Nationals Arm Race

The first of the five “major” shops/pundits that evaluate and rank prospects (BA, MLBPipeline, Law, Longenhagen, and McDaniel) released their top 30s for systems today…. and boy is the Nats list weird.

I’ll go through the list as always, offering up opinions and observations.

First off, here’s their top 30.

ba	Last Name	First Name	Position
1	Crews	Dylan	OF (CF)
2	Sykora	Travis	RHP (Starter)
3	Susana	Jarlin	RHP (Starter)
4	House	Brady	SS/3B
5	King	Seaver	SS
6	Clemmey	Alex	LHP (Starter)
7	Cavalli	Cade	RHP (Starter)
8	Lomavita	Caleb	C
9	Wallace	Cayden	3B
10	Lile	Daylen	OF (CF)
11	Dickerson	Luke	SS/CF
12	Hassell III	Robert	OF (CF)
13	Bennett	Jake	LHP (Starter)
14	Bazzell	Kevin	C/3B
15	Feliz	Angel	3B/SS
16	Pinckney	Andrew	OF (Corner)
17	Cortesia	Brayan	SS
18	Millas	Drew	C
19	Lara	Andry	RHP (Starter)
20	Rutledge	Jackson	RHP (Starter)
21	Brzykcy	Zach	RHP (Reliever)
22	Morales	Yohandy	3B
23	Green	Elijah	OF (CF)
24	Cranz	Robert	RHP (Reliever)
25	Stuart	Tyler	RHP (Starter)
26	Hernandez	Daniel	C
27	Nunez	Elijah	OF (Corner)
28	Vaquero	Cristian	OF (CF)
29	Lord	Brad	RHP (Starter)
30	Romero	Brayan	RHP (Starter)

Here we go.

top 10

• Same top 4 as everyone else, albeit dinging House a little bit. BA notes the same concerns that Law had with House, namely that he had like a 3% walk rate in AAA. I don’t think he’s ready for the Majors and can’t quite believe he’ll win the job out of MLB camp this spring, which would give him time to add some patience to his approach and not start his service time clock so early.
• Clemmey up at #6. I might be a little high on Clemmey in comparison to where i’m seeing him in other shops (the 5 rankings I have for him so far this off season go 6-7-6-6-6). Fair enough; he’s a young 19yr old who struck out 123 in 92 low-A innings. That doesn’t suck.
• Unlike some ranking shops who have given up hope on Cavalli, BA has him right there at #7. I’ve got him slightly lower based on fear that he’s not ever coming back, but BA has stayed strong.
• They’re super high on Lomavita at #8. This is a trend that we’ll see in this BA list the rest of the way; very bullish on brand new kids who have shown almost nothing yet at the pro level.
• I remain low-man on Lile, as discussed here multiple times, but BA having him at #10 tracks with most other shops.

Here’s 11-20.

• Ok, here’s where this starts to go off the rails. You have Dickerson at #11, who has zero pro at bats, and Hassell #12, who’s ended the season in AAA before he turned 23. Um. What are we doing here? Hassell likely gets MLB at bats THIS YEAR, even if he’s hitting .200 in AAA, because he’s now on the active roster. Dickerson may not even make the Low-A team in April. I get that prospect lists are a balancing act between floor and ceiling … but this one seems crazy to me.
• BA remembers how good Bennett was, and kept him exactly at #13, which is where they ranked him in Jan 2024. I wonder how quickly he gets back to High-A. Fairly or not, I’ve got him well lower on my rank, as do most other shops.
• The first appearance of 2025 IFA class star Brayan Cortesia on any ranking list, coming in at #17. With all due respect to his $1.9M bonus, this is way too high. Then again, I’m loath to rank a player anywhere in the top 30 these days until they make it to the FCL.
• Drew Millas at #18. Why? He’s frigging 27 and he’s a backup catcher as a ceiling and has been for five years. That’s not a prospect anymore; that’s called an org guy.
• How the hell is Andry Lara so low? I dunno, maybe i’m the only guy impressed by a guy with an ERA in the 3s as a 21yr old in AA never missing a start? Ok, maybe he’s not a top 5 prospect, but tell me you’d rather have Bennett (6 slots higher) than Lara right now.
• Rutledge at #20 ; they still have faith. I don’t. Unless he’s moving to the bullpen, what makes anyone think they’ll see anything different out of the guy in 2025?

