Five Washington Nationals prospects performing well

We are going to take a look at some of the Washington Nationals hottest prospects

It is very fun to stay updated on the progress of the Nationals top prospects. Over the past couple months, we have done a couple stock reports on the Nats prospect pool. Right now, a lot of the Nationals top prospects are playing well, so I wanted to highlight some of the best performers on the farm. We will look at a number of guys, from top prospects to interesting stories.

Travis Sykora, RHP (A+):

It only feels right to start this list with the Nationals top prospect Travis Sykora. Since coming back from offseason hip surgery, Sykora has been cartoonishly dominant. In 19 innings, Sykora has a 0.47 ERA, 38 strikeouts, five walks and four hits allowed. He has yet to allow a run in High-A, and should be Double-A bound with a couple more good starts.

Sykora’s pitch mix is just overwhelming for hitters in the lower minor leagues. He has a mid to upper 90’s fastball, a wipeout slider and a dominant splitter. If that was not enough, he also has good control and a deceptive delivery. Sykora is one of the best pitching prospects in the game.

Adam Bloebaum, LHP (A+):

It is hard to find two more different prospects than Travis Sykora and Adam Bloebaum. Unlike Sykora, Bloebaum is not highly touted. He was an undrafted free agent out of the University of Washington. However, he has put up phenomenal numbers in Low-A and High-A so far as a reliever. Bloebaum has a 0.42 ERA across 17 appearances, totaling 21.2 innings.

While the 24 year old is facing much younger hitters, the results are still impressive. However, the most interesting thing about Bloebaum is his story. Along with being a pitcher, Bloebaum is also an engineer for Driveline. He does a lot of biomechanics work, some of which he details on his twitter page, which is very interesting. If pitching doesn’t work out at the higher levels, the Nats should hire Bloebaum to their player development team.

Brady House, 3B (AAA):

Back to more famous prospects, Brady House has been raking in Triple-A lately. In his last 10 games, House has a .357 average with three homers, five doubles and a 1.103 OPS. For the season, his OPS is now up to an impressive .863. After falling off top 100 lists, MLB Pipeline and Baseball America put him back on their lists after his strong run this season.

With how he is playing, an MLB call up could come any day now. He is doing everything he needs to do now. His walks are up, his strikeouts are down, he is tapping into more power and his defense is improving at the hot corner. The Nationals need a right handed power bat in their lineup badly, and House fits the bill.

Angel Feliz, SS (FCL):

Angel Feliz is the most promising Dominican teenager in the Nationals organization. After signing for $1.7 million in January of 2024, Feliz was great in the Dominican Summer League. He hit .310 with an .849 OPS last year.

That was enough to convince the Nats to bring him stateside. Feliz has picked up right where he left off in the Florida Coast League. He is hitting .333 with an .887 OPS in rookie ball. Feliz has not yet shown the power he was known for when he was signed, but he is making a lot of contact and is taking his share of walks.

He looks like an advanced hitter that could be a sleeper in the organization. It will be interesting to see how the Nats handle his development. Will he get a taste of Low-A this year, or will the Nationals keep him in the FCL to develop?

Alex Clemmey, LHP (A+):

Another teenager that is impressing is Alex Clemmey. Despite being taken in the 2023 draft, Clemmey is still 19 and won’t turn 20 until July. He was very young for his class and he was also raw. However, he has an electric arm and that is why the Guardians took him in the second round. The Nationals also coveted that big arm when they acquired him in the Lane Thomas trade.

Clemmey is a fascinating prospect to me. He has some of the best stuff in the system, but his control is a big issue. On the season, he is striking out 13.20 batters per nine innings, but his BB/9 sits at an alarming 7.49. He is going to have to refine that control if he is to succeed at in the upper minors and big leagues. However, the stuff is so electric and guys just can’t hit him.

He has an mid to upper 90’s 4-seam fastball, a sinker in the same velocity range to get ground balls, and a wipeout slider who’s shape he can manipulate well. Clemmey gets strikeouts and limits hard contact. If he can even become a fringy strike thrower, he can be a dominant reliever or mid-rotation starter. If he becomes an average strike-thrower, he has a chance to be a top of the line starter.

There are a number of other guys I could talk about here, but the top five most intriguing guys right now. Some honorable mentions go to Yohandy Morales, Jose Feliz, Robert Cranz, and Cade Cavalli. All of those guys have been performing as well.

It is an exciting time down on the farm. A lot of the big guns are performing, but there are also some fun, under the radar stories to look at.