Who is New Nats Prospect Cayden Wallace?

On the eve of the 2024 MLB Draft, the Washington Nationals made the first significant move of the MLB Trade Deadline season, sending reliever Hunter Harvey to the Kansas City Royals for Third Baseman Cayden Wallace and the 39th pick in this year's draft. In what is shaping up to be a busy next couple of weeks for the Nats, the team chose to deal their flame-throwing setup man for a prospect in Wallace who seems to have some real potential moving forward.

Here's some things to know about the newest Nats' prospect Cayden Wallace: He is 22-years-old, will turn 23 next month, and was a 2nd round pick of the Royals back in 2022 out of Arkansas. So far in his career he has posted some solid minor league numbers, with a career slash line of .265/.340/.420 for a .760 OPS, as well as providing some solid defense at the hot corner. Since being drafted, he has progressed well through the Royals system, moving from Low-A in 2022 after being drafted to High-A and AA in 2023, where he put together a full season line of .254/.331/.414 for a .745 OPS to go along with 13 homers and 84 RBIs. Not too shabby for a guy in his first full professional season.

This year has been a bit of a frustrating one on the health front for Wallace, as Andrew Golden noted that "He suffered an oblique strain on May 21. Missed a month and was rehabbing in rookie ball when he was hit by a pitch that fractured a rib on July 6." Talk about tough luck. Before the injuries, Wallace was hitting .282 with a .777 OPS to go along with 3 homers and 16 RBIs in 34 games this season at AA Northwest Arkansas. We will likely have to wait a bit before getting to see him in action, but he should step in and start at third base right away for AA Harrisburg once healthy.

At the time of writing, he is currently the #2 ranked Royals prospect according to MLB.com, and has an overall prospect grade of 50. What stands out the most from his prospect profile is his defensive ability, which features a 65 grade arm and 55 grade field tool. As for why the Royals would trade him? It appears Kansas City could have had some concerns about his power, as he has just 18 homers in 198 career minor league games, and third base is typically a power position. If he can tap into his power and avoid the bad injury luck he's had this year, there's a chance we could see him with the Nats as soon as next season, being that the power appears to be the one thing potentially holding back his overall prospect profile.

However, I think this is a worthwhile gamble for Mike Rizzo & co. He chose to strike early on in the trade season, and while giving up 1.5 years of Hunter Harvey might sting a bit in the interim, it is a great move for a rebuilding team to get tremendous value for a guy who was getting lit up pretty hard recently. It really just makes me wonder what kind of offer we can get for a guy like Kyle Finnegan who also has 1.5 years of control remaining, especially with the bar already being set this high...but that's an article for another time.

Anyways, back to Cayden Wallace. Throughout his professional career he has exclusively played third base, which creates some serious intrigue for the future of the position for the Nats, as Brady House appears to be the future at the position once he is promoted to Washington. One thing I really love about this move is that the Nats are putting themselves in position to make sure that they find the guy at third base, as they now have 2 of MLB's Top 10 Third Base prospects before tomorrow night's draft kicks off. The position has been a revolving door since the departure of Anthony Rendon, and nobody, outside of Jeimer Candelario for half a season, has taken the reigns at the hot corner in DC.

It's clear that the Nats are attempting to make sure that one of the guys at the position in their organization is going to be the long-term fit. Between Trey Lipscomb, who is getting his chance right now but likely profiles a utility man down the line, House, and Wallace, the team is ensuring that one of them will hit, and is giving them plenty of shots to fire before bringing in external help.

For what it's worth, as I already mentioned, Wallace is currently the #2 ranked Royals prospect according to MLB.com, while FanGraphs.com had him listed as the #7 prospect in the Royals organization. Since the trade has been finalized, FanGraphs has updated their prospect rankings, and has Wallace as the #11 prospect in the Nats system currently. In reality, I think his overall ranking in the Nats' prospect rankings likely falls within the Top 10 of their system, and that this was a great get by Mike Rizzo.

He could be a candidate to change positions if House works out at third in the big leagues, with a move across the diamond to first base or a corner outfield spot possibly being in the cards for him. While we wait for Wallace to take the field in the Nats organization, enjoy some clips I found on X of both his hitting and fielding abilities below...

What do you think about the acquisition of Cayden Wallace? Does he have a legitimate future in Washington? Do you think he's going to need to change positions? As always, let me know your thoughts and feedback on X, especially during trade deadline season...@DCBerk.

All stats in this article were provided by MiLB.com and FanGraphs.com.