Most Impactful Draft Ever for Nats?: We Think So.

It certainly didn't come easily, but the Nationals have successfully signed their top 4 draft picks from the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft. All-in-all, Nats dropped just under $17 million on this year's draft, according to Adam Kilgore on Twitter. Here's the incredibly quick breakdown on the top 4:

Anthony Rendon was one of the top bats in the 2011 draft, and he successfully signed with a $6 million signing bonus, and $7.2 million guaranteed over 4 years. He'll quickly find a spot within the organization, but not at 3rd base. That position is already spoken for.

Alex Meyer, the right handed star pitcher from the University of Kentucky, announced to the world over his Twitter account (@AlexMeyer17) that he was indeed a Nats player. He's set to earn $2 million from the Lerners.

Brian Goodwin is a bit of a different story. He was dismissed from the University of North Carolina because of academic violations and moved to Miami Dade College before being drafted by the Nats as a compensation pick for not re-signing Adam Dunn. He's due $3 million in guaranteed dollars. Considering Adam Dunn's disastrous season in Chicago, we don't think many Nats fans will hate this signing.

The biggest wildcard coming into the deadline was Matt Purke, who the Nats drafted in the 3rd round. Purke was selected 14th overall in the 2009 draft by the Texas Rangers and declined to attend TCU. He thought he was increasing his stock for a later draft, but a little shoulder trouble in his throwing arm plummeted his draft stock. We think his family will get by, though.

According to Baseball America's Jim Callis, Purke will earn around $4.4 million over 4 years, which includes a big league deal. The big league deal is huge, because it immediately puts him on the 40-man roster. If his shoulder issues get resolved quickly, he could be a game changer fairly quickly.

This draft was huge for Nats GM Mike Rizzo. There's no way to overstate that. It's possible that the Nats had the best draft of any team in baseball. What do you think, CapBallers and NatsTown? How'd the front office do?

Draft Update

As of 8pm last night the Nationals had come to terms with 20 of their 51 Draft picks, despite the fact that they have only officially announced one signing. Making the "non-announcements" even more ridiculous is that several of these players are already playing in Short Season Auburn.

Let's check out the list of signees - including who is already playing for the Doubledays. (Round - Name - Position - School - Stats in Auburn)

5th Round - Matt Skole - 3B - Georgia Tech - 1 for 12. 2B.
7th Round - Brian Dupra - RHP - Notre Dame - On Active Roster.
10th Round - Manny Rodriguez - RHP - Barry (Fla.) - 1 IP. 1 K.
11th Round - Caleb Ramsey - OF - Houston - 3 for 12. 2 RBI.
12th Round - Blake Monar - LHP - Indiana - On Active Roster.
16th Round - Deion Williams - SS - Redan HS (GA) - Not on Roster.
21st Round - Todd Simko - LHP - Texas A&M - A&M Still in CWS.
22nd Round - Travis Henske - RHP - Arkansas-Little Rock - 1.2 IP. 1 H. 2 K.
23rd Round - Khayyan Norfolk - 2B - Tennessee - 3 for 5. 2B. 4 RBI.
25th Round - Erick Fernandez - C - Georgetown - Not on Roster.
*26th Round - Shawn Pleffner - OF - Tampa - Not on Roster.
27th Round - Bobby Lucas - RHP - GW - Not on Roster.
28th Round - Ken Ferrer - RHP - Elon - Not on Roster.
29th Round - Sean Cotten - C - Tusculum (TN) - Not on Roster.
33rd Round - Trey Karlen - 2B - Tennessee-Martin - Not on Roster.
35th Round - Alex Kreis - RHP - Jamestown (ND) - On Active Roster.
36th Round - Ben Hawkins - LHP - West Florida - Not on Roster.
41st Round - Ben Ortega - 3B - Arizona - 5 for 7. 2B. 1 RBI.
45th Round - Richie Mirowski - RHP - Oklahoma Baptist - On Active Roster.
50th Round - Tony Nix - OF - UC Riverside - Not on Roster.

