Monday marks Day 2 of the 2024 MLB Draft, with picks in Rounds 3-10 and three extra compensation picks being made throughout the day.
The Nationals will have the fifth selection in every round, with No. 79 first on the docket, and you can take a look below at some capsule profiles of the Nats’ Day 2 picks:
ROUND 3, No. 79 overall: C Kevin Bazzell, Texas Tech
Bazzell is the second college catcher selected in the first four picks by the Nats, and has had quite a journey to get there. He transitioned to catching as a HS senior in 2021 and went to Dallas Baptist, but transferred to Texas Tech that spring and sat out 2022 before playing third base as a redshirt freshman. He went back behind the dish last season, and despite a bout with mono, he slashed .306/.401/.473 with six homers and 32 RBI in 49 games.
Per his MLB Pipeline report, Bazzell, a 50 overall on the 20-80 scale, “repeatedly barrels balls with a controlled right-handed stroke and a disciplined, all-fields approach” and “rarely swings and misses or chases pitches out of the strike zone” on offense, and behind the dish, Bazzell is “ an underrated athlete with average speed who will slow down as he spends more time behind the plate” and “moves well back there and should develop into at least an average receiver with more experience, and has average to solid arm strength that plays up thanks to a quick release and good accuracy.”
ROUND 4, No. 108 overall: LHP Jackson Kent, Arizona
Kent was a redshirt freshman in 2022 and reliever in 2023 before dominating as a starter in the Cape Cod League that summer, and he indeed became the Wildcats’ Friday night starter this spring, going 3-4 with a 4.08 ERA and 89 Ks over 86 innings in 15 starts to earn First Team All-Pac 12 honors.
Per his MLB Pipeline profile, Kent ‘can come at hitters with as many as five pitches, with a fastball that’s been sitting comfortably in the low 90s and touching 95 this spring and a go-to secondary pitch is his changeup, which generates both swings-and-misses and ground-ball contact.’ Kent also has a slider and curve, the former more effective, and an occasional cutter.
He also ‘improved his consistent strike-throwing while handling the pressures of being the team ace, but his ceiling might be somewhat limited without plus stuff, but if the gains he's shown this year are real, he has the kind of starting pitching traits from the left side that many teams covet.
ROUND 5, No. 141 overall: SS Randal Diaz, Indiana State
Diaz, who won a high school championship at Leadership Christian Academy in Puerto Rico, slashed .360/.437/.632 last year, all three totals in the Top 10 in the Missouri Valley Conference, and he was second in the MVC with 91 hits and ninth in home runs with 18. He also was fifth in the MVC with 51 assists at short, earning himself an All-Conference First Team selection.
He scored 55 runs and drove in 55 as well, and was an on-base machine, going 7-for-9 in steals, leading the Sycamores with 30 multi-hit games, and finishing the year with a 38-game on-base streak.
ROUND 6, No. 170 overall: RHP Davian Garcia, Florida Gulf Coast Univ.
Dunk City got game on the diamond, too, as the Nats selected Garcia, who can touch 98 with his fastball and was 6-3 with a 3.10 ERA, one save, and 71 strikeouts in 61 innings over 16 games (eight starts) in 2024. He was a transfer from Pasco Hernando State junior college in the Tampa area, where he was 1-0 with a 2.65 ERA and two saves in 34 innings over 20 games.
ROUND 7: No. 200 overall: RHP Robert Cranz, Oklahoma State
The Nats’ fifth straight college selection and second straight RHP, Cranz played two seasons at Wichita State before transferring to Stillwater, where he had a 1.26 ERA, one save, and 26 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings over 18 relief appearances.
ROUND 8, No. 230 overall: OF Sam Petersen, Iowa
Petersen became the starting left fielder as a freshman in 2022 and then was a First Team All-Big Ten selection in 2023, hitting .319 with a team-high 20 stolen bases and 11 home runs, good for second on the squad. Last season, he appeared in just 33 games due to injuries to his lower right leg, but he slashed .333/.459/.571 with five dingers and 17 steals,
ROUND 9, No. 260 overall: IF/OF Jackson Ross, Ole Miss
Seven for seven in college players on Monday with Ross, who played two years at Pasco Hernando College before being a two-year starter for Florida Atlantic, where he was a First Team All-Conference USA selection as a third baseman in 2023. He transferred to Mississippi for his final season of eligibility and because a utility player, starting all 56 games for the Rebels but doing so at first base (35) and in both outfield corners (12 LF, 5 RF) with four turns as DH.
His .271/.438/.492 slash line saw him finish second and third on the team in the latter two categories, and he led the team with 55 walks and 52 runs scored. He was also third with 10 homers and 95 total bases on the year.
ROUND 10, No. 290 overall: RHP Luke Johnson, UMBC
An eighth straight collegian and fourth pitcher of the day is a semi-local DMV product, as Johnson went to Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes, Delaware before three seasons in Baltimore, where he started as a two-way player before focusing exclusively on pitching after the 2022 season.
He was an America East All-Conference First Team selection as a pitcher in 2023, and this past spring, he went 5-4 with a 5.64 ERA and 89 K in 89 1/3 innings over sixteen starts, including one complete game shutout.