Washington Nationals news & notes: “First-half” finale; Nats 2024 MLB Draft – Seaver King No. 10 overall…

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ first-half finale and the first night of the 2024 MLB Draft…

IRVIN VS THE BREWERS:

An outing after he tossed eight scoreless innings against New York’s Mets in the nation’s capital, giving up just one hit and one walk, Jake Irvin faced the Nationals’ NL East rivals again in consecutive outings, in Citi Field this time, and gave up nine hits and six runs in what ended up being a six-inning start.

“He wasn’t as sharp,” manager Davey Martinez said after Irvin’s second straight start against the Mets.

“His breaking ball wasn’t as sharp. He fell behind a couple hitters, made some mistakes just by location. But all in all he gave us the innings we needed, it was just one of those days.”

Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images

The outing took Irvin from a 2.80 ERA on the year to 3.13, with his FIP up from 3.38 to 3.62, and he finished the game with a .220/.271/.373 line against in 112 IP on the year, up from a .212/.263/.360 line against going into the game.

“I’d say the biggest thing is probably getting ahead of guys last week, I did a really good job of that,” Irvin said, as quoted by MASN’s Bobby Blanco when asked about the second outing against the Mets.

“And this week, falling behind guys, putting myself in bad counts, and giving those guys a better opportunity to hit.”

Martinez said he thought Irvin, who has impressed overall in the first half, would be able to bounce back from the rough start.

“He’s been a workhorse for us,” he said, “so just one game, he’ll get back, he’s got one more start before the break, he’ll lock it in and go back out there and compete.”

Irvin struggled again, however, in his final outing of the so-called first half.

In an 86-pitch, 54-strike, four-inning outing, in which he gave up nine hits, three walks, and seven runs, six earned, Irvin gave up back-to-back, two-out doubles and a run in the first, a couple of three-run innings in the third and fourth, and he was done early in what ended up a first-half-ending 9-3 loss.

Irvin finished the pre-All-Star break schedule with a 3.49 ERA, a 3.85 FIP, 2.25 BB/9, and 7.68 K/9 in 116 IP.

“One, he wasn’t very efficient today, two, missed location,” Martinez said when asked what went wrong for Irvin this time.

“When that typically happens it’s because he’s pulling everything and opening up too soon, so we’ll get him back on track here for the second half of this thing.

“He had a really good first-half though. Really proud of him. He went deep in games, gave us a lot of innings, so we want to make sure that when he comes back he’s ready to go again.”

Would Irvin go into the break thinking about a good first half or a couple rough starts?

“I think you do a little bit of both,” the starter said.

“Look at the big picture, and see that it was a good first half. But just let these last two starts be a reminder that there’s still work to be done, and we’re going to get better and move forward with this.”

2024 MLB DRAFT:

“The preparation for the draft is immense, it’s all-encompassing, it’s crazy,” Nationals’ GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo told The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the FAN this past Wednesday.

“We’re well into our second week of preparation – although the amateur scouting guys have been at it for almost four months, they’re well on their way. We’re in the midst of putting a board together and on Sunday we’re gonna pull the trigger and take another great player that will help be one of the core players of our big league club.”

“And then you fold right into — and during the draft, you’re doing trade deadline stuff,” Rizzo added.

“It’s a busy couple weeks… it’s an important couple of weeks, we’re in it and we’re immersed in it and we do nothing else but it.”

Going into this weekend, the Nationals were focused on the 10th and 44th picks, but added a selection when they made a trade with the Royals on Saturday night, sending right-hander Hunter Harvey to Kansas City in exchange for third baseman Cayden Wallace (ranked No. 2 in the Royals’ system according to MLB Pipeline), and a competitive balance draft pick (the No. 39 overall selection + “an extra $2.395 million in pool money” as The Athletic’s Keith Law noted in his final mock draft).

With the 10th overall pick, Rizzo and Co. in the Nationals’ front office selected Wake Forest shortstop Seaver King, 21, who, “… hit .308 with 14 doubles, three triples, 16 home runs, 64 RBI[s], 25 walks, 11 stolen bases and 59 runs scored in 60 games,” for the Demon Deacons.

King, “posted a .377 on-base percentage, .577 slugging percentage and recorded a hit in 48 games, including 24 multi-hit performances … recorded 21 multi-RBI games including eight games with three or more. He reached base safely in 31 straight games during the 2024 campaign (April 2-May 25), posting an 11-game hit streak (April 6-23) and a 16-game hit streak (April 27-May 24) during that span.”

The decision surprised at least one person.

“They were really never on the radar, and then my agent called me probably 10 minutes before the draft and said, ‘This is the deal that’s in place as of now, and you’re probably going to be a National, but don’t get too married to it,” King told reporters once he was selected.

King spent two years at Division II Wingate (N.C.) University before transferring to Wake Forest, explaining, “that was my only offer out of high school.” Going from D II baseball, then to D 1, and the 10th overall pick in the draft is quite a journey.

“If you asked me three years ago if I would’ve been in the draft, period,” King explained, “I would’ve said probably not. And let alone be a top-10 pick and be in an organization that values youth development as much as they do. I think it’s just surreal the fact that I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m glad I didn’t know it was going to happen, because it’s just kind of better that way. So I’m just super-thankful for the opportunity and the Nationals taking a risk on me and they won’t regret it, for sure.”

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

“If you would have told me yesterday I would have been a top 10 pick,” he added, “I wouldn’t have believed you and it’s a reality today.”

Seeing him make the leap from Wingate to Wake Forest helped convince Nationals’ scouts he was the right pick who could make the transition to pro ball as well.

“In terms of what Seaver has done,” Senior Director, Amateur Scouting Brad Ciolek said, “… in terms of taking all of these leaps, that is one criteria we always look for, not just obviously with our first pick but also our top few selections.”

“I think I’m the rawest player and the guy who has the highest ceiling in the draft,” King told reporters last night, “and I kind of take pride in that and I’m willing to work and become the best player possible.”

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