Nationals Arm Race

"… the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same – pitching.” — Earl Weaver

2011 Draft Race: Nats finish with #6 pick in 2011

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A slight faltering at the tail end of the season leaves the Nats with the #6 overall pick in next year’s draft.  Here’s how the first round will go next year.

Order Team Wins Losses winning pct
1 Pittsburgh 57 105 0.352
2 Seattle 61 101 0.377
3 Arizona 65 97 0.401
4 Baltimore 66 96 0.407
5 KC 67 95 0.414
6 Washington 69 93 0.426
6a Arizona
7 Cleveland 69 93 0.426
8 Chi cubs 75 87 0.463
9 Houston 76 85 0.472
9a San Diego
10 Milwaukee 77 85 0.475

Pittsburgh was 5-6 games “ahead” for the #1 pick for most of the 2nd half.  Seattle’s historically bad offense locks them into the #2 overall pick.  Baltimore’s late season surge under Showalter cost them a couple spots but gives the fanbase hope for 2011.  Arizona’s unprecedented 2 top 7 picks (the 2nd is compensation for failing to sign Barret Loux after an MRI showed a more significant arm injury than anyone knew) should make for a great draft for them.  Houston nearly jumped into the mid-teens by having a scorching August but settled down into the #9 pick, just ahead of San Diego’s compensation pick for failing to sign Karsten Whitson (I believe he was diagnosed with diabetes and opted for college instead of going pro).

By “tying” Cleveland (Washington gets the better pick because of a worse 2009 record), we actually jumped the compensation pick of Arizona, which is good news.  There is sure to be some good talent in next year’s college pitcher rich draft at the #6 overall pick.  (Early draft reviews show possibly guys like Gerrit Cole, Danny Hultzen, Matt Purke, or Taylor Jungmann at that spot). Plus, we may pick up another pick in the first round depending on the outcome of the Adam Dunn offseason (see a previous post here about Dunn’s current TypeB status).

Full Reverse standings are here at mlbtraderumors.com.

Written by Todd Boss

October 11th, 2010 at 12:49 pm

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