PROSPECT REVIEW: YOHANDY MORALES

Age on opening day 2025: 23

How acquired: Drafted in second round in 2023 from the University of Miami (Fla.)

Ranking: No. 9 per MLB Pipeline, No. 7 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

PROSPECT REVIEW: ROBERT HASSELL III

Age on opening day 2025: 23

How acquired: Traded with MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, James Wood, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell in August 2022; originally drafted No. 8 overall by Padres in 2020 from Independence High School in Thompson’s Station, Tenn.

Ranking: No. 13 per MLB Pipeline, No. 14 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

With the minor league season over, the Nationals player development staff has turned its attention to the various offseason leagues and which young prospects will participate in the coming months.

The official rosters for the Arizona Fall League were announced yesterday, with seven Nationals prospects set to play for the Salt River Rafters: outfielder Robert Hassell III, third baseman Cayden Wallace, catcher Maxwell Romero Jr., right-handers Michael Cuevas and Chase Solesky, and left-handers Matt Cronin and Dustin Saenz.

Hassell is the highest-rated player of the group, ranked as the Nats’ No. 9 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 14 by Baseball America. The 23-year-old returns to the AFL for the third straight season after only playing in two games before breaking the hamate bone in his right hand in 2022 (the same year he was acquired by the Nats in the blockbuster Juan Soto and Josh Bell trade with the Padres) and impressing in 20 games last year.

Finally healthy as a non-roster invitee to spring training, Hassell entered this season with high hopes. He started the year strong at Double-A Harrisburg, but another hand/wrist injury limited him to 85 games between the Senators, High-A Wilmington and Triple-A Rochester.

Across the three levels, he slashed .241/.319./.328 with a .647 OPS, five home runs and 28 RBIs in just 362 plate appearances. So the Nats want him to get more at-bats this fall before spring training next year.

As the final week of the major league season gets underway, the Nationals took some time this afternoon to honor some of their top minor league players at the conclusion of the season on the farm.

The Nationals today announced the winners of their 2024 minor league awards, with those not already on the major league roster joining the team in D.C. for a pregame ceremony before the series opener against the Royals:

* Hitter of the Year – Dylan Crews
* Pitcher of the Year – Travis Sykora
* Defensive Player of the Year – Elijah Green
* Baserunner of the Year – Darren Baker
* Nationals Way Award – Daylen Lile and Brad Lord

Although Crews, 22, is currently playing every day with the Nationals, the top prospect in the sport, per MLB Pipeline, had a strong season in the minors leading up to his major league promotion.

He finished his 2024 minor league campaign hitting .270 with 21 doubles, six triples, 13 home runs, 68 RBIs, 36 walks, 25 stolen bases and 60 runs scored in 100 games between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester. He ranked in the top four in Washington’s system in extra-base hits (second, 40), triples (second), slugging percentage (third, .451), OPS (third, .793), RBIs (third), doubles (tied for third), home runs (fourth), average (fourth) and stolen bases (tied for fourth) prior to his big league call-up on Aug. 26.

As the first week of the new year comes to a close, we’ve done our fair share of looking back at the Nationals’ 2023 season and ahead to the 2024 campaign. At the major league level.

During this week’s “The Hot Stove Show” on MASN All Access (which you can watch here), Brendan Mortensen and I talked a lot about the Nats’ top prospects in the minor league system and what to expect from some of them this year.

That got me thinking: We haven’t really looked back at the most significant stories from last year on the farm.

So to briefly coincide with Mark Zuckerman’s “Most significant stories of 2023” series from the week leading up New Year’s Day, here are seven of the most important headlines from the Nationals’ minor league side of the past year …

1) Dylan Crews drafted No. 2 overall
This one is the most obvious selection. At this time a year ago, one of the main focuses heading into the season was who the Nationals would select with the No. 2 pick in the MLB Draft.

When the Nationals selected outfielder Elijah Green with the fifth-overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, it was thought to be a steal for the rebuilding club.

How did MLB Pipeline’s No. 3 draft prospect fall to the Nats at No. 5? This would be the second year in a row one of the top high school bats seemingly slipped to the Nats after Brady House fell to them at No. 11 overall in the previous summer’s draft.

After posting a .939 OPS with four doubles, two homers and nine RBIs in 12 Rookie-level Florida Complex League games last year, we got the first glimpse of what Green brings to the table during his 75 games at Single-A Fredericksburg this year. And we potentially saw why four teams passed on him in the 2022 draft that made him available to the Nats at No. 5.

Green, who just turned 20 this last week, flashed his athletic skill set that made him a top draft prospect. He is an elite, yet raw athlete with speed, power and a strong arm. Per MLB Pipeline, his power (60), run (70), arm (60) and field (60) are all above average on a 20-80 grading scale.

He stole 30 bases in 35 attempts with the FredNats while also posting a .982 fielding percentage in 607 innings in center field.

Last month, the Nationals promoted longtime front office staffer Eddie Longosz to vice president and assistant general manager of player development and administration after spending the last 13 years in the club’s scouting department, most recently as the director of scouting operations for the last eight.

Before the promotion, Longosz, a D.C. native, assisted general manager Mike Rizzo on all aspects of the organization's amateur, professional and international scouting operations.

That means he is now in charge of developing the players in the Nats’ farm system that he helped scout and draft.

The upper echelon of the farm system is now loaded, especially with position players, thanks to high draft picks, numerous trades and impressive international signings over the last three years, all with Longosz’s input.

At the top of the board is top prospect Dylan Crews, this year’s No. 2 overall draft pick, reigning national champion from LSU and Golden Spikes Award winner. The other recent first-round picks include third baseman and No. 3 prospect Brady House (No. 11 overall pick in 2021) and outfielder and No. 5 prospect Elijah Green (No. 5 overall pick in 2022).

The Nationals decided to promote from within when selecting a new farm director. The club today named Eddie Longosz as vice president and assistant general manager of player development and administration, giving a longtime front office member the opportunity to now oversee the entire minor league operation.

Longosz, 37, has worked for the Nationals since 2010 and spent the last eight seasons as director of scouting operations. In that role, he assisted general manager Mike Rizzo on all aspects of the club’s amateur, professional and international scouting operations.

This promotion moves Longosz into a new area, one the organization has been trying to improve for some time. When longtime farm director Doug Harris was forced to leave baseball in 2020 while fighting an ongoing battle with cancer, his longtime assistant Mark Scialabba formally took over a role he essentially had already held for several years. Two years later, the team made veteran scout De Jon Watson director of player development, tasked with overhauling a farm system that was undergoing massive change following the trades of Juan Soto, Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and others for prospects.

The Nats parted ways with Watson shortly after this season ended, though, making him one of a number of experienced baseball operations staffers who either were let go, resigned or retired. Now they turn to Longosz to take over a critical job for a franchise counting on several top prospects to make their major league debuts in the next few years.

“Eddie Longosz has been integral to our organization’s success over the past 14 years,” Rizzo said in the team’s statement announcing the promotion. “He is a tireless worker with extensive knowledge of our minor league players, coaches and system as a whole. He developed strong relationships with many of our current players during the draft process and has earned not only their trust, but the trust of those around them.

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