Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ goals at the 2024 MLB Winter Meetings…
NATIONALS WIN DRAFT LOTTERY; NO. 1 OVERALL PICK:
For the first time since 2010 when they selected Bryce Harper No. 1 overall the year after taking Stephen Strasburg at No. 1 in ‘09, Washington’s Nationals have the top pick in the draft after they won the MLB Draft Lottery last night at the Winter Meetings in Dallas, TX.
It’s the third time in franchise history that the club has the No. 1 pick.
Going into this year’s lottery, the Nats had a 10.2% chance of getting the top pick, but they won the lottery and will once again choose first in what GM Mike Rizzo routinely refers to as his personal Super Bowl, the MLB Draft.
Rizzo and Co. in the Nationals’ front office have to be thrilled with the latest development as they continue the reboot of the organization they kicked off at the trade deadline in 2021.
Picking first overall in the draft is a great way to quicken a return to contention…
Here’s how things will look on MLB Draft Day ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/6TikJvRoCf
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) December 10, 2024
“Obviously skills and tools are important, but you have to delve deeper into it,” Rizzo said of his approach to the top pick in an MLB Network interview after the Nationals won the draft lottery.
“A lot of pressure on [the] 1/1 [pick] and going into this thing,” he acknowledged. “This is my fourth 1/1 pick of my career, and you’re looking for character guys that can play the game and fit seamlessly into the organization culture-wise, development-wise, and you’re going for the best, most impactful player you can find.”
Asked what he learned from the previous three 1/1 picks (including the 2005 No. 1 pick when he was still with Arizona), Rizzo said it’s important not to just focus on one player.
“I think that what I’ve learned from those picks is don’t get too ultra-focused on one player in one draft season,” the GM explained. “Have a wide scope and really scour the country.
“And especially with the draft pools being so large and allocating money differently, you can really do some interesting things and impact your draft throughout the entirety of it.”
For someone who loves scouting and the draft, Rizzo was genuinely excited about getting to make another No. 1 pick.
“It’s so interesting and intriguing on so many different levels. A lot of different ways we can go,” he told the MLB Network hosts.
“We’re obviously very excited about where we’re at. We’ve got a good system in place right now.
“Getting the first pick is just going to add to that and add value to our organization.
“We’re extremely excited, we’re lucky, and we don’t want to be in this position ever again.”
Matt Adams just told us that he bumped into Mike Rizzo at the Winter Meetings at 2:30 today and was asked to represent the Nats at the draft lottery. Had no plans to be at the lottery before today. Amazing.
He’s at the meetings trying to network to get a coaching gig and he saw…
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) December 10, 2024
WINTER MEETINGS UPDATE:
Washington’s 16-win improvement from 2022 to 2023 (55 to 71 wins) was really a small step forward for their rebooting/rebuilding organization, but a second consecutive 71-win season in 2024 was still seen by the club as a positive development, especially considering who the team had on the roster this past year.
“We got really, really young last year,” Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez told reporters when he spoke at 2024’s Winter Meetings in Dallas, TX on Monday.
How young? As noted in the Nats’ 2024 Season in Review:
- The Nationals saw a total of 713 games played by players 24 or younger this season, the most in the National League and second-most in Major League Baseball (Detroit, 740).
- 84 of the Nationals’ 162 starts on the mound this year were made by a pitcher 26 years old or younger, the third-most in the National League behind Miami (126), Cincinnati (113), and tied with Arizona (84).
Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
According to Baseball-Reference, the ‘24 Nats’ batters were the second-youngest (average age 26.4) in the majors, and the roster as a whole had an average age of 25.9 years old, tied for the youngest in the majors, with 15 of their players debuting in the majors last season, the, “… third-most [rookies] they’ve used in a season since 2005, trailing only 2021 (17) and 2006 (18).”
“For those guys to do what they did last year, it’s a testament to how hard they worked and how hard they play,” Martinez said.
“We’ve got a good core group. I know that we’re working diligently to get better, and with our young guys, we are going to get better.”
The experience their young core (which includes James Wood, Dylan Crews, CJ Abrams, Luis García, Jr., Keibert Ruiz, MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, DJ Herz, Mitchell Parker, etc.) got last year was one of the biggest developments for the seven-year manager in the nation’s capital.
“As I talked about last year at the end of the year,” he said, “… the experience our young players got, I think the growth that they’ve had last year is definitely going to help us in 2025.
“We’ve got a young group, a really good talented group. I’m looking forward to getting back out there with them again in Spring Training and getting ready for another season.”
Before they get back out there, the club is, of course, looking to make additions to try to address the needs they’ve identified in their offseason analysis.
“Look, we’ve got a young core. We’re really not going to mess around with what we have right now, and I don’t want to take away anything from the kids that we’ve got coming up as well,” Martinez explained.
“But we do need to add some veteran guys. We’re exploring all kinds of options. I know we’ve talked to quite a few players already. We’re engaged with some things.
“As you know, [GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo], he’s going to go out there and work diligently to get us better.
“Right now I’ve been in conversations with some players about what’s coming up for Spring Training and watching them work out and watching them hit and all kinds of stuff.
Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images
“My focus is on what we have right now.
“If we add players to help us, that would be great.”
First base? Third base? DH? Where are they looking to add to their lineup?
“We’re definitely looking for some power bats at both corner spots,” Martinez said.
“Maybe a DH spot. We’ll see what transpires.”
As for what sort of bat they want to land this winter?
“A 40-home run guy,” Martinez said. “Hey, if we have to platoon, we’ll platoon. But like I said, we’ll see what’s available and we’ll see what we come up with.”
“We’re working diligently. We’re looking at the free agent market. We’re actually looking at some trade opportunities as well. We’ll see what we can come up with.”