in high-A for a week or two, but I remain interested to see if they will do that. Neither Jorgelys Mota nor Cristhian Vaquero has done enough to merit promotion to Wilmington before the spring, and the FredNats’ three most interesting pitchers (Yoel Tejeda Jr., Davian García, and Robert Cranz) have already been promoted.

A: Sir Jamison Jones is my favorite deep cut guy in the entire system, and he has been good enough on offense and defense to finish his summer in Fredericksburg. I would push Angel Feliz and Dashyll Tejeda north as well, and José Feliz on the pitching side.

📌 How Should the Nationals Optimize Trades and Prospect Movement to Build a Competitive Team? (The Nats Report)

📌 Game Recap: Senators Shut Out by RubberDucks 3–0 Despite Strong Pitching from Luckham (The Nats Report)

📌 MLB Power Rankings Week 17: Red-hot NL team debuts at No. 1 (ESPN)