21-30 … with obvious caveats about players in this range… but man there’s some crazy names here.

• Brzycky at #21: i’m on record saying this is too high for relievers, but whatever.
• Morales at #22. Wait, what?? Every other shop so far, including me, has him in the 8-9 range. #22?? In August of 2024, BA had him at #6 in the system, and in their scouting report they explicitly say that he had a thumb injury that hampered his production this year. Bennett misses a y ear to TJ and doesn’t get dinged a single slot, but Morales (who finished strong post injury) gets knocked down nearly 20 spots?? This makes no sense. But don’t worry, this isn’t even the dumbest ranking yet.
• At #24 I give you Robert Cranz. In case you don’t recognize the name, he was a 7th round pick in 2024, signed for $100k UNDER slot, was a reliever in college and went straight into Fredericksburg’s bullpen, where he threw a handful of playoff innings. #24 in the system. I didn’t have him in my top 90. In the scouting report it says the Nats may make him a starter … uh, if he could start, why didn’t he do so in college?? This ranking makes zero sense to me.
• Meanwhile, one slot later they have Tyler Stuart at #25, who STARTED 25 games last year between AA and AAA. I just don’t get it; you’d rank a college reliever with 6 pro innings higher than a starter who “solved” AA at age 24?
• Daniel Hernandez, 2025 IFA signing at #26. Sure.
• #27 Nasim Nunez, who had so few PAs last year that he still remains rookie eligible for shops like BA, who ignore service time. I wouldn’t have him this high, but wouldn’t be upset if someone ranked him in the 30s.
• Like Stuart, Brad Lord’s rise to AAA seems to be greeted at BA with a sniff. He’s at the back end of their top 30. Perhaps its just me impressed by what Lord has done. I think the knock on Lord is a lack of a 4th pitch. But, he’s a sinker guy, so often guys like this don’t bother learning two fastballs since their value is getting hitters to drive the ball into the ground.
• Rounding out the top 30, one last laugher; Brayan Romero. I almost wonder if this ranking is a joke to see if anyone’s paying attention. He posted a 5.52 ERA in Low-A this year as a 22yr old. Ok, so I understand he missed a season and he’s tooled up. But really.

Players they don’t have in their top 30 that I do:

• Chapparo: he’ll probably be on the MLB team, whether that counts for anything or not.
• Victor Hurtado and Armando Cruz: so we love Cortesia and his big bonus, but one-season-in Hurtado? Or Cruz, who (earned or not) ended the season in High-A?
• Darren Baker: I guess MLB-roster backup infielders aren’t as valuable as low-A middle releivers.
• Andrew Alvarez. Making AAA just doesn’t mean what it used to.
• Jackson Kent: wasn’t he the heralded arm out of the upper rounds of our 2024 draft? MLBPipeline has him in the mid 20s.
• Don’t forget about Rafael Ramirez

So, there you are. Strange one, this list was.

