The Washington National's busy season is past the first hurdle of the 2024 MLB Draft, but the July 30 trade deadline is now just under two weeks away.
After making the first move of the period – trading reliever Hunter Harvey to the Kansas City Royals – Mike Rizzo discussed what the Nationals got back and how the transaction came to be 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 Nationals got the No. 39 overall pick in the draft (later used on catcher Caleb Lomavita) and minor league infielder Cayden Wallace, a soon-to-be 23-year-old second-round pick in the 2022 draft who was the No. 2 prospect in the Royals' system at the time of the deal.
"Kansas City had a lot of interest, a lot of teams had interest in Hunter," Rizzo told The Junkies. "A lot of teams were on Hunter, but the timing worked for us because they were willing to give up the 39th pick. So we had to make the trade before the draft, obviously. We came to an agreement."
Wallace, in 34 games with Kansas City's Double-A club, has nine doubles and three home runs with 16 RBI while slashing .282/.350/.427 for a .777 OPS. Those numbers are up from last year when he batted .356 with a .662 OPS in his first 33 games at the Double-A level.
"Wallace is a good-looking kid, we loved him in the draft recently," Rizzo said. "His pro career got derailed, he's got a broken rib he got hit by a pitch. But he'll be fine. It'll be interesting to see him filter in with the rest of our top prospects. With a group of guys that gives us a lot of depth at the infield position. Gives us another good-looking bat that will help us in the future."
Rizzo said Harvey, 29, "performed admirably for us and was a great pitcher for us for two seasons."
On the year, the right-hander has pitched to 4.20 ERA (3.16 fielding independent pitching) with a 1.222 WHIP in 45.0 innings over 43 appearances on the year. He has 50 strikeouts to 12 walks.
"Quite a success story when you take a waiver claim like Hunter was and put him in our system and our pitching guys did such a masterful job with getting him back to what made him successful in college and early in his career before he got hurt and the medical staff keeping him healthy throughout the season," Rizzo said. "It's really an organizational success story when you can take a waiver claim and parlay him into the 39th pick in the draft and a good prospect."
He leaves Washington after making 138 appearances and pitching 145.0 innings with a 3.17 ERA (2.92 FIP ) with a 1.083 WHIP and 162 strikeouts to 37 walks.
Harvey was a first-round pick by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2013 MLB Draft out of high school.