Notes and quotes on the Next-Wave-Nationals in Spring Training this year…
NEW AGE RENDONS AND ZIMS:
Davey Martinez said early this spring he wanted to see the Naionals’ top prospects go out and compete this spring and fight for a spot on the big league roster.
“Right now there’s an opportunity for all these guys, and I want them to come to camp and try to compete and win the job,” the manager said.
“There’s really nothing set in stone,” as far as the Opening Day roster, he said. “I want these guys to come here and try to win a job.”
Whether or not the Nats’ young, up-and-coming players actually make the 26-Man roster out of Spring Training, they’re getting an opportunity to test themselves against big league talent and show the Nationals’ brass how far they’ve come in terms of their development.
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Dylan Crews (No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s list of the club’s top prospects for 2024), James Wood (No. 2), Brady House (No. 3), Robert Hassell III (No. 8), and more have had an opportunity this spring.
Their future manager when they make it to the nation’s capital has been excited all spring about getting to see how they’ve all grown and improved since most of the top prospects with the club in camp finished up the 2023 campaign at Double-A in the Nats’ system.
“We’ve been saying it: good things are going to happen,” Martinez said late last month, as quoted on MLB.com.
“And we really believe that. We’ve got talented young players that are hungry, that are really starting to understand who they are.”
“I’m trying to give them opportunities to come up here and play a little bit, and they’re all doing really well,” he added.
“I’m really excited about the future here, I really am. Things are looking bright.”
How soon will the future arrive?
Will the top prospects like Crews or Wood be up in the majors any time soon? And which other future big leaguers have stood out this spring?
GM and President of Baseball ops Mike Rizzo answered all those questions and more in an MLB Network Radio interview this past weekend.
Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images
Rizzo did not rule out the possibility either Crews or Wood could debut in the major leagues either at the start or early on in the 2024 campaign.
“I’m not going to rule out anything happening with those two guys,” Rizzo told hosts Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette, “… and sprinkle in a couple other names down there too. These guys are all very quick-coming-to-the-big-leagues type of guys, they have absolutely no panic in their system at all, there’s nothing too big for them. You see James Wood — he’s got that same kind of demeanor that the great ones we have had here in the past, the [Anthony] Rendons and the [Ryan] Zimmermans, and those type of calm, cool demeanors. No matter how fast the game gets, these guys seem to slow the game down and I think that they possess that gene. I’m not going to rule out anything, when we feel that they are ready to burst out and come to the big leagues and impact us we’ve never been afraid to bring young kids to the big leagues, and I think that James Wood and House — and you’ve mentioned some of the other guys that get a little less publicity — but [Trey] Lipscomb is a guy that’s really shown up well this camp and some young pitchers like [Jackson] Rutledge and that group of guys have really taken a step forward.”
Rizzo also talked excitedly about all the homegrown talent assembled at Triple-A Rochester, where Rutledge, who was optioned to the club’s top affiliate this past weekend, will start the season along with other pitchers like Joan Adon, Mitchell Parker, Cole Henry, and more.
“When you look at our Triple-A rotation,” Rizzo said, “… we’ve never five kind of homegrown prospect-type of pitchers in Triple-A ready to facilitate us in the big leagues so I think that says a lot about where the organization is at, where our system has come from and where it’s going. So we are really excited about that.”
Don’t sleep on Trey Lipscomb either.
The No. 16 prospect in the Nats’ system, according to MLB Pipeline’s scouts, is a 23-year-old, 2022 3rd Round pick who put up a solid .272/.311/.419 line with 29 doubles and 14 home runs in 129 games and 452 plate appearances between A-ball and Double-A last season. Lipscomb also earned a Minor League Gold Glove Award at third base in his first season of pro ball.
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Martinez has been really impressed with Lipscomb this spring.
“Man, the amazing thing is, he can play the middle of the field — second base and shortstop,” Martinez said, as quoted by MLB.com’s Bill Ladson:
“He has looked really good at second base — turning double plays, staying in there and making some good decisions. But he also looked real good at short. If I need a backup shortstop for CJ Abrams, he could fit the bill. Obviously, we have [Ildemaro] Vargas. He could be another guy who could play short.”
Rizzo praised Lipscomb’s work as well when asked for a scouting report on the infielder.
“He was a draft pick of ours a couple of years ago out of the University of Tennessee, a good fundamentally sound player that can play a whole lot of positions,” the GM said.
“He’s got terrific hands and feet defensively, he’s got a good arm, he’s an average runner, with a good feel in the batter’s box. He puts the bat on the ball with some pop, so he has got a really great toolset. He was the Gold Glove winner of all the minor leagues at third base last year, and has really as much baseball IQ as anybody we have in the organization right now, and just a good, solid player that can play all over the place, but I think is better than a utility player.
“So I think if we do bring him to the big leagues, Davey [Martinez] will be able to use him in multiple spots, but multiple spots on multiple days is the way I think this guy will be used, because he’s not a guy that — his toolset is too good to be sitting on the bench for multiple days. So this guy’s got to play.
“The fact that he can play multiple positions I think allows the manger the freedom to do that.”
Martinez told reporters recently he plans to keep as many of the prospects he can in camp for as long as he can to see how the top players perform leading up to March 28th and the regular season opener.
“I like watching them play, I’m not going to lie to you,” Martinez said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman:
“And I want to keep them here, keep the conversations going as long as I possibly can.
“They’re doing well, and they’re playing the game the right way.
“We’ll keep them here as long as (general manager Mike Rizzo) allows me to keep them, and then we’ll do something else.”
BONUS QUOTE:
Rizzo was also asked in his MLB Network Radio interview to tell the show’s hosts about a lesser-known prospect who has made an impression this spring that all Nationals (and all baseball fans) should keep an eye on.
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“It’s tough to narrow it down to one because we do have such a good group out here,” Rizzo said, “… but I think the guy that gets kind of bypassed often is Daylen Lile. This is a young outfielder that when we drafted him as an outfielder he had to have Tommy John surgery so it blew a whole season of his development, and you couple that with the late start with COVID and all of that stuff, so this guy has been kind of on the back burner, not of his own volition, but because of circumstances and injuries. But this guy can really hit. He can really hit. He’s a guy that reminded a lot of us out of the draft — like a Michael Brantley type of stroke where he has gap-to-gap power with occasional pull.
“He runs well, and he really has great presence in the batter’s box, so Lile is a guy that — it doesn’t surprise me, but I think it surprises a lot of people when they see him play and they look at his bat and say, ‘Wow, this guy looks like he’s going to be a player.’ And I agree. I think he’s going to be a great player for us, and a guy that will help us in the big leagues in the future and impact us.”