You know we’re getting close to Spring Training when the annual press release goes out announcing Non-Roster Spring Training Invitees (NRIs). The Nats announced the initial crop this week, immediately forgot at least a couple guys who have ST invites on their transactions page, and probably will add more as they sign up veteran FAs, but for now here’s who we have:

(Note: the NRIs are color coded purple on the Big Board for tracking)

• Starting Pitchers: Brad Lord, Tyler Stuart, Konnor Pilkington, Jarlin Susana, Joan Adon,
• Relief pitchers: Daison Acosta, Marquis Grissom Jr., Clay Helvey, Jack Sinclair,,
• Catchers: Andrew Knizner, Caleb Lomavita, Max Romero Jr., and Brad Lindsley (left off Nats announcement)
• Infielders: Brady House, Yohandy Morales, Cayden Wallace
• Outfielders: Daylen Lile, Andrew Pinckney, Franchy Cordero (left off press release)

The list includes a huge chunk of our projected AAA roster: i’d say of the 16 NRIs listed here, 14 of them will be in AAA to start the year. In fact, the only ones who won’t be in AAA are Susana and Romero, both probably heading to AA.

NRIs are important. Believe it or not, more than a dozen of 2024’s NRIs eventually played in the majors last year, some with pretty significant roles. So this group collectively will play a big role for the 2025 team. Traditionally 3-4 will make the team out of ST to open the season, while others get called up.

NRIs generally fall into several categories:

1. Top Prospects getting their first shot with the big boys: this describes at least Susana, Lomavita, House, Morales, Wallace, and Lile. I suppose Pinckney is here as well since he doesn’t qualify for any of the other categories.
2. Starters to eat split squad innings: I would throw Lord and Stuart in this bucket, along with Adon.
3. Catchers, because we need people to catch all these ST bullpen sessions: Knizner, Romero, Lindsley
4. Veteran MLFAs who were promised the NRI as a condition of signing: Helvey, Plington, Cordero
5. Under-the-Radar relievers who might be useful middle relievers: Acosta, Grissom, Sinclair

Is Adon still a prospect? After four option years, what exactly does the team need to see here? Perhaps they’re planning on converting him to relief, so he’d fall into category #4.

The team has already signed a dozen MLFAs for 2025, but only a couple have NRIs. This in and among itself is a message, but some of the non-NRIs are surprising.

• We have a MLFA 28yr old catcher CJ Stubbs on the AAA roster right now: no NRI.
• Andrew Alvarez is slated to be in the AAA rotation; no NRI.
• We’ve heard people rave about reliever Carlos Romero: no NRI.
• The only lefty reliever in AAA Garvin Alston? no NRI.
• We’ve signed several aged 28-30 MLFAs who got assigned to AA straight away, an indication they’re just org arms.
• We’ve also signed several younger relief arms this month, all in the 23-25 range, newly 6-year FAs after being young IFA signings; these kind of guys may need more seasoning and aren’t candidates to join the bullpen.
• A few rule-5 candidates we talked about at length but no NRI include Solesky, De la Rosa, Made, and Shuman, which probably tells us what we need to know about the organization’s thought about these guys.

Who’s likely to make the team out of this list? Probably a bit early to predict, but I only count 9 total relievers on the entire 40-man right now, one of whom is out with TJ. So, there’s opportunities here for especially the arms who can slot into bullpen spots.

We didn’t really talk about the top prospects in camp. Of them, House seems the most likely to win a starting job, based on the lack of a FA 3b signing. We’ve litigated him to death; no he’s not ready, he probably needs to prove himself for a half season in AAA. The rest of the prospects all seem slated for either AA or AAA to get more time in the minors. I’m intrigued by Morales’ potential … but the team has basically bought itself enough 1B/DH cover that it seems unlikely for him to break camp.

Thoughts?

The class of 2025 is now set.

Two first-ballot hall of famers in CC Sabathia and Ichiro Suzuki will join last-gasp 10th ballot electee and Virginia native Billy Wagner in Cooperstown later this year. They’ll be part ofa 5-man class, joined by selectees David Parker and Dick Allen.

Here’s some quick thoughts.

1,. Billy Wagner

In my HoF fake ballot post, I said i wouldn’t have voted for him. I went back and searched all my fake ballot posts going back to 2017 … and I’ve never really vacillated from this stance. In a couple of posts I said, “eh, maybe” on Wagner but I was never a yes. I think its a product of my reliever bias in general, whether it’s evaluating the value of a closer or the value of a prospect.

