In the 2018 MLB Draft, the Washington Nationals first round pick was at №27, and the team selected Mason Denaburg. Yes, that was a bust — but truth be told, the pickings were slim at that point and Denaburg spent much of his baseball career on rehab from injuries. Picking at the back of the draft is tough. If you’re picking there, it usually means you made the playoffs.

But too often, and since the 2011 draft when the Nats selected Anthony Rendon at 6^th overall, they haven’t scored on many draft picks. Even when the Nats made the right choice on drafting Lucas Giolito, they botched it in player development. You need to draft and develop well. On May 27, The Athletic published a scathing article about the Nats issues in scouting, drafting, and player development that might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The newly hired PoBO, Paul Toboni, spoke at length about setting the foundation. It’s not all about the money, it all begins with scouting, drafting, player development and yes, a little bit of luck. You can do everything right and get derailed by an injury. The problem is the Nats weren’t doing steps 1-to-3 well, and that is why Toboni is here.

Remember, Toboni’s words. He nailed it. Everything begins with that solid foundation. Of course you can win through spending — but how has that worked out for the New York Mets?

For years, my picks have been written on these pages and social media detailing my draft picks. My budget is $0 for scouting and drafting. Yet, my picks have blown away the Nats. So picking last year at №10 had so many choices except for the nine players selected off the board prior to the Nats’ pick. My first choice, Nick Kurtz, was off the board before the Nats pick. My second choice was available, Trey Yesavage. The Nats went with Seaver King. Did you see what Yesavage did to the mighty New York Yankees in the ALDS yesterday? He threw 5⅓ scoreless and dominant innings.

If I ran the draft for the past 15 years, my starting rotation today would be:

1. Trey Yesavage
2. George Kirby
3. MacKenzie Gore
4. Brad Lord
5. TBD

That looks like a playoff rotation. The first two names just pitched for their respective teams in the playoffs. That is how you build through the draft — and through trades, since MacKenzie Gore was actually acquired by the Washington Nationals via a trade.

Yes, in 2020 I would have drafted Tyler Soderstrom over Cade Cavalli. Will Smith from the 2016 draft would be my catcher. Yes, I would have drafted Brady House and Dylan Crews, and maybe a better player development group would have had them playing better.

Fill in the rest of the roster from the Juan Soto trade, and this would have been a playoff team with tons of money to spend. And since I wrote an article about extending shortstop Trea Turner in 2016, he’d still be my shortstop today if that was accomplished. If so, I guess my second baseman would be CJ Abrams. It is never about how much money, it’s about how will you win. It’s the process. This is 4-D chess. Not every move works. I wanted Nathaniel Lowe. Don’t blame me, blame Lowe. That should have worked.

My belief is Toboni will fix this. There is a skill level to seeing talent in players and building a coaching and player development staff.. Not every pick will work out for a variety of reasons beginning with their health. But you shouldn’t be picking fixer-uppers at your №5 draft pick like the former group did with Elijah Green. While that 2022 draft was not deep, we identified Zach Neto early on as our pick. When Brooks Lee wasn’t drafted in the Top-4, it left a point of two talented middle infielders. But clearly, Green wasn’t it. Maybe Neto would be my second baseman and Abrams as my center fielder. Who knows. You find spots for good players.

In this year’s draft, we were in a back-n-forth between pitcher Kade Anderson and Eli Willits the night before the draft. We told the story how an agent (not Willits’ agent) was watching one of his players and saw Willits. This agent told me that Willits was the best positional player in that draft. The morning of that draft I was back on Willits based on new information that I had. Hindsight will make all of this 20/20.

The 17-year-old Willits is now ranked 15^th overall by MLB Pipeline, and he does not turn 18 until Dec. 9. Willits is still growing and developing after he just batted .300 in Single-A Fredericksburg as his first stint in pro ball. In fact, the Nats finished as the second youngest team in MLB this season. CJ Abrams, Dylan Crews, Louis Garcia Jr., Robert Hassell III, Brady House, and Daylen Lile, Nasim Nunez, James Wood, and Jacob Young are all 25-years-old or younger.

Now Toboni has to find coaches and player development people to support them and find a way to enhance their production to meet, and hopefully exceed their potential.

This is how you build your team. This is how you build a winner for the long-term. My team would have been in the playoffs this year.