*Officially Announced

Rizzo is on record as saying the Nationals have "15 contracts pending" - but by my count 10 players who "don't have contracts" are currently playing professional baseball in the Nationals organization. My guess was that the team wanted one big press release as opposed to 19 two-line releases, but that was shot to hell when they announced the signing of Shawn Pleffner yesterday. So my current theory is as follows.... _____?

Anyway, glad to see that we have some pieces already signed and playing ball. Now if only we could get the top 4 picks signed prior to 10 minutes before the August 15th deadline.

Thoughts, CapBallers? Sound off in the comments section!

MLB Draft in Review

The MLB Draft has come and gone, and the first players are beginning to sign on the dotted line. It's time for us to take a brief look at the Nationals Draft haul from top to bottom.

1st Round - #6 Anthony Rendon - 3B
Watching the draft unfold while monitoring twitter was fascinating, especially when Seattle shocked the baseball world by skipping over Rendon (and other bats) to take UVA Standout Danny Hultzen. It was well known that the D'Backs and O's were on the lookout for pitching, and it came as little surprise that the Royals drafted hometown hero, Bubba Starling. But things turned out in the Nationals favor as they drafted Baseball America's #1 prospect going into the draft, the Rice third baseman. As I wrote the other day, expect a long and contentious negotiation ending with a signature before the deadline.

Money Guess? $7 Million

1st Round - #23 Alex Meyer - RHP
The first thing that stands out is Meyer's size, the big right-hander is 6' 9" tall. And if you have ever seen a tall pitcher (think Randy Johnson, Jon Rauch, or Daniel Cabrera [please don't]) you know that they can be tough to hit against. In addition to the fear for the batter, it takes pitchers quite a long time to get comfortable with their body; Randy Johnson was extremely wild in the beginning of his career. After posting ugly +5 ERAs the past two years, Meyer was able to turn it around for his Junior year putting up a 7-5 record wit ha 2.97 ERA. He struck out 110 in just 101 innings while throwing 95-96 MPH with his fastball. Meyer was a target for the Nats with the 6th pick, so to be able to get him and Rendon is a quality first round.

Money Guess? $1.5 Million

Supplemental 1st Round - #34 Brian Goodwin - OF
Goodwin was considered to be the best athlete in the draft by Baseball America. Starting his college career at the University of North Carolina, Goodwin had to transfer to Junior College after academic issues wrecked his eligibility. Capable of playing all outfield positions, Goodwin has the ability to both hit for average and for power.

Money Guess? Slot

3rd Round - #96 Matt Purke - LHP
At the beginning of the 2011 NCAA baseball season, Matt Purke was considered to be a Top 3 player by most organizations only to have a shoulder issue derail part of his season. NCAA Freshman of the Year, Purke went 16-0 with a 3.02 ERA in 2010 only to struggle in 2011. A ballsy move by the Nationals as Purke can re-enter the draft next year, credit must be given to Rizzo and company on this pick - now they only need to shell out the bills it will cost to sign him.

Money Guess? $6 Million.

5th Round - #217 Brian Durpa - RHP
More Rizzo college arms here. The Notre Dame senior has a solid fastball that can reach 95 MPH and a decent slider. Baseball America calls him on of the best senior signs to that point in the draft.

19th Round - #577 Hawtin Buchanan - RHP
Hawtin is a big high school kid that has a lot of potential, but has already committed to attend Ole Miss to start his college career in 2012. It is going to take some money to get the 6' 8", 230 pounder to break that commitment, but it is possible that the Nats can pull an AJ Cole/Robbie Ray and get a late round steal.

28th Round - #847 Ken Ferrer - RHP
Another College Arm, this time from Elon University, he has a fastball that can reach 94 MPH but struggles due to a lack of an "out-pitch".

30th Round - #907 Bryan Harper - LHP
The Nats picked several Scott Boras clients in the first few rounds, but didn't jump at the chance to take his son, Trent (represented by Scott's wife), instead drafting Bryce Harper's brother out of the University of South Carolina. Purely a tip of the hat move for the Nationals.

