Here Are the Nationals' Top 10 Prospects According to Baseball America

One of the major points of emphasis for Paul Toboni will be to rebuild this Washington Nationals pipeline. While there are plenty of talented youngsters in their farm system, they also rank towards the bottom of prospect rankings.

Fortunately, the front office hires he made should help boost this pipeline, as both Devin Pearson and Justin Horowitz have impressive backgrounds in amateur scouting and player development. But before Toboni begins that undertaking, he'll have to assess what he has in the farm system.

Baseball America (subscription required) put out their list of top 10 Nationals prospects heading into the 2026 campaign. And the good news is there are already some strong pieces in place after Eli Willits was taken No. 1 overall in the 2025 draft and Jarlin Susana and Travis Sykora -- before his season-ending Tommy John surgery -- continued to impress on the mound.

Here is a look at Washington's top 10.

1. Eli Willits

This should not be a surprise. Willits has a high ceiling with his ability to put bat to ball and also hit for some power. Combining that with his elite athleticism has just about every scout believing he is going to be a star shortstop in the majors when he gets there.

At the age of 17, he slashed .300/.397/.360 across 15 games and 50 at-bats with Single-A Fredericksburg. That is about as good of a start as Washington could have asked for out of Willits, and it only adds to the excitement about what he could accomplish in the nation's capital.

2. Jarlin Susana

The hard-throwing right-hander was listed at No. 2. It's not hard to see why that was the case following an impressive year where he continued his high strikeout numbers and posted an ERA under the 4.00 mark for the first time since his rookie season.

Jarlin Susana was given the "best fastball" and "best curveball" title by Baseball America when it comes to the other pitchers in the Nationals' pipeline. That just goes to show how good his stuff really is and why Washington and the fanbase should be looking forward to his big league arrival.

But before that happens, he has to improve his command. This past season, he walked 34 batters in 56 1/3 innings pitched. It's hard to envision what that number would have been had he not gotten hurt. So it's imperative he gets that figured out.

3. Travis Sykora

Ever since Travis Sykora arrived as a third-round pick of the 2023 draft, he has done nothing but impress. That was evident during his first professional season last year when he posted a 2.33 ERA across 20 starts at Single-A Fredericksburg. He also struck out 129 batters in 85 innings, which caught the attention of just about everyone in the baseball world.

Unfortunately, like so many other highly-touted pitching prospects for the Nationals, he had to undergo Tommy John surgery after he was climbing the ranks this season with even better numbers across multiple affiliates. He likely won't be back until 2027, but there's no doubt he's one of the best prospects in Washington's pipeline even if he's on the long-term shelf.

4. Alexander Clemmey

The second-round selection of the 2023 draft hasn't been as impressive as Sykora during the early stages of his career, but Alex Clemmey has still done some notable things down on the farm.

With a 3.98 ERA across 50 career starts in the minors, the left-hander has rung up 259 total batters across 209 innings pitched. He's also held opposing lineups to just a .208 batting average, which is a good sign despite struggling with Double-A Harrisburg to close out this season.

Like Susana, it's imperative that Clemmey finds some more control. He's walked 136 batters, which is a staggering number for someone as talented as the lefty.

5. Seaver King

This should allow Nationals fans breathe a sigh of relief about Seaver King. It's no secret that this year was a disappointment for the 10th overall pick of the 2024 draft, but he has turned everything around with what he's done at the Arizona Fall League.

Hopefully that jumpstarts things for him and he's able to carry that into next year's minor league season. Because there's no doubt he is a defensive weapon, with Baseball American tabbing King as the best infield defender in Washington's pipeline. But for him to live up to the potential he had when coming out of college, he'll have to improve his offense.

Nos. 6-10

Rounding out the top 10 is left-handed pitcher Jake Bennett at No. 6, infielder Luke Dickerson at No. 7, infielder Coy James at No. 8, infielder Angel Feliz at No. 9 and right-handed pitcher Landon Harmon at No. 10.

Bennett returned from Tommy John surgery this season and performed well. However, he didn't have the same strikeout stuff that he flashed previously. But in the Arizona Fall League, he's shown that he still has that part of his game available, which bodes well for his ceiling going forward.

Dickerson did not have a good showing this year with a .204/.309/.319 slash line across 89 games at Single-A. But after getting selected out of high school, he has plenty of time to figure things out when it comes to the professional game.

James was a fifth-round pick of the 2025 draft. But despite not playing a game yet, evaluators are high on him. The same goes for Feliz, who slashed .253/.346/.362 during his first season stateside. Similar to James, Harmon hasn't thrown a professional pitch yet but still has evaluators drooling over his potential.