Nonetheless, you can’t argue with his dominance. A 187 CAREER ERA+ is nothing to shake a stick at, and I’m glad he’s in.

2. CC Sabathia

Sabathia becomes a first ballot Hall of Famer. I’ve always liked Sabathia and its a great honor to cap his career. Funny how nobody ever accused him of being a PED guy. He was more likely to be accused of being an all-you-can-eat buffet violator, not a drug test violator.

However, here’s a thought exercise for you. Here’s two arbitrary players overall career stats.

• Player A: 256-153 W/L, 3.85 career ERA, 117 career ERA+. 531 career games, 2448 career Ks. 3 ASG, 4 times in the Cy Young top 5 voting. 276 post season innings, 3.81 post season ERA.
• Player B: 251-161 W/L, 3.74 career ERA, 116 career ERA+. 561 career games, 3093 career Ks. 6 ASG, 5 times in Cy Young top 5 but won one. 130 post season innings, 4.38 career postseason ERA.

One of these players is first ballot hall of famer CC Sabathia. The other is Andy Pettitte, who never got above 27% support for the Hall. When you go to baseball-reference and scroll down to “Similarity Scores” for Pettitte … guess who is #1? You guessed it: Sabathia.

Does this make sense to you?

3. Ichiro Suzuki

The obvious storyline here is the one gutless BBWAA anonymous voter who left Suzuki off his ballot. There’s not a soul in the sport who can support denying Suzuki a vote. So he joins a small group of players who were denied unanimous induction by either one vote (Derek Jeter) or a handful of votes (Griffey missed 3 votes, Cobb 4, Seaver 5, Ryan 6, Ryan 8). Did you know that Babe Ruth was ommitted on NINE ballots in 1936?? Can you imagine the outcry in today’s social media landscape? The hated Ty Cobb got more votes than Ruth on the original HoFame ballot.

Anyway.

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Next closest on the ballot were Beltran with 70% in his 3rd try, and Jones with 66% on his 8th try.

I support both candidates. Yes Beltran was embroiled in the Houston trash can banging scheme, but his career was clean during a time when PED was rampant. Jones was the next coming of Willie Mays until he wasn’t; I like both guys, and both have a good shot of going in soon. The 2026 ballot doesn’t exactly have inspiring first-time candidates: the highest bWAR new candidates are Cole Hamels (just 163 career wins) and Ryan Braun (with his testosterone test nonsense), so voters may lean into existing candidates a bit more. But, that’s a conversation for a year from now.

Here’s a quick overview of the Nats 2025 IFA class. Yesterday they signed 14 international players (6 from the Dominican Republic, another 8 from Venezuela) and sprinkled out bonuses of at least 300k to seven different guys.

Here’s a few Quick Observations, since there’s obviously limitations as to what we “know” about a bunch of teen-agers in central and south America.

2025 is a lower risk/spread the wealth bonus pool dollar year for the team

The Nats over the last decade have vacillated between high risk and low risk IFA classes, choosing in some years to put all their (bonus money) eggs in one basket and in other years to spread around the wealth.

• All in on 1-2 player classes: 2024, 2022, 2021, 2016
• Spread the Wealth classes: 2025, 2023, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015

2025 seems to be a “spread the wealth” year, with seven announced players netting signing bonuses above $300k.

Their large bonus pool has allowed them to spread the wealth AND give out a big bonus

They’ve taken some big swings in terms of dollar amounts since Rizzo arrived: some of their biggest signing bonuses being:

• 2024: Hurtado, Victor at $2.8M
• 2022: Vaquero, Cristhian at $4.9M
• 2021: Cruz, Armando at $3.9M
• 2016: Antuna, Yasel# at $3.9M

This year’s $1.9M given to Cortesia, Brayan will be the 5th highest bonus since the Juan Soto class in 2015. But, given the four figures above and the relative “success” we’ve seen out of them … it may be considered a bargain.

Would anyone here say that their four big swings listed above have panned out? We’ve litigated Antuna to death, but right now Cruz, Vaquero, and Hurtado are not exactly trending positive. Hurtado hit just .218 in the DSL last year, Vaquero hit .190 in Low-A last year, and Cruz hit .224 mostly in low-A and isn’t even on MLBPipeline’s top 30 prospects for us anymore.

Trivia question: who’s the best Nats-selected/home grown IFA prospect in our system? Probably Andry Lara.

The Class is very Hitter-heavy

Not one of their seven big money guys is a pitcher. Among the 7, we have two Catchers, two SS, one 2B, and two OF. So, it sounds like they’re going to run it back with a lot of the DSL arms there now, most of whom are already 19-20. We’ll have to keep that in mind if we suddenly see a 20yr old starter blowing away 16-17yr olds in the DSL.

The Class is a bit old

There’s just one guy who’s 16 as of the signing date. Most of the class is 17 now and will turn 18 soon after the end of the 2015 season. One guy they signed (RHP Juan Lopez) is already 19; will he even go to the DSL?

They Still have some room in the pool

The known/announced bonus amounts total about $4.9M spread across seven guys. They announced another 7 signees. Usually if a bonus amount is not listed for an IFA, its a standard $10k. If we assume that figure for the remaining seven, then the Nats are leaving about $1.2M on the table right now. Perhaps that’s funds for later IFA signings who might pop up (they have signed IFAs outside of the Jan 15th window in the past), or perhaps the seven remaining all got 6-figure deals that eat into that remainder.

Remember: only half of these guys will ever even get to the US

Here’s a few quick stats on our recent IFA classes. Now, given that this is “early” for the more recent classes, but here’s quick stats on the size of the class and the number of players who moved domestically:

• 2024: 24 players in class, 0 moved domestically, 5 released
• 2023: 23/9/5
• 2022: 20/11/9
• 2021: 20/10/11
• 2020: 3/0/3
• 2019: 21/9/12

So, as you can see, we see roughly half these guys get released right out of the DSL, with the other half making it to the FCL. From there, usually a handful make their way up the chain a little bit, but many of them stall at the Low-A juncture, where they’re forced to go out in the world and travel for the first time.

Our IFA Tracker and the Nats big Board are now updated

Click here for the Nats IFA tracker where I’ve filled in the 2025 class.

Click here for the Nats Big Board, where i’ve put all the 2025 IFA signees into the XST section for now. Odds are they’ll all go to the DSL, but I don’t want to do that assignment until its officially announced.

Lastly, here’s some useful other links for you to peruse, if you’re interested in the IFA 2025 numbers and class:

• Bonus pools for 2025 IFA season: we were at $6.1M
• BA class overview of top prospects: we signed three in the top 100 in Brayan Cortesia, Daniel Hernandez, and Rony Bello.
• BA’s 1/15/25 top players with scouting reports.
• BA’s Jan 15 class signing tracker:
• BA’s International bonus board
• Nats 2025 class introduction story at nationals.com

The first shop to try to do a major rank of Nationals prospects (Prospects1500) has dropped its rankings for our system. Let’s walk through their ranks and I’ll add some comments.

I have a draft 2025 ranking for our system that (believe it or not) goes out to 90 or so guys, which is kind of ridiculous when we currently (according to the Big Board) have 150 signed minor leaguers domestically. But, even given that my draft list is 90 deep, Prospects1500 still managed to rank three players that I don’t have in my top 90, and who have been ranked for the very first time on any list. We’ll get to them later, and discuss whether they should have even been ranked.

Here’s the top 50 for Prospects1500 in a quick table format:

Rank	Last Name	First Name	Position
1	Crews	Dylan	OF (CF)
2	House	Brady	SS/3B
3	Sykora	Travis	RHP (Starter)
4	King	Seaver	SS
5	Susana	Jarlin	RHP (Starter)
6	Morales	Yohandy	3B
7	Clemmey	Alex	LHP (Starter)
8	Hassell III	Robert	OF (CF)
9	Cavalli	Cade	RHP (Starter)
10	Lile	Daylen	OF (CF)
11	Wallace	Cayden	3B
12	Lomavita	Caleb	C
13	Hurtado	Victor	OF
14	Stuart	Tyler	RHP (Starter)
15	Green	Elijah	OF (CF)
16	Lara	Andry	RHP (Starter)
17	Dickerson	Luke	SS/CF
18	Vaquero	Cristian	OF (CF)
19	Bennett	Jake	LHP (Starter)
20	Pinckney	Andrew	OF (Corner)
21	Feliz	Angel	3B/SS
22	Made	Kevin	SS
23	Ramirez Jr.	Rafael	SS
24	Rutledge	Jackson	RHP (Starter)
25	Lord	Brad	RHP (Starter)
26	Bazzell	Kevin	C/3B
27	Reifert	Evan	RHP (Reliever)
28	Feliz	Jose	RHP (Starter)
29	Baker	Darren	2B
30	Brzykcy	Zach	RHP (Reliever)
31	Ribalta	Orlando	RHP (reliever)
32	Cruz	Armando	SS
33	Grissom	Marquis	RHP (Reliever)
34	De La Rosa	Jeremy	OF (Corner)
35	Millas	Drew	C
36	White	T.J.	OF (Corner)
37	Kent	Jackson	LHP (Starter)
38	Shuman	Seth	RHP (Starter)
39	Alvarez	Andrew	LHP (Starter)
40	Acosta	Daison	RHP (reliever)
41	Cox	Brenner	OF (CF)
42	Jones	Sir Jamison	CA
43	Choi	Hyun-Il	RHP (Starter)
44	Glasser	Phillips	SS
45	Mota	Jorgelys	SS
46	Cooper	Everett	SS
47	Chapparo	Andres	1B/DH
48	Quintana	Roismar	1B/OF
49	Narango	Joe	1B
50	Pimentel	Brandon	1B

Now, lets do some reactions.

