Nationals Once Again Connected to Collegiate Flamethrower in Latest Mock Draft
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The Washington Nationals have the 11th overall pick in the 2026 draft, and it will be a huge first year for Paul Toboni and his front office when it comes to adding even more talent to this pipeline.
Because this will be the first draft he's run since becoming the president of baseball operations for the Nationals, it's unclear what positions he's going to target and if he'll go with a collegiate or high school player. However, there is one name that continues to pop up in mock drafts when it comes to who Washington might take at No. 11.
Liam Peterson, the flamethrowing right-handed pitcher out of the University of Florida, has previously been linked to the Nationals. And in version 3.0 of Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report's mock draft, he has them selecting the collegiate arm.
Upside of Liam Peterson Could Be Too Good for Natioanls to Pass Up
"... he still possesses arguably the best package of size, stuff and ceiling of any pitcher in the college class. An uptick to his already less-than-ideal walk rate (10.5 to 15.0 percent) has introduced some volatility to his draft stock, but his stuff is too good for him to slip much further down the board," Reuter wrote.
Coming into the season, becoming more effective at run prevention was something scouts wanted to see. And through four starts thus far, he's done that with a 3.72 ERA compared to the 4.28 figure he had last year and the 6.18 he had the season before that as a freshman. Peterson is still showing his strikeout acumen, too, as he's rung up 34 batters across 19 1/3 innings pitched.
A crux with the righty is the number of walks he issues. Like Reuter pointed out, his already high walk rate has climbed even higher this season to 15%, as he's already walked 12 batters. Fixing that will be important for his career, but he's also shown major improvement when it comes to hits allowed with just a .167 batting average against him so far this year.
Liam Peterson Fits Mold of a Paul Toboni Guy
Again, because the 2026 draft will be the first one that Toboni is fully in charge of running, there is no data to look back upon and see if Peterson fits the mold of someone he would select in the first round. However, there was a notable trade this offseason that saw the Nationals sent high-floor prospect Jake Bennett to the Boston Red Sox for high-ceiling prospect Luis Perales, and the latter has a similar profile to that of Peterson.
Both Perales and Peterson have high-end stuff. Perales flashed that in his first spring training game with Washington, and Peterson has been doing that throughout his collegiate career with 206 strikeouts across 151 1/3 innings. The red flag with both is their control issues, as the pair routinely struggles to find the strike zone on a consistent basis.
But Toboni clearly valued Perales, which is why he put together the trade to acquire him. So it's not farfetched to think that Peterson is someone who might catch his eye despite the control issues that could scare away other teams.
Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai