Nationals Top Prospect Graduates From Rookie Status, Making Room for New Faces

The Washington Nationals' top prospect recently graduated from his rookie status, which makes room for another prospect in their farm system rankings.

Mar 4, 2025; West Palm Beach, Florida, USA; Washington Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews (3) catches a fly ball for an out against the St. Louis Cardinals during the second inning at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. | Rich Storry-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals are off to a slow start in 2025 no doubt, with a 1-3 record as of the writing of this article, two losses from the Philadelphia Phillies and one from the Toronto Blue Jays. This is somewhat expected given much of their team is comprised of young talent, and it will take time to truly find their footing and dig in for a long season.

One of the major pieces of this young core is outfielder Dylan Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft who has already made his way to the MLB after a short period of time in the farm system.

The unfortunate thing regarding him is that he has struggled so far in 2025, with 16 plate appearances, producing no hits, one run, one RBI, and one walk in that span of time. This slow start is disappointing, but again, somewhat expected given he is still young and only just fresh out of college with a short minor league stint.

He has also officially shed his rookie status, having crossed the 130 at-bats threshold to no longer be constituted as one. This has allowed the feeder team rankings to be shuffled a bit by adding one more player to the bottom of the list as they all shift up one.

The new No. 30 prospect according to MLB Pipeline is 2022 fourth-round pick Brenner Cox, an outfielder currently with Single-A Fredericksburg.

Cox has had a slow-burn type rise so far in the minor leagues, having made it from the Florida Complex League to Single-A, but then remaining there as he begins to improve his game and develop at only 20 years old. A high school prospect, Cox has a lot to learn still, and is continuing to improve no doubt, but will need more time to really turn into an elite prospect.

At the Single-A level in 2024, he would accrue 284 at-bats, slashing .204/.352/.349 with 52 runs, 42 RBI, 29 stolen bases, eight home runs,126 strikeouts and 56 walks. He would have some difficulties in the field as well, as in 702.2 innings in the outfield, he had 139 putouts, 12 assists and seven errors, good for a .956 fielding rate.

He would end up getting a little bit of playing time in spring training, posting one hit in two at-bats (a double), two stolen bases, and one strikeout to one walk. The fact that he is getting little bits of playing time in spring training already is a good sign for his development, and hopefully, in the coming years, he can become the high-upside prospect the Nationals want him to be.