Washington Nationals: 5 prospects that could be dealt at trade deadline

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Juan Soto

Soto was the Gulf Coast League MVP last year and was having an excellent start in Hagerstown this season. In the first 23 games of the season, the 18-year-old had a slash line of .360/.477/.523 with three home runs and 14 RBI’s. Then, the injury happened.

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On May 2 against the Rome Braves, Soto slid into home plate and had to leave that game with an ankle injury. Three days later, he ended up going on the disabled list. Last week, he was rehabbing with the GCL Nats (1-for-13 in five games) and left the game on July 8 after one at-bat.

It is unknown whether or not he left that game to an injury, but it is still a concern because when he was healthy, Soto was one of the best players in the SAL and the numbers were impressive considering he’s just 18 in full-season ball.

While some think Soto could end up being better than Robles in the long-term, the major question is going to be how much do the Nats sacrifice long-term to improve in the short-term? With the bullpen struggling day-by-day, the price is going to get higher and higher.

As I talked about earlier, Robles would be the one player to keep for me because he can help the Nats within the next couple of years as he nears the advanced levels. It would be a big loss long-term for the Nats to lose Soto, but the high price could end up leading to that.

Next: Power ranking closer trade targets

All in all, the Washington Nationals farm system isn’t as strong as it once was, but it has some talented prospects that teams are going to want between today and July 31.

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