The Washington Nationals hold the keys to today's MLB Draft, as they have the #1 overall selection today, and nobody really knows what direction they are leaning at this time. Names such as Kade Anderson, Ethan Holliday, and Eli Willits seem to be the favorites, but nobody will truly know if they nailed their prediction until tomorrow afternoon.
With Mike Rizzo getting the axe a week ago, a large part of it was due to his failures from a drafting perspective, as he has not been able to replace the talent internally with homegrown talent. But with that being said, let's grade the last 5 first-round picks of the Nationals and try to gain some more insight as to how Rizzo's drafts fared.
2024: Seaver King, INF, Wake Forest
The most recent top draft pick of the Nationals, Seaver King has been a bit of a mixed bag so far in his professional career. After being selected #10 overall in last year's draft, King helped the Fredericksburg Nationals clinch a Carolina League Championship last season, and began this year with High-A Wilmington after proving to be too good for Low-A.
In 2025, his numbers with Wilmington were middling at best, but he did earn a promotion to AA Harrisburg a little over a month ago after his home and road splits told two different stories. His numbers away from Wilmington's home park, notoriously a place that many top prospects struggle, were much better, leading the Nationals to want to challenge him with the promotion to Harrisburg.
So far at AA, he has a subpar .228/.279/.301 slash line with 2 homers, 10 RBIs, and 4 stolen bases in 33 games for the Senators to go along with a .580 OPS. The knock on King will always be that he was taken ahead of more talented options like Braden Montgomery, James Tibbs, and Cam Smith, all of whom have gotten off to much better start in their professional careers. I am not willing to panic yet about a guy who hasn't even played a full professional season, so I'll give him a mediocre grade for his performance thus far.
Grade: C-
2023: Dylan Crews, OF, LSU
Dylan Crews was a tough one to grade, as while the flashes of his true 5-tool potential are very easy to see when you watch him play, so have his struggles. After being the #2 overall pick behind Paul Skenes back in 2023, Crews progressed quickly through the minor leagues, and earned a first taste of big league action late last season before openign 2025 as a starter at the big league level.
An oblique injury has slowed him down, but Crews certainly had his fair share of struggles before going down back in May. To be fair to him, he was heating up in a big way before he got hurt, and the team is very much anticipating his return to the big leagues, whenever that might be. For a guy who was once the #1 overall prospect in baseball for a brief time, Crews had some unexpected swing-and-miss to his game, but that could also be a product of coaching not being able to help him make adjustments as well.
He still only has 277 career big league at-bats to his name, and has a .206/.275/.354 slash line and .629 OPS with 10 homers and 23 stolen bases. Those numbers aren't eye-popping by any means, but it's important that he has shown a ton of upside, and has still been a valuable asset due to his great glove in the outfield as well. Given that he has already made the big leagues and showcased his elite skill set, he has to get a higher grade than King and some of the other names on this list, but I can't go higher than a 'B' for Crews until he begins to show some more consistency.
Grade: B
2022: Elijah Green, OF, IMG Academy
The first true mistake of a pick on this list is outfielder Elijah Green, who is currently attempting to completely revamp his swing for the second or third time since being drafted with the #5 overall pick back in 2022. Notably, Green was taken ahead of really solid big league talents from the collegiate level in Brooks Lee and Zach Neto, both of whom the team gladly wishes they could have instead.
While Green has certainly showcased his true potential on the diamond at times with 4 outstandingly loud tools, it's his lack of a hit tool that has completely hindered his development so far. For his minor league career, he has a strikeout rate of almost 42%, but has done some other incredible things such as hit 28 professional homers across various levels to go along with 83 stolen bases in 92 career attempts.
The thing with Green is that, since he was a prep pick, he is now just 21-years-old, and still oozes physical potential with a rock solid 6'3" 225-pound frame. If Green can even improve his bat-to-ball skills to even make him a threat to put one in play, he would have a chance of progressing, and hopefully this latest swing change will help him. I believe he is a hit tool away from being a truly generational prospect, but unfortunately for Green that tool is pretty important as a power hitter. With that being said, a guy in his 4th professional season shouldn't still be in rookie ball trying to fix his swing, so I have to give this pick the lowest grade on this list.
Grade: F
2021: Brady House, INF, Winder-Barrow HS
The timing of me writing this article comes after Brady House launched the first 2 big league homers of his career on Saturday against the Milwaukee Brewers, and it had been a long time coming for the rookie third baseman. Since being taken with the #11 overall pick back in 2021, his professional career had gotten off to a bit of a bizarre start.
After dealing with various injuries and an overall down year in 2024, House finally has stayed healthy so far in 2025, and the results proved just how dangerous of a hitter he can be when he's firing on all cylinders. He earned his call-up to the big leagues last month, and has looked pretty solid so far in just 22 career games at the big league level. House tore the cover off the ball for AAA Rochester this season with a .304/.353/.519 slash line, and had an .872 OPS to go along with 13 homers and 41 RBIs in 65 games. Since debuting in the majors, he currently holds a .270/.298/.393 slash line with a .691 OPS, and has 2 homers and 12 RBIs in just 94 plate appearances.
DR HOUSE IS IN pic.twitter.com/FKDjOGs8Dz
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 12, 2025
While he still needs to walk more, he has never really looked overmatched since being called up, and his defense has been great at third base as well. All in all, House gets a 'B' from me, although the sample size is still too small at the big league level to judge. Given that he has made the big leagues and has looked like a capable and future potential cornerstone of this franchise on both sides of the ball, I give the pick of House a firm 'B' grade with potential to be even higher by the end of the season.
Grade: B
2020: Cade Cavalli, RHP, Oklahoma
Rounding out our list is Cade Cavalli, a righty taken with the #22 pick back in 2020 out of Oklahoma. His case is a tough one to grade, as at one point he was a consensus Top 100 prospect in all of baseball and was lighting up radar guns on a consistent basis while punching guys out like nobody's business, but he has not been that same guy for awhile now.
He has dealt with a plethora of injuries since making his big league debut for the Nationals back in 2022, and his recent stretch at AAA has been tough to watch for anyone like myself who had been holding out long-term hope for him. In 6 starts with AAA, he has a 6.25 ERA and 1.57 WHIP to go along with a subpar 54:24 K:BB ratio in just 53.2 innings. Given that he will be 27-years-old in about a month, time is running out for Cavalli to prove that he belongs at the big league level in any capacity, and his room for error is even less with a new regime in place.
While Cavalli could have been arguably the best pick on this entire list if he could have avoided the injury bug, for now, it's hard to give him anything higher than a 'D+' grade. He made the big leagues and was a former top prospect who had earned the right to get a chance in the show, but since returning he has just not yet completely found his control. Granted, control is usually the last thing that guys who have had Tommy John Surgery get back, so perhaps all hope is not lost. Injuries may have ruined the timeline for this once top prospect, but hopefully the soon to be 27-year-old can figure it out before it's too late.
Grade: D+
Who is your favorite Nationals draft pick of the last 5 years? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.