The MLB Draft is one of my favorite things to discuss here at Federal Baseball. Every year there is an influx of talent to professional organizations. It’s fun to keep track of that and follow the names in the design. The draft won’t be available until July, but MLB Pipeline has released their first top 100 rankings for the 2026 draft.
Due to draft rules, the Nationals are locked into the 11th pick this year. That means they likely won’t have access to top-ranked guys like Roch Cholowsky and Grady Emerson. With an entire spring season still to play, however, it’s hard to say who will rise and fall. We’re going to take a look at some intriguing names and talk about their scouting reports.
After selecting high school players with four of their first five picks in the class of 2025, the focus this year should be on college players. College pitching is a demographic I want the Nats to explore early in this upcoming draft. We’ll discuss some of the top college players who could be available, as well as a high schooler who stands out.
Since there’s only one high school student to discuss, we’ll start with him. Tyler Spangler is a high school shortstop ranks 11th on the Pipeline board. That’s exactly where the Nats will pick, so he’s certainly within reach.
Spangler is a very versatile player with an enticing hit/power combination. He has a smooth swing that scouts love, and at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, it’s easy to imagine above-average power. Pipeline mentions that Scouts have compared him with Corey Seager and even Cal Ripken Jr. Those comparisons are common when discussing talented shortstop prospects who are bigger than most players at the position. It’s still high praise, though.
At that size, Spangler isn’t a regular at shortstop, but he has good instincts and can make all the plays. For the Nats, he doesn’t have to stick with shortstop with Eli Willits in the system. If they want to go the high school route, Spangler is my guy.
On the college side, we already covered some of the prospects in the Nats lineup last month. We talked about Drew Burress, Jackson Flora, Cameron Flukey and Chris Hacopian in that piece. Those are all still options, but we’re going to discuss a few others here today.
One pitcher we didn’t discuss was Liam Peterson because I thought he would go for the Nats roster. However, MLB Pipeline has it arranged 13th. The University of Florida right-hander has a prototypical frame and prototypical stuff.
His fastball lives in the mid-90s and he can push it up to 99 MPH. He also throws some above-average breaking balls with a slider and curveball. Peterson threw more sliders, but some scouts think the hook is even better. There is a change that is improving and could be at least an average pitch.
Peterson isn’t an elite offensive thrower, but his command isn’t bad either. Last year in Florida he walked 4.2 batters per 9 innings, which isn’t surprising. For a sophomore, though, it’s not terrible. Despite all this potential, Peterson posted an ERA of 4.28 last year. However, this has a chance to be a breakout season for the Gators standout.
On the offensive side of the ball, Sawyer Strosnider is a name that intrigues me. The TCU outfielder is a draft-eligible sophomore who has all the tools in the world. He is a great athlete with a sturdy 6-foot-4 frame. Despite that size, he wants to become a midfielder in professional ball.
Strosnider has more speed and power. There are some concerns about hit tools, but they are not extreme. He did hit .350 in his first year at TCU last season. The only thing he has to solve is left-handed pitching. He hit just .204 against lefties in his freshman year. Even if you have all the tools, not being able to play against left-handed pitching limits the ceiling.
Currently, MLB Pipeline has him ranked as the 10th best prospect. There is a real 5 resource here. If he fixes his issues against lefties, the Nats may not have a chance to get him because of his upside. However, if he falls at number 11, he will be a name to keep an eye on.
Of interest to Nationals fans, there is a catcher ranked 12th on the big Pipeline board. That would be Georgia Tech’s Vahn Lackey. He is an athletic catcher with promise on both sides of the ball. Lackey is an above-average hitter who hit .347 batting average last year for the Yellow Jackets.
He also has a plus arm and Pipeline figures him as a 55 defender. There’s power potential here too, but he has just 10 home runs in his two college seasons. This is mainly because the ball hits the ground too much. This is a light warning to me, but this new regimen could help Lackey optimize his angles.
The Nats desperately need a catcher of the future. They took Caleb Lomavita in the 2024 draft, and while he didn’t have a bad season, the former Cal star still has warts on both sides of the ball. Lackey is a much better prospect than Lomavita and would come in as the Nats catcher of the future.
You don’t draft out of necessity, but if Lackey is near the top of your board, that positional value could be a tiebreaker. He wasn’t great as a freshman, so Lackey only has one real year of production. This junior year, scouts will be talking a lot about him.
Finally, I would like to discuss AJ Gracia from UVA. The lanky outfielder played his first two seasons at Duke before transferring to UVA to succeed his coach who took that job. If you want a pure hitter, Gracia is your man. He has immense power, sufficient bat-to-ball skills and an advanced approach.
Gracia walked 57 times, while he struck out only 36 times last year. He has also hit 29 home runs in his 120 career college games, which is very impressive. Gracia is a top 5 talent in this draft purely on the offensive side of the ball.
However, he doesn’t provide much value on the bases or in the field. Right now he plays in midfield, and he has a chance to stay there, but his lack of athleticism will likely put him in a corner. His fringe arm makes left field more likely than right field.
Gracia has good instincts, so he could be an above-average left fielder, but he’s not the traditional middle ground that teams crave. However, the Nats could use a middle center and that is what Gracia expects to be.
I’m curious to see how he does at UVA. Even though the Nats have plenty of outfielders, they still need to add talent. Gracia could be the most talented player on the board when draft day arrives. If Paul Toboni wants to create the scouting and player development monster he wants, he will have to bring talent to the MLB in waves.
This 2026 design is expected to be very strong. While it’s a shame the Nats can’t crack the top 10, there will be a really good player who will fall for them. I have every confidence that Paul Toboni can make the right choice. After all, the draft is its wheelhouse. It’s still a while away, but I’m really excited to see what Paul Toboni can do in his first iteration in DC.
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