District On Deck
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Washington Nationals: Top 10 first-round picks of all-time

By Blake Finney

WASHINGTON - AUGUST 21: Stephen Strasburg (L), the overall first pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, is presented with his jersey by Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (R) after being introduced at Nationals Park August 21, 2009 in Washington, DC. Strasburg, a right handed pitcher from San Diego State University, signed with the Nationals earlier this week wth a record contract for an amateur player. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - AUGUST 21: Stephen Strasburg (L), the overall first pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, is presented with his jersey by Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (R) after being introduced at Nationals Park August 21, 2009 in Washington, DC. Strasburg, a right handed pitcher from San Diego State University, signed with the Nationals earlier this week wth a record contract for an amateur player. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) /
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Pick Analysis. player. 2009. RP. Stanford. DrewStoren. 5. 90

A lot of Washington Nationals fans will have a bitter taste in their mouth when looking back at the tenure of Drew Storen. But on the whole, he was one of the more dominant relievers in franchise history, over an extended period of time.

Storen was actually selected with the pick the Nats received for their failure to sign Aaron Crow in 2008. The other first round pick in that same 2009 draft is still to come in this list.

Drafted out of Stanford following a dominant relief career in the Pac-10 Conference in 2009. He made his big league debut less than a year later in 2010. Storen finished with a 3.04 ERA over his six seasons in D.C. with an impressive 95 saves.

He claimed the closer’s role for the first time in his rookie season, after unseating Sean Burnett late in the year. It would remain that way until a fateful night in October 2012.

Unfortunately, he’ll forever be remembered for his untimely blow-up in the ninth inning of the Nationals’ first playoff series.

He would go on to reclaim the closer’s role once again from Rafael Soriano late in 2014. The same fate met him in the 2014 post-season against the San Francisco Giants, blowing a key save in game three of the series.

Overall, Storen had a productive Nationals career as a reliever, with some truly dominant stretches at times. But the inability to come up big in the huge post-season moments mean the only way is down for him on this list.

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