Washington Nationals Developing Scary Batting Order for Future Seasons
The Washington Nationals have drawn tremendous praise the past few years for how they've built their minor league system.
The idea, after a World Series championship in 2019, was to build through the farm system with young stars as the franchise weathered a payroll storm of bad contracts until the team could escape.
Well, the Nationals have a light at the end of that tunnel. Right now, without signing any additional free agents, Washington could have a payroll of as little as $35 million next season.
But there’s a lot of potential bang for the buck in that small payroll. Some of it is already at the Major League level. Some of it is still in the minors.
But in three years, the Nationals could field one of the scariest lineups in baseball, according to Baseball America.
The publication put together a projected 2028 batting order for each team. The most significant criteria is that the players selected must still be under team control going into 2028. These could be prospects, current young stars or veterans that are under long term contracts.
This projected batting order is not filled with current veterans. It’s filled with young stars the Nats have cultivated for several years.
That projected lineup includes just one player that will be 30 years old when the 2028 season begins — projected designated hitter Juan Yepez.
Most of the names in the projected batting order are recognizable, as many of them have already migrated to Washington the past couple of years.
Current starter Keibert Ruiz would still be the catcher in this order, while Brady House would be the first baseman.
That’s an interesting choice as House is playing third base in the minor league. But his power potential and fielding ability, along with the Nats having no logical first baseman right now, paves the way for him to take a shot there, perhaps as early as next season.
The middle infield is made up current Major Leaguers — second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. and shortstop CJ Abrams.
With House no longer at third, it paves the way for Washington to promote 2024 first-round pick Seaver King to third base.
The projected outfield looks like the outfield right now — James Wood in left, Jacob Young in center and Dylan Crews in right.
The site also projected a starting rotation of MacKenzie Gore, Travis Sykora, Jarlin Susana, Josiah Gray and Mitchell Parker, with Cade Cavalli serving as the closer.
Sykora and Susans are two of the top three prospects in the organization after Crews. Neither has made it to the Majors yet.
