There were some who were nervous as to whether Caleb Lomavita would sign after he dropped 21 spots from the No. 18 ranking that Baseball America had him at as a draft prospect. Not to fear, Lomavita officially signed today at Nationals Park, and within minutes of the official announcement — there was a press conference with Lomavita, Washington Nationals’ general manager Mike Rizzo, VP of Amateur Scouting, Danny Haas, and Lomavita’s agent, Scott Boras.
“I can only stop playing baseball for so long. When I was younger, everything was year-round, especially in Hawaii — no bad weather. I think this is the longest stretch I’ve gone without playing baseball. So, I’m really excited to get back on the field. And I’m glad it’s with an amazing team and organization.”
— Lomavita said in his introductory press conference
Per our sources, Lomavita had arrived in Washington, D.C. on Monday — and today is Wednesday — so there was a little delay and more trepidation as to why the signing did not happen yesterday — but relax, it is done now.
With Boras as Lomavita’s agent, most expected the final signing amount would be for well over slot value, and a number close to the slot value for pick No. 18. According to Carlos Collazo, the Nats newly drafted catcher signed for $2.325 million which was actually $70,000 below his actual slot for draft pick No. 39.
Remember, the Hunter Harvey trade was on Saturday, July 13 with the Royals, and the Nationals acquired Cayden Wallace from Kansas City, their No. 2 prospect, and the Royals’ one tradeable draft pick, No. 39, in the MLB Draft that turned into Lomavita. That wraps up the trade.
“We found a deal that we really liked. We felt that the impact of the 39th pick along with the slot money that went along with that — and with a really good player (Wallace) for a really good relief pitcher (Harvey) was something that we had to jump on. … So we felt that the 39th pick along with Wallace was a nice package for us to get for Hunter.”
— Rizzo said last week
Some felt that the Nats would only get “lotto ticket” trade offers for Harvey who had his share of blowing games since June 23. He finished his Nats’ tenure with a 4.20 ERA this season. Yet, Rizzo pulled off another stunning trade that could eclipse his trade with the Minnesota Twins in which Rizzo got Wilson Ramos and Joe Testa for 1.38 years of Matt Capps. Ramos would be voted 4th in Rookie of the Year, earn a Silver Slugger, and would be a 2x All-Star.
In this trade, Rizzo literally traded away 1.407 seasons of Harvey’s contract for Wallace, and that coveted No. 39 pick. What Rizzo’s new draft group turned that pick into was the No. 1 catcher in the draft, per Baseball America’s evaluations, plus Wallace, who was drafted by the Royals in the 2nd round of the 2022 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of Arkansas. Wallace came over in the trade on the 7-day IL after he took a hit-by-pitch to his ribs.
“We heard good things about [Wallace]. … He was recently in the draft, so he was fresh in our minds. We liked him in [that] draft. So we had really up-to-date reports, and our pro scouts did a great job of identifying him.”
— Rizzo said
“Mark Scialabba did a great job of directing traffic … We had a really good book on him. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been playing the last couple of weeks because of injuries. So our medical people were involved in the trade at the end.”
“We feel we got ourselves an upside guy that can impact a baseball game. Plays really good defense at third base. He’s got a really good arm. He’s got power potential, and he’s a really good hitter. So we liked the skill set. … Another really good prospect to develop to become a big leaguer.”
Would you have traded 1.4 seasons of Harvey for Lomavita straight up? Yes. And Rizzo got Lomavita and Wallace. What they turn into is the next step in player development that is always a mixture of staying healthy and learning, adjusting, and improving in the Nats’ minor league system.
Now to preface some of this, Wallace was the No. 2 player in the Royals’ weak farm system, and MLB Pipeline already seeded him at No. 6 in the Nats’ system. And keep in mind that Wallace will be reseeded again at some point, when the new draft picks like Seaver King and Lomavita are placed into the ranking system. By mid-August, James Wood may no longer be considered a prospect if he meets the rookie threshold of 130 at-bats or 45-days on the Nats’ active roster. So yes, there could be a lot of commutations in the Nats’ prospect rankings in the coming months..
Of course, all trades are viewed long into the future with hindsight to fully grasp how the players turned out — and we have to see how Wallace and Lomavita perform for the Nationals. Wallace was hitting .282 with a .777 OPS, three home runs and 16 RBIs in his 34 games with the Royals Double-A affiliate in Arkansas. But still good enough to be the Royals No. 2 prospect.
Could Lomavita, 21, be as good as or better than Ramos? We will see. Again, the Hawaiian catcher was viewed as the top catcher in the draft and hit .322 with 13 doubles, one triple, 15 home runs, 52 RBIs, 12 walks, 12 stolen bases and 51 runs scored in 55 games in college this year. He posted a .395 OBP, .586 SLG, and was one of eight catchers in NCAA Division I with 10 or more stolen bases and 10 or more home runs.
Here is what Baseball America wrote about Lomavita: “…has a chance to be an above-average defender thanks to his athleticism, above-average arm and strong hands. He’s consistently gotten better as a receiver and blocker, and scouts have praised his work ethic and mentality for the position. Speed is an afterthought for [most] catchers, but Lomavita is an above-average runner who went 35-for-42 in stolen base attempts in college. He has a chance to be the first catcher drafted in the middle of the first round.”
If you believe in the Baseball America evaluation of Lomavita, and he hits well as a pro, this will be a huge win for the Nats. There is rightfully some concern with current Nats’ primary catcher, Keibert Ruiz, who has been one of the worst defensive catchers in baseball and is currently sporting a .221 batting average and a .591 OPS. None of this means that the Nats are getting rid of Ruiz, but there’s a chance that he would slide to the back-up catcher role in the future, or share the primary catcher duties like the Nats did with Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki.
Speaking of Suzuki, he was born in Hawaii like Lomavita and grew up in the Aloha State. Suzuki was a player that Lomavita has looked up to for a long time and said, “Hopefully I get to jump on a Facetime call with him some day.”
Not only did the Nats draft Lomavita as the top-rated catcher, but also Kevin Bazzell, the 5th ranked catcher in the draft. Lomavita will head to West Palm Beach tomorrow and join in the workouts with Bazzell and over a dozen other drafted players as well as undrafted free agents who are working out at the Nats’ spring training facility at the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches.
With all of the criticism that Rizzo and his front office receives from the armchair GMs, Rizzo and his staff deserve the praise for a 4-D chess move to pull off the Wallace and Lomavita acquisitions. The Nats’ farm system just got even stronger today.
