Here’s the four month check-in with all our top 20 (and some) prospects. This mostly does a July focus on the prospects being mentioned, but sometimes mentions season-long stats, which are as of 8/1/25 as best as possible.
This is our prospects as I ranked them prior to the season: If i was to re-rank prospects today a big chunk of these guys would be graduated or moved. Plus, we picked up at least six guys who will feature in our top 30 at the trade deadline; i’ll put those after the top 20 in a special section to highlight their pre-Nats stats.
#1. Dylan Crews OF (CF): Missed all of May and all of June with oblique issue, but is finally doing a rehab assignment in AAA and should be back soon. Was not hitting well before hand. Temperature: on ice, 2026 possibly a lost season.
#2 Travis Sykora RHP (Starter): What a turnaround; in a month’s time he went from a promotion to AA to needing Tommy John surgery. Temperature: on ice til 2027.
#3 Brady House 3B: Is now firmly entrenched as the 3B starter, improved his slash line in July to .270/.276/.392. Only walked once in the month; that has to improve. Needs more power too but he’s trending well. Temperature: Hot for making majors, warming up in the MLB.
#4 Jarlin Susana RHP (Starter). Seems to have dodged the TJ bullet so far with his UCL Sprain; done a few rehab starts and should be back in full-time action in AA by mid-August. Temperature: hopefully warming up soon.
# 5 Seaver King SS. Another awful month for King: .221/.282/.286. I just can’t help but think that he’s been over promoted. Yeah he was a 10th overall pick, from a big conference. But he’s just not cutting it in AA. It sure looks like we got screwed in this draft: Konnor Griffin (taken just before King) is now the #1 prospect in the entire minors per Baseball America and MLBpipeline. Rainer (taken just after us): #34 by MLBpipeline in Detroit’s system. Montgomery (the guy I really wanted): #26, in AA as well, .800 ops for the season jumping up 3 levels instead of getting over-promoted to AA before he was ready. *sigh*. Temperature: cold.
# 6 Yohandy Morales 1B got hot in a hurry in AAA: .292/.360/.510 slash in July. Nice. If he could present as a legitimate 1B/DH type in the majors, we could stop buying veteran retreads and hope they turn into a trade asset. His picture reminds me of the great Michael Morse, by the way. Temperature: warming up nicely.
#7 Cayden Wallace 2B/3B: improved in July from an awful June but is still bad: .219/.301/.356. MLBPipeline has dropped him 20-some spots in their rankings, and I can’t believe i ranked him #7 in the system this spring. Phew. Temperature: ice cold.
# 8 Cade Cavalli RHP (Starter): 0-5 with a 7.50 ERA, a 1.71 WHIP and a .340 BAA. We’re running out of excuses for Cavalli upon his return from 1.5 years off. Tommy John recovery isn’t 100% guaranteed. Temperature: Not impressing.
#9 Alex Clemmey LHP (Starter): only made 3 starts in July thanks to going to the Futures game. He took a small step back in those three starts but still was solid for the month. I wonder why the team hasn’t promoted him this year; its not like Wilmington is in a playoff race. Temperature: staying hot.
# 10 Robert Hassell III OF (CF): After getting demoted from MLB after his initial call up, Hassell didn’t do what many do (which is struggle, pout, or otherwise underperform): no: he frigging tore up AAA this month: .341/.439/.473. This has earned him a return to the majors and more playing time. Can’t ask for anything more. Temperature: scorching in July, now back in the show.
#11 Caleb Lomavita C: Not a great july: .246/.269/.338. First full pro season as the full time C in Wilmington may be wearing on him. Temperature: cool.
# 12 Luke Dickerson SS: has hit a wall in Low-A: he slashed just .197/.244/.276 for the month. He’s still starting, despite the promotion of rising prospect Angel Feliz. After such a promising start I sure hope he’s not hitting a wall already. Temperature: cold
# 13 Andry Lara RHP (Reliever): has been kept on the 26-man roster as the “Tanner Rainey” of 2025: the 8th guy out of 8 who only goes into the game if the team is winning or losing by more than 6 runs. Lots of “8-GF in an 8-1 loss” type logs. And he’s getting hit. While in AAA in July he wasn’t exactly Sandy Koufax either. Eh: he’s still only 22. Temperature: cold.
