As a fan of a struggling team, you learn a lot about the MLB Draft every year. It’s what offers fans of rebuilding teams hope. While you can’t get the immediate impact of draft picks like NBA or NFL teams, you can still strike gold. However, the new draft system is something that frustrates me.
Despite finishing the season with a 66-96 recordthe Washington Nationals are locked in with the eleventh pick. This is due to the new MLB Draft rules. Going into the 2023 Draft, MLB introduced a draft lottery like they have in the NBA and the NHL. However, some anti-tank measures have been taken. This makes sense, you don’t want to over reward teams for being terrible.
That part isn’t the problem for me. The issue is the distinction between teams who pay for revenue sharing and teams who receive revenue sharing. Revenue-sharing teams can only pick a top 10 spot one year before launch. However, teams that receive revenue sharing can be included in the top 10 two years in a row.
The league is essentially manipulating the process for small market teams. As a revenue-sharing team, the Nats cannot pick in the top 10 consecutive years. To me, this is just completely unfair to our fans. The franchise has been in a tough spot in recent years and picking the top of the draft could help us get there.
In 2024, when they made the lottery drawing, the Nationals actually “won” the lottery in two consecutive drawings. However, due to their ineligibility, they had to redo the process and the Guardians ended up getting the first pick that year. The Nationals definitely needed that first pick much more than a Guardians team that is consistently competitive.
The process just screws up Nationals fans. Why would teams like the A’s and Pirates be able to pick in the top 10 consecutive years, but not the Nats? The Nats had the 24th highest payroll in 2025 and the second lowest active payroll. They are not some financial juggernaut that needs to be restricted by the MLB.
The fact that the Dodgers get to do some of the things they do but can’t pick the Nationals back-to-back in the top 10 is ridiculous. Imagine a Nationals team with a guy like Chase Burns, Travis Bazzana, JJ Wetherholt or Nick Kurtz. We would have much more hope for the future. The reason we couldn’t get those guys was because of a silly MLB rule.
The 2026 design is being talked about as a very good design. Roch Cholowsky is considered one of the best college shortstop prospects of the past decade. However, the Nationals don’t have a shot at him because they pick 11th overall. Sure, the Nats still need to do a better job of getting these first-round picks, but we’re being fooled.
Luckily, the Nats had some lottery luck in 2025 and were able to select Eli Willits first overall. It would be even more frustrating if the Nats were to pick 7th or 8th and then get kicked out of the lottery.
However, the fact that 2024 and 2026 are stronger at the top of the draft than 2025 turns me off. I wish the Nats had the chance to take some of the true blue chippers at the top of those drafts. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to because of a silly rule. Paul Toboni will have to take the 11th pick in his first draft, which is more difficult than a top five pick.
To me the solution is quite clear. The same rules should apply to all teams. It shouldn’t matter where you stand on the revenue sharing totem pole. Whether you get kicked out after one or two years, the rules should be the same for all teams. If you pick in the top 10 several years in a row, you clearly need that pick regardless of market size.
Teams like the White Sox and Nationals are especially screwed by this. While they are revenue payers, they are not run like large market teams, so we need to build into the design. The White Sox are done 41-121 in 2024, but were booted to the 10th pick. That just makes no sense at all.
The Rockies not being able to pick in the top 10 after a third straight terrible year makes more sense, but the White Sox picked 15th overall in 2023. They should have been considered for the number one pick.
This will have to be arranged in the next collective labor agreement, because it is downright ridiculous. More high-profile issues will be discussed, but this needs some tweaking. The lottery system has some things I like, but this revenue sharing part just sucks for Washington Nationals fans.
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