The Washington Nationals are eight games under .500 with four days until the amateur draft and 20 days before the July 30 MLB trade deadline. Needless to say, this is a crucial stretch for a young ball club looking to hang around the NL wild-card race and a crucial time for the front office to potentially nail a transaction that puts them in a position to be a contender in the future.
"It's a very active couple of weeks," general manager Mike Rizzo said during his weekly appearance Wednesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
"The preparation for the draft is immense, it's all-encompassing, it's crazy," Rizzo continued. "We're well into our second week of preparation – although the amateur scouting guys have been at it for almost four months, they're well on their way. We're in the midst of putting a board together and on Sunday we're gonna pull the trigger and take another great player that will help be one of the core players of our big league club.
"And then you fold right into, and during the draft, you're doing trade deadline stuff. So, it's a busy couple weeks... it's an important couple of weeks, we're in it and we're immersed in it and we do nothing else but it."
Rizzo added that this period is "24/7, all hands on deck right now."
"It's a crazy time, but it's as fun and pure baseball time as you'll get during the season beyond the playing field," he told the Junks. "And we're excited about it, and looking forward to taking another step forward and becoming a championship-caliber club again."
The Nationals will make their first selection at 10th overall and will have a pick to make in each of the 20 rounds of the draft.
Despite the busy period, the former scout "loves" this time of year most as the draft represents "the Super Bowl of scouting."
"But I do love those six weeks of spring training," Rizzo said. "Because you're getting your team ready, you're preparing for it. There's very little pressure as far as winning, losing and that type of thing and it's really about developing your relationships with the players and the staff and that type of thing. We do a lot of team bonding events."
While the Nationals didn't draft CJ Abrams, he was a player they acquired at the trade deadline in a deal for Juan Soto.
Abrams, selected to his first NL All-Star team, has 21 doubles, five triples and 14 home runs on the season and is slashing an impressive .276/.350/.495 for a .846 OPS (143 OPS+).
"CJ being picked is a great honor to him and to his family," Rizzo said. "And to the development people in our system that have really kinda fine-tuned his approach at the plate, his hitting stroke.
"... He came as advertised with an unbelievable skill set, but the type of guy he is, and the person he is, and worker he is, is really a testament to who he is."
Rizzo also mentioned starter Jake Irvin – who the Nats drafted in the fourth round in 2018 – as another player who deserved to be an All-Star with his 3.13 ERA and 1.045 WHIP in 112 innings this season.
Before getting into the baseball talk, the Junkies and the GM talked about Rizzo's Blackjack and BBQ Bash to benefit the Rizzo Family Foundation and help underprivileged children in the Washington D.C. area on July 21 at MGM National Harbor. Information on that event here.