{"id":19395,"date":"2026-01-29T10:18:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=19395"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:18:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:18:59","slug":"quick-ba-top-30-update-shows-system-enhancement-from-ifa-and-trade-acquisitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=19395","title":{"rendered":"Quick BA top 30 Update shows System Enhancement from IFA and Trade Acquisitions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Fien-Gavin-with-rangers-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Fien-Gavin-with-rangers-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Fien-Gavin-with-rangers-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Fien-Gavin-with-rangers-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Fien-Gavin-with-rangers-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Fien-Gavin-with-rangers-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Fien-Gavin-with-rangers-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gavin Fien, the jewel of the Gore Trade, slots deep into our top 10.  Photo via MLB.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It was just a couple weeks ago (January 9th to be exact) when Baseball America released its top 30 list for the Nats system.   I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=19352\">reviewed it then in depth<\/a>, as the first major pundit to release a top 30 rankings for our system.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So much has happened since that they had to update it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Between the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=19371\">IFA signing period<\/a> (where we spread around our $6M plus bonus pool on several highly-regarded prospects) and the Mackenzie Gore trade (which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=19387\">netted us five guys<\/a>, four of which are now in our top 30), our top 30 now looks a bit different.  Here&#8217;s where our new acquisitions slot into BA&#8217;s list, and who they pushed out at the bottom:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>New #5: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/gavin-fien-815818?stats=career-r-fielding-minors&amp;year=2025\">Fien, Gavin<\/a>, the star of the Gore trade.  The $4.8M first round SS from last year will compete with our own $8.2M first round SS Willits for playing time in Fredericksburg this year.  Though his size likely puts him immediately at 3B.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New #9: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/devin-fitz-gerald-803849\">Fitz-Gerald, Devin<\/a>, the $900k 2024 SS will &#8230; also compete for playing time in Low-A this year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New #16: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/alejandro-rosario-691730\">Rosario, Alejandro<\/a>, the RHP pitcher who just had TJ and won&#8217;t pitch until spring 2027 at best.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New #22: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/yeremy-cabrera-800393\">Cabrera, Yeremy*<\/a>, the speedy 20-yr old CF with 43 steals last season.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New #23: Serrano, Samil*, the headliner of our 2026 IFA class.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These 5 guys pushed down the formerly 26-30th ranked players:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>New #31: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/andrew-alvarez-674841\">Alvarez, Andrew*<\/a>, the under the radar lefty control arm who pitched really well in SSS last year in the majors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New #32: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/phillip-glasser-701298\">Glasser, Phillip*<\/a>, our ML hitter of the year who got a NRI this season but who faces an uphill challenge for playing time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New #33: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/nauris-de-la-cruz-832703\">De La Cruz, Nauris<\/a>, who signed for a pittance in the 2025 IFA class but who bashed the DSL last year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New #34: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/brayan-cortesia-829049\">Cortesia, Brayan<\/a>, who signed for a massive amount in the 2025 IFA class and who is higher on a lot of lists right now.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New #35: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/griff-mcgarry-676046\">McGarry, Griff<\/a>, our Rule-5 pick whose pathway to being in the rotation just eased with the Gore trade.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Also newly acquired this month and presumably in the mix in this 30-40 range right now: our three other 7-figure signings from the 2026 IFA class (Suarez, Isalas, Ramirez, Angel#, and Duran, Juan) and the 5th prospect in the Gore trade <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/player\/abimelec-ortiz-694673\">Ortiz, Abimelec*<\/a>, who sits 24th on MLBPipeline&#8217;s rankings right now and who might have an inside track to the starting 1B job in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I may have been critical of the Gore trade initially, but there&#8217;s a reason pundits mostly across the board liked it.  These pundits may be overlooking the risk of the former Texas prospects, but the moves certainly strengthen the overall farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that we&#8217;re at the end of January, we should get ready for a ton of prospect content to come out soon.  The next month should give us Keith Law, MLBPipeline, and Kiley McDaniel&#8217;s rankings.  The last major pundit out there (Fangraphs\/Longenhagen) has been pushing his ranks into the summer lately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was just a couple weeks ago (January 9th to be exact) when Baseball America released its top 30 list for the Nats system. I reviewed it then in depth, as the first major pundit to release a top 30 rankings for our system. So much has happened since that they had to update it. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4324],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prospects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19397,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19395\/revisions\/19397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}