#14 Tyler Stuart RHP (Starter): He left his 6/28/25 start without getting out of the first, and it was announced this week he’s undergone Tommy John. Poof: see you in 2027. Temperature: on ice for a while.
#15 Daylen Lile OF (CF): he’s now exhausted rookie status with more than 150 PAs, and he’s holding down a starting job in the Nats outfield. He now has a 97 OPS+ for the season. Can’t argue with that for a 22yr old. Temperature: hot for getting there, warming up a bit.
#16 Kevin Bazzell C: finally found his footing at the plate this month: .288/.383/.327. Where’s the power? Zero homers this season in Low-A as a college Jr draftee from a big school. The team is keeping him as the Catcher nearly full time; just a few DH games so far. Temperature: warming.
#17 Jake Bennett LHP (Starter): They babied the hell out of him in his come back, but he’s now off rehab starts and back in AA where he belongs. First two AA starts? Not good. Shelled. He needs more time.. Temperature: cold for now, hopefully warms up.
#18 Brad Lord RHP (Starter/Reliever): basically the Nats’ 2nd best pitcher this year, and now with Soroka traded and Williams hurt will be in the rotation going forward. 18th rounder; in the rotation. Temperature: Red Hot all around.
#19 Angel Feliz SS: struggled in the last month of the FCL season (.191/.304/.294) but promoted up to Low-A nonetheless. He’ll split time at SS with Dickerson the rest of the way. Temperature: cooled off
#20 Andrew Pinckney OF (CF or corner): had a very solid AAA month: .284/.363/.556. 6 homers in 21 games. He can play any of the three OF positions and has essentially split his time almost equally amongst the three this season for Rochester. Is there something here? Temperature: warming
In honor of the trade deadline. here’s the 10 prospects we’ve acquired with their season stats and levels. They’re listed in rough order of their prospect ranking:
- Linan, Sean Paul: SP: Age 20. 3-3, 2.78 ERA, 1.09 whip as a starter in low- and high-A.
- Franklin, Christian: OF (CF) Age 25, .265/.393/.427 in AAA. 8 HR, 12 SB playing CF fulltime
- Swan, Eriq: SP Age 23 4-3, 4.43 ERA, 1.38 whip as a starter in High-A. 77/46 K/BB in 69ip.
- Cruz, Ronny: SS Age 18. .270/.314/.431 in AZL. 6 triples, 2 homers; lots of gap power.
- Randall, Josh: SP Age 22. 5-5, 3.92 ERA, 1.32 whip in Low-A this season.
- Beeter, Clayton: RP Age 26: 3.10 ERA in AAA as a setup/closer type: 33/16 K/BB in 20 ip.
- Sales, R.J.: SP Age 22: 4-3, 2.71 ERA, 1.12 whip in 16 Low-A starts.
- Eder, Jake RP (lefty): Age 26: 4.91 ERA in 8 MLB appearances this season.
- Martinez, Browm, OF, Age 18, .404/.507/.632 slash line in 18 games this year but on 60-day dl
- Brown, Sam: 1B age 23: .243/.350/.358 as a full-time 1B in AA this year.
The first 6 of these 10 guys are already in our top 30 on both BA and MLBpipeline lists. I like Sales and Martinez for the back-end of that list at some point. Eder might be a 4-A lefty reliever, and Brown might be a throw in. But we got 10 guys into the system in a week, which is great.
Notables #20 and above by the level they mostly played in July 2025
In MLB:
- Six of the Eight relievers we now have in our MLB bullpen were Washington grown: Rutledge, Henry, Ferrer, Brzycky, Ribalta, and Lara. That’s awesome. We complain a lot about not developing players, and yeah its “just the bullpen,” but this is meaningful.
- Seven of the eight relievers in the bullpen were in the minors for this team at some point this year and have been promoted up. That’s also great to see; the farm is working.