• Their top 5 for our system is essentially the same as every other shop’s top 5, in some order or another. You can quibble with House/Sykora for #2.
• The first bogey; Morales comes in at #6. They’re putting a ton of weight on his AA finish last year. He hit .206 in April but then .357 in September in the same league. I still think this is too high; if he’s 1B only I need to see more homers (just 7 in 435 ABs so far professionally).
• They like Daylen Lile slightly more than me, but so does everyone. Every scouting report I see on this guy says he’s a great contact hitter and a great base-runner. So, where’s the stats? Career .262 batting average (that’s elite bat-to-ball skills?) and just 50 Sbs 255 career games? A .351 OBP for his career? What am I missing here? What makes him any better than Jake Alu (career minor league slash line of .282/.342/.437 with 57 SBs in 420 minor league games, but with more power). I see a 5th OF ceiling. He’s only 22 and in AA, fair point, but he’s also going to be rule-5 eligible after 2025. Based on what you’ve seen, would you protect him right now?
• Victor Hurtado at #13. I’m at least 10 spots lower on this guy right now, and I wonder if they’re looking at the same guy I am. Their line in the link is, “Hurtado is very young but performed well in the Rookie league and has solid tools across the board. He’s one to keep an eye on in this tier.” Uh; “performed well?” He hit .218 in the DSL this season, with almost no speed, no power, and a 2/1 K/BB ratio. Did anyone check this guy’s stats before they wrote that line? Where’s the ranking for the DSL guys who actually hit this year? Missing, that’s where. We’ll get to that at the bottom when we talk about players not in their top 50.
• They’re lower on Andry Lara than they should be. Quote: “ Lara was a highly touted international signing whose results haven’t matched the ability in his four years with the organization.” Um, again, what are these guys watching? Lara, as a 22yr old, got promoted to AA after a month, then had a 3.63 ERA in 19 starts. Yes, in the macro his minor league stats don’t look that great … but year after year he’s been in leagues where he was among the youngest players there, pitchers or hitters. I’ve got Lara well inside our top 10, not buried in the teens.
• They’re a little higher on Vaquero (18) and Bennett (19) than I am. I’m just not impressed with the size of your signing bonus versus your on-the-field accomplishments. As for Bennett, maybe it isn’t fair to ding him for TJ, but after what we’ve seen from Cavalli, i’m gun shy for sure.
• Kevin Made: this guy seems to be a favorite of prospect hounds everywhere. I don’t see it. I see a guy who has no power and little speed who was the “flier prospect guy” in a deadline deal trade. I’ve got him ranked in the 30s, not just outside the top 20.
• Rutledge and Lord: a tale of two approaches. I see Lord as someone who is still proving in AAA they can be an effective starter, while Rutledge is proving he’s a 2-pitch guy who needs to be a reliever. One of these profiles has much more value than the other: can you guess which one? As a result, i’ve got Lord in the mid-teens and Rutledge outside the top 30 on my rankings, not ranked side by side like this shop.
• They’re not fans of Bazzell at all: MLBpipeline has him #14 in the system.
• Brzycky and Ribalta: i’ve said my peace on ranking relievers. I won’t rank a middle reliever in my top 30 anymore. Even the better middle relievers in our bullpen are barely worth half a win a season, and the best of them (Law and Florio last year) were in the 1.6-1.9 range). It’s far more likely we call up these two guys, they get shelled, they go back down, and they ahve negative bWAR (that describes precisely what all of these guys did in 2024: Adon, Weems, Barnes, Brzycky, Ribalta, and Willingham).

At this point we’re in the 30-50 range, so it’s a little harder to be critical, so I’ll just highlight guys that I think they’re way off on.

• Jeremy De la Rosa at #34: he hit .167 in High-A … then got promoted to AA where he hit .161. He’s now spent parts of 3 seasons in Wilmington and has not been competent. Is he a prospect at all? I mean, they have him above Millas, who a lot of readers right now think should be the backup MLB catcher. I’ve got De la Rosa 30 spots lower in my ranks.
• TJ White: see comments about De la Rosa above for the most part.
• Jackson Kent was ranked #24 by MLBpipeline but 37 by these guys; a season on the field should resolve this.
• They have little faith in Andrew Alvarez.
• They still have Brennar Cox ranked, which seems crazy at this point. Exhibit 1-A on the risks of drafting HS kids.
• Thus, its fitting that they have Sir Jamison Jones at #42, right below Cox. Another prep Catcher who could be decent, could go nowhere. What’s odd is, they put Jones in their top 50 but not a couple of DR prospects who actually hit this year (Dashyll Tejeda and Carlos Tavares). I did not have Jones in my top 90, perhaps an oversight.
• Then, perhaps the oddest rankings on their list: #49 and #50 are two 1B only guys in Naranjo and Pimentel, a MLFA and NDFA. Naranjo hit .208 in Wilmington for us in 2024. Pimentel hit .274 in Fredericksburg … as a 24-yr old man amongst kids. I didn’t have either of these guys in my top 90, but i’ve put them in the 70+ range for now.

Who’s missing?

• As mentioned above, a couple of DSL decent performers for 2024
• Cole Henry: probably not a surprise.
• No Nasim Nunez, who b-r.com has exhausting his rookie status in 2024. By service time, not by PAs. If you wanted to quibble and be like some shops that ignore service time and go by PAs/IPs, i’d have Nunez in the mid 40s.
• Not much else to mention; there’s some names outside their top 50 that have gotten a bit of prospect love in the past (Peterson, Cabrera, Brown, Saenz, etc) who don’t really merit it anymore.

That’s the first big prospect rank. What do you think?