Notes and quotes on the new player development regime in D.C. and the 2024 Draft…
Danny Haas joined the Washington Nationals’ front office after, “… spending the previous five seasons (2019–’23) as a special assignment scout,” for Arizona’s Diamondbacks, and before that, the club noted in a press release, the new VP of Amateur Scouting in the nation’s capital, “… worked for the Baltimore Orioles (from 2012–18), first as a national crosschecker (2012–14), before being promoted to special assistant to the executive vice president of baseball operations (2015–18).”
Haas talked about getting to work with the GM and President of Baseball Ops in D.C., Mike Rizzo, with whom he had a long history, as one of the main factors in his decision to join the Nationals.
“It’s always been a bit of a personal dream. I’ve known him since 1997. I was 22 years old,” Haas explained.
“I played with some of the players that he signed. And then he actually tried to get me with the D-backs when I was with the Red Sox.
“So the connection goes way back with my dad and so forth. I’ve known him for a long time.
“Lot of respect for him, what he’s done with the D-backs and with the Nats, and I’m looking forward to the challenge here.”
“I think it’a humbling and it’s exciting,” Rizzo said of Haas’s comments about wanting to get an opportunity to work together.
“If you can bring in a person as sought after as him, with his skill set and his reputation in the game, it’s exciting that he felt so strongly about coming here, because of the way we take care of our business.”
A 1997 18th Round pick by Boston, Haas played five seasons in the minors, and he said his history with Rizzo began then, when the GM was a scout in the Red Sox’ organization.
He first met Rizzo, he said, probably at a Midwest League low-A baseball game. He was there with his son, and I gave him some bats and balls. [Rizzo] was a scout for the Red Sox and I was a player for the Red Sox in the minor leagues. So definitely Battle Creek, Michigan, I think it would be.”
What did he think Rizzo’s scouting report on him would be?
“Ooh, he couldn’t have — I hope he thinks I’m a better scout than I was a player, for sure.”
Haas, shortly after he was hired in late 2023, was already looking forward to his first draft with his new club.
“We’re very collaborative. This job has gotten to where it’s bigger than one person, for sure.
“So you’ve got to weigh all your voices. At the end of the day, somebody has to make the call. But it’s a big process with a lot of input from a lot of folks.”
Rizzo, who was often the one making the final call in the past, acknowledged he’d accepted he has to step back and let others do their jobs too.
“Yeah, I didn’t like them interfering in my drafts and that’s why I don’t interfere very much in these drafts.”
It lived up to Haas’s expectations.
“It was a blast. Everything came together great,” he said after Day 1 of the 2024 Draft.
The day before the draft, Rizzo made a deal with Kansas City’s Royals, adding a Competitive Balance round pick (No. 39 overall), which the Nationals then used to select catcher Caleb Lomavita after they picked shortstop Seaver King with their top pick (10th overall in the 1st Round).
“It was awesome. [Rizzo] did an amazing job getting the extra resources,” Haas said.
“He’s been a tremendous support through all this, both with his opinions and his weighing in at key times and definitely that pick increased our haul for sure.”
“Christmas came early,” Nationals’ Assistant Director and National Crosschecker, Amateur Scouting Reed Dunn joked.
With the 49th pick in the 2nd Round, the Nationals selected Luke Dickerson, and Haas talked at the end of Day 1 about the strategy going into his first draft with the club.
The @Nationals‘ 2024 top Draft picks are showing out in the Carolina League Finals.
Caleb Lomavita and Seaver King tally three RBIs in the @FXBGNats‘ Game 1 win. pic.twitter.com/kCIMZXzmVO
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) September 16, 2024
“I think the common them for all three of the guys today: They’re athletic, toolsy players with positive parts of performance,” Haas said, assessing the top three picks. “They always played hard in our views, and showed signs of making adjustments as well.”
“We’ve been tracking these guys all year,” Dunn added.
“Up the middle, athletic, upside players was key. And we feel like we really identified early, stayed on, and were able to get three of them in the draft.”
“Again,” Senior Director, Amateur Scouting Brad Ciolek chimed in, “… the underlying theme here is: All three of the guys made tremendous strides from their previous year to their platform year this year. We obviously look extensively at their history, take a look at what they need to improve upon. And all three of these guys answered the bell this spring, and we felt really confident and good about our process, and ultimately we were ecstatic to end of with all three of them at the end of the night.”