- Now, have they been awesome? No, not really.
in AAA:
- He was a MLFA in the off-season, so not entirely a “prospect” but Nick Schnell had himself a month in AAA: .385/.449/.854 (!) for an ops of 1.303. He hit 11 homers in the month. Wow. Where does this guy fit into the OF hierarchy?
- #31 Chapparo hit just .203 for the month but still managed to slug his way to an OPS of .849.
- #32 Baker still hanging around: he hit over .300 for the month again. He’ll get his shot.
- #28 Alvarez: I know he isn’t sexy, but he seems to deserve a shot. Maybe the next time we need a starter we can add him to see what he can do.
In AA:
- #101 Brandon Boissiere certainly is putting a kickstart into his career: .324/.444/.432 for the month in AA after putting up a couple years of mendoza line BAs.
- #25 Made: remember when i was all excited b/c he hit the crap out of the ball one month? July: .156/.239/.297. Ouch.
- I was so down on Riley Cornelio last off-season I didn’t even have him in my top 100. Now? He might be the Nats minor league pitcher of the year. July in AA: 4 starts, 1.66 ERA, 0.88 whip, .147 BAA. He’s a top 25 prospect right now, might get better.
In High-A:
- #39 Sam Peterson got promoted and was basically High-A’s best hitter in June. Then, he was also the best Wilmington hitter in july, going /317/.446/.600 in that hitter’s death park in Delaware.
- SS Courtland Lawson (born in Reston!) had a nice month, slashing .297/.358/.446 … but one has to wonder what the plan is here? He was in AA all last year, barely hit, got demoted to high-A to make way for 1st rounder King, and now he’s 25 and still in A-ball in his 4th pro season.
- #79 Gavin Dugas went just 5-63 for the month (.079 BA) and, well, might be in serious trouble as a 25yr old in A-ball who was a $20k senior sign.
- #42 Cranz has picked up where he left off in Low-A. Maybe we try him as a starter?
In Low-A:
- #87 Jorgelys Mota was hitting .400 for the month and starting to push his way into top 30 area in BA and MLB when he hit the DL this month.
- Holy cow, Vaquero is hitting! .329/.361/.553 with 3 homers and a ton of XBH for the month.
- #67 Yoel Tejeda Jr and Davian Garcia (who I didn’t even rank in my top 100 pre-season) both pitched their way out of Low-A as 2024 draft picks. Garcia has the bigger draft bonus as a 6th rounder but Tejeda has had a great season too. Both now showing up in the 25-30 range of prospect lists and will finish out the year in High-A.
- #23 Elijah Green is back in full-season ball after destroying the FCL. Still only hitting .220 but his Ks are down. Not sure where they can go with this guy.
In FCL:
- The FCL is over; lots of these guys only got 5-6 innings for the month so difficult to pass judgement. Most of the guys moved up at the end of the season were more age based than performance based: the likes of Johnson, Farias, Otanez, Kane, and Montero were all 23 and still in Rookieball, so they had to move up.
- Last month’s darlings Sir Jamison Jones and Dashyll Tejada both struggled to finish out FCL. Wish the season was longer.
In the DSL, we can’t really do monthly splits so here’s a quick look at the six hitters in my top 100 pre-season. Then I’ll add in the guys newly impressing and starting to pop up in top 30 lists.
- #22 Victor Hurtado is still not hitting, slashing just .223/.370/232 for the year.
- #29 Brayan Cortesia is still crushing: .344/.459/.400.
- #37 Daniel Hernandez continues to be highly regarded on major prospect shops but it isn’t showing on the field: ..215/.270/.252.
- #66: Rony Bello has taken a nose dive since a strong start: .224/.333..343.
- #70 Hector Liriano: hitting .185 as a 1B? that’s not going to cut it.
- #103 Juan Obispo has maintained his solid line all season: .317/.388/.450.
Meanwhile, Marconi German, a 2025IFa, has exploded onto the scene: .282/.485/.538 so far this year in DSL with 7 homers as the starting SS for the team. He might be the find of the season.
On the pitching side, our DSL’s rotation ace Juan Reyes continues to lead the staff in whip despite being a starter: 9starts he’s got a 2.51 ERA and a shutout this season.
That’s July.