31st Round - #937 Josh Tobais - SS
Tobais is a "stocky" middle-infielder who Baseball America projects more at second base or center field. Chalk-full of potential, this North Carolina kid is committed to play ball for the Florida Gators and would be a tough sign.

Whew, Thanks to the amazing folks at Baseball America for making this recap happen. And to further analyze the Nats 2011 Draft haul, lets look to expert Jim Callis (once again, from Baseball America) for some responses (from his post-draft chat).

"It's hard to take Rendon when he's not 100 percent physically and when the only medical records you get are what the player and adviser are willing to give you. I understand that. I still think Rendon will be the best player from this draft in the long run."

"I understand why Rendon slid to 6, as mentioned earlier, but the Nationals may have gotten the best player in the draft for the third straight year."

"Impressive haul of talent, to be sure. They got a guy I thought was the best in the draft with the No. 6 pick (Rendon), a guy at No. 23 they would have considered at No. 6 (Meyer), one of the best athletes available (Goodwin) and a guy who entered the year as the third-rated prospect in the whole draft (Purke). My gut feel is that they won't sign Purke, but they'll still have had a very good haul."

Some kind words for the talent drafted by Mike Rizzo and company. Now is the hard part - using the Lerner's money to sign some of these impact, but tough-to-sign players by the deadline on August 15th. Stay tuned to Baseball America's 2011 Nats Database for updates on which players have signed on the dotted line.

Don't forget, it takes years to determine the value of any one draft class, but if the Nats top 4 picks all sign the Nats will be sitting pretty.

Well, CapBallers, what do you think of the draft class? Are you happy that they took some chances? Do you think Purke will sign? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Compensation [UPDATE]

One of the great things about baseball's Collective Bargaining Agreement is that when Small Market (or bad) teams have star players who leave during free agency, those teams get something in return. And thats just what happened for those Nats when Adam Dunn chose to sign a 4 year deal with the White Sox. Regardless of the team Dunn signed with, the Nationals would have received two compensation picks due to Dunn's past performance, but the Nats lucked out in that the White Sox were just out of the woods for "protected pick" status; meaning, they had a good enough record last year that their 1st round pick wasn't protected. It should be noted that the Nats had a protected pick, and therefore lost their 2nd round pick to the Phillies for signing Jayson Werth.


By not trading Dunn midseason last year, the Nats took a chance that they wouldn't even get solid compensation in return if he signed with a struggling team. Anyway, the Nats seem to have won out of this deal, seeing as though as of today the Nats are going to be picking 23rd (White Sox 1st round spot) and 34th overall (1st pick in the Compensation or "Sandwich" round). And lets be honest, imagine getting two top 35 picks for Adam Dunn considering his performance so far this year: .179 AVG, 5 HR, 17 RBI, 78 K in 184 ABs.

And with the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 Draft, the Nationals were able to select 6' 9" RHP Alex Meyer from the University of Kentucky. Obviously the height is the first thing that jumps out, the second being his fastball which he can throw consistently in the upper 90s. MLBNetwork's player evalutation rates his fastball at a 8 (on the 2-8 scouting scale), with his slider projeccted to get to a 6, change up at 6, and control at a 5. According to Adam Kilgore, scouts in the room are elated at his "Jet Fuel"-type fastball. Considering the Nats were thinking about taking him at 6th overall, its a steal to get him all the way down at 23.

[UPDATE - 10:19PM]

With the first pick of the Sandwich round, the Nationals start off by taking OF Brian Goodwin from the Miami Dade College. He hit .382 with 8 HR this year in JuCo action. A very toolsy outfielder with raw power is how the MLBN team describes the speedy Goodwin.

Stay tuned for more MLB Draft coverage tomorrow!

T-Minus Two Hours

So. We are now about two hours away from the start of the 2011 MLB First Year Player Draft, where the Nationals own the 6th pick. By now, you have seen the players targeted by the Nats, and done your research.

It's now question time. You are in the GM Chair in the War Room. Who are you taking?

Do you have the HS Stud Bubba Starling, the Local Prospect (with a $20 Million inheritance if he becomes a doctor) Danny Hultzen, Top HS Pitcher Dylan Bundy, UCLA Stud Trevor Cole, or do you come out of Left Field and take the road less traveled?

