While predicting the future is never an exact science, the game of hindsight usually has better results. And the results on Eli Willits are sure looking like a home run pick for the Washington Nationals last year. In his second game after being promoted to High-A, he hit two home runs and a single to go with two walks from Tuesday. He’s the youngest player in High-A at just 18 years old.

This year’s MLB Draft is exactly one month from today on July 11, and running through July 12. Held as part of MLB All-Star Week, the event opens with the first round on the Saturday before the All-Star break. The Nats pick at №11 and №42 in the first 2 rounds. When you pick that high, you have a chance to add at least two more blue chip prospects to the farm.

In the year before Willits was drafted, the same draft group chose Seaver King at №10 overall. He went 3-for-4 last night with a home and a stolen base in Triple-A to raise his season batting average to .321 and OPS to .943. And Gavin Fien in Single-A, the №12 pick in last year’s draft by Texas (11 picks after Willits), went 2-for-3 last night with two walks and two RBIs in just his 19th game after coming off a long stint on the IL. In the month of June, he’s hitting .440 with a 1.235 OPS. He’s just 19 years old until Spring Training next year.

The MLB Pipeline report for the Nats is looking very good. In the next farm rankings, the Nats will certainly be a Top-10 farm system and might get into the Top-5. There are other top prospects who are showing great numbers too. Devin Fitz-Gerald hit a rough patch two weeks ago and was just promoted to Double-A as a 20 year old. He finished High-A Wilmington with a .903 OPS while playing in a home stadium that is tough on hitters. And Ronny Cruz, 19, who was promoted to High-A on April 20 after hitting .333 with a 1.087 OPS at Single-A just found his swing and is hitting .313 with a .777 OPS in June.

A name to watch emerging from the pack is the farm’s №15 ranked prospect, LHP Jackson Kent. The 23-year-old pitched 6.0 innings of 1-run baseball last night giving up only two hits and walk against seven strikeouts. He was a 4th round draft pick by the Nats in the 2024 draft class. That was his fourth start in Triple-A after his promotion at the end of May. His best pitch is the changeup to go with a low-90s fastball, a slider and a curveball.

Circling back to the MLB Draft, the Nats pick will most likely be impacted by the four or five teams picking directly in front of them. We say four or five teams because we all know that there are several players who will be off the board like  Roch Cholowsky, Grady Emerson,  Vahn Lackey,  Jacob Lombard, and Jackson Flora by the time the Nats choose at №11. Unless something drastically changes, those five players will be gone. It’s those next five picks that could shape who the Nats take.

My pick remains on Gio Rojas, a left-handed pitcher from Stoneman Douglas HS, Parkland, Florida. But there is no guarantee that he will be available after the Top-10 picks are revealed. A name linked to the Nats by analysts is Jared Grindlinger, a LHP/OF from Huntington Beach High School. Expect other names to circulate too.

We still have a month to go on the draft and as we know the names will start firming up at the top of the list. Once we have the actual draft picks, the fun starts in trying to come up with a Nats’ team of the future.