Draft picking can be about as unpredictable as the roulette wheel. The best drafts, rightfully, are judged years into the future. Still, evaluators will grade how each team did in real-time. The new amateur draft and scouting group led by Danny Haas, VP of Amateur Scouting, received good reviews from those watching the results of the 2024 MLB Draft, along with the third best ranking by Bleacher Report at an A-. MLB Pipeline named the Kevin Bazzell pick in the third round as their favorite draft pick by the Nationals.
Brad Ciolek is the Nats’ new Senior Director of Amateur Scouting, and was a key addition to the Nats draft group, along with Reed Dunn, as they both joined Haas to form perhaps the best amateur scouting group in MLB. From 2010 to 2014, Dunn was with the Nats, and they got him back from the Braves as the new Assistant Scouting Director and National Crosschecker.
There were more accolades and comments about what the Nats accomplished. Certainly there could be more kind words about this draft and scouting group. Time will tell. Afterall, this is a results-oriented business.
“We identified just a small handful of players out of the vast draft board that we had up there. To their credit, with great evaluation and great strategy, we managed to land all the players that we identified prior to the Draft.
— general manager Mike Rizzo said
It was a credit to the way they ran the Draft to get all the players that we wanted. These guys were handpicked and more or less were on our wish list from Day One.”
The first few draft picks had the same archetypes of athleticism, high-character players, solid contact skills, and up-the-middle position profiles. We did not see this group shoot for the highest ceilings with low floors, and wishing upon the stars. These are players with solid high floors. After these players are signed to contracts, the scouting/drafting group can start working on the 2025 draft, and they can hand the player development group, led by Eddie Longosz, their draftees.
We discussed the 4-D chess by general manager Mike Rizzo to acquire the 39th overall draft pick that turned into Caleb Lomavita, then the Nats pulled off what could turn into a great move to get one of the Top-15 high school players in the draft when the Nats got Luke Dickerson with the 44th overall pick. He was rumored as a possible first rounder by other teams (Giants and Yankees per MLB.com’s Jim Callis), and Dickerson has a commitment to play college ball at the University of Virginia. Our sources tell us that both Lomavita and Dickerson will sign their deals with the Nats, and we were told that Dickerson will be going well over slot value.
“We had high, high expectations for [Dickerson]. He was really way up on our draft board. The strategy employed by Brad and Danny — we were lucky enough to get him with our 44th pick — and didn’t have to take him with our 10th or 39th.”
— general manager Mike Rizzo said on the Sports Junkies
“The room erupted pretty good when we found out the team before us didn’t take him — and he was going to be available for us. … He gives you that rare combination as a high school kid with the power and hit tool, and defense at shortstop — this was a heck of a player to get.”
The “room erupted pretty good” is how Rizzo described it when the team knew that Dickerson would be available with the 44th pick. Now keep in mind that Rizzo did not describe the room when the Nats knew they could draft Lomavita with the 39th pick, and you have to think they were celebrating that move too. Given that Lomavita was a consensus first rounder, and Baseball America’s number one catcher, that seemed like the Nats stole him.
Most likely, the Nats knew that they were in the right spot to get their first pick, Seaver King, as they were picking at 10th overall in the first round, and King was mostly discussed as a pick from 14-to-17 on most evaluators’ boards.
When King was interviewed about being picked by the Nationals, he said that his agent (from Excel Sports) got a call about 30-minutes before his name was announced by Commissioner Rob Manfred on TV. Otherwise, it caught King by surprise. It turned out that many of the draft picks found out the same way that the Nats were picking them by a similar phone call to their agent.
“My agent got a call before my name was [official]. I didn’t know the Nats wanted me. Knew they scouted me. My agent had an idea of the money at that call. I think that was a key step. Could have been the difference. … I don’t know.”
— a drafted player told us on the condition of anonymity
“That evening as I got calls and messages — a buddy told me the Nats called, and they could not agree on the money. I find out later — he didn’t get drafted at all.”
This draft room seemed to do their due diligence, and what was impressive was that the only name, of all the names tied to the Nats that resulted in a draft pick was Lomavita. But he was rumored to be the Nats first round pick. Lomavita was the 18th ranked overall draft prospect, and coincidentally, one spot behind Seaver on the Baseball America final draft rankings of the Top-500.
The Nationals, per a source, are confident they will get their top players signed. That is the final step in the process. You can do everything per your plan before getting the signature on paper, and if you can’t get the John Hancock, you failed if you don’t sign your top players. The only excuse would be a failed physical by a pitcher — which is rare.
Remember, Lomavita is a Boras client, and we know that Boras clients usually don’t sign until near the deadline of August 1. You would hope that Lomavita and Dickerson sign soon to get to Nats Park next week while the team is in Washington, D.C. and playing at home through next Thursday. After that, get to CACTI PARK of the Palm Beaches and get your work in so that at least for King and Lomavita as college players, they can get promoted to Class-A Fredericksburg.
With drafts, you judge them best in hindsight, kind of like trades, to really see how they worked out. Bleacher Report’s A- ranking and Top-3 in all of baseball is a nice mark for this new draft group. A job well done.