Its up to you CapBallers, who do you got?

Draft Day, Baby

Tonight at 7PM on the MLBN, the Nationals will do something that they haven't done since 2008 - not pick first. In what has been called the "deepest draft in years", the Front Office will have no shortage of top quality players. Even better for the Nats, who draft 6th, is that there is a general consensus on the top 6 players, meaning that regardless of who is taken in the first 5, there will be one left. Lets take a quick look at the players in question, as well as checking out some "mock drafts" by the experts.

Danny Hultzen - LHP - University of Virginia
A local product playing in Charlottesville (Zim's alma mater), the tall lefty went 11-3 in the regular season with a 1.57 ERA in 103.1 IP with a whopping 148 strikeouts. Pitching in this weekends NCAA Regionals for his #1 seeded Cavaliers, Hultzen threw 7 innings of ball, allowing 3 hits, 1 run, and striking out 12.

Anthony Rendon - 3B - Rice University
This third-baseman has had his share of injury problems this year, being dogged by a nagging shoulder issue that could affect his draft status. This year with the Rice Owls, Rendon hit .327 with a 1.043 OPS, while showing a little bit of pop, speed and solid D.

Gerrit Cole - RHP - UCLA
One of two standout pitchers for UCLA, Cole put together a solid year despite some inconsistencies. Entering the year as the Top College pitching prospect, Cole struggled a bit but still helped UCLA to a successful regular season. He went 6-8 with a 3.31 ERA.

Trevor Bauer - RHP - UCLA
Here is the other UCLA top notch pitcher for 2011, and he has exceeded expectations. Bauer was nothing short of incredible, posting an amazing 12-3 record with a 1.25 ERA. Oh yea, and his struck out 203 in 136.2 IP, with only 36 walks. He has thrown 9 straight complete games as well.

Dylan Bundy - RHP - Owasso HS (Oklahoma)
The only thing sweeping down the plains in Oklahoma this year has been Dylan Bundy's fastball. Its not everyday that there is a player coming out of high school that has 100 MPH gas, but Bundy's got it. Shorter than your average MLB pitcher (6' 1"), Bundy is the nation's best High School pitcher - as evidenced by his 11-0 Record with a 0.20 ERA, 158 K in just 71 IP. He only allowed 2 ER all season.

Bubba Starling - OF - Gardner Edgerton HS (Kansas)
He has been called a "true five-tool player" by Draft Guru Jonathan Mayo, and the "best athlete in the draft" by Baseball America. This Centerfielder has possibly the most potential of any player in the draft, with speed, pop, defense, and the ability to hit for average. The elephant in the room however is that this Boras client is also a football star (apparently he can throw a football 50 yards from his knees) who has committed to Nebraska to play CF on the diamond and QB on the gridiron.

So, there you have the run-down on the consensus top 6 for today's draft, in no particular order. Now, let's take a look at what the experts project for the Nats at #6.

Jonathan Mayo - MLB.com - Trevor Bauer

Jim Callis - Baseball America - Bubba Starling

David Rawnsley - PerfectGame.org - Bubba Starling

Keith Law - ESPN.com - Bubba Starling

Kevin Goldstein - Baseball Prospectus - Bubba Starling

Brian Oliver - Nats Farm Authority - 50/50 Bauer/Starling

I'm not by any means a prospect expert, but those guys are. My wish is for Hultzen to fall to the Nats, but that most certainly won't happen - so I'm guessing that the Nats will be taking Bubba Starling with the 6th pick. Expect it.

It should also be mentioned that the Nats get two compensation picks for Adam Dunn (who is hitting .179 and has fallen all the way to the 7 hole), so they will also be picking 23rd and 34th. I would think that the Nats are going to take the best available pitcher, most likely an MLB-ready college arm. It wouldn't surprise me if the team picked a "signable" player, one who would sign quickly and at/around slot.

Tune in to MLBNetwork at 7PM, and make sure you check out Capitol Baseball for all your draft analysis needs!