Since winning the 2019 World Series, not much has gone right for the Washington Nationals franchise. They’ve had a losing record in every season since and just completed their fourth straight 90-plus loss season in 2024.
That’s a lot of losses, and those only tell part of the story, as Washington has also lost two generational talents over the last few years in Bryce Harper and Juan Soto.
Washington’s chances to win the lottery trailed the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins, who were tied with the highest percentage at 22.45 percent, as well as the Angels, who had the third-highest chance at 17.96 percent.
Colorado will draft fourth overall, while Miami was the biggest loser of the lottery as it went being tied for the best chance of drafting No. 1 to now picking seventh.
This is the third time the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals franchise has won the draft lottery, and it hit home runs the previous two times. Harper was the team’s last No. 1 overall pick when it drafted him out of high school in 2010. All he did was win NL Rookie of the Year, make six All-Star teams in seven seasons with the Nats, and claim the 2015 NL MVP as he led the league with 42 home runs that season.
The franchise’s other top overall pick was just one year before in 2009. That year it drafted pitcher Stephen Strasburg out of San Diego State, and he spent all 13 of his MLB seasons in the nation’s capital. With the team, he was a three-time All-Star and helped Washington win the 2019 World Series, in which Strasburg was the World Series MVP. He remains the Nationals’ all-time leader in both wins (113) and strikeouts (1,723).
Top overall picks having a high level of success in Major League Baseball isn’t just limited to the Nationals, as drafting a future All-Star with the pick has better odds than a flip of the coin. From 2005 to 2019, eight of the 15 top picks became All-Stars. In fact, each of the eight are multi-time All-Stars, including the aforementioned former Nats, as well as players like Gerrit Cole, Carlos Correa, and David Price.
Ethan Holliday is also the son of Matt Holliday, who had an impressive 15-year MLB career that included seven All-Star appearances, four Silver Sluggers, and a batting title.
The top prospect at the college level is outfielder Jace LaViolette of Texas A&M. The 6-foot-6 phenom just completed his sophomore season in College Station, Texas, in which he became the first player in program history to record back-to-back 20-homer seasons. He was a First-Team All-American, on the SEC All-Defensive Team, and helped lead the Aggies to within one victory of winning the 2024 College World Series Finals.
Prospects can be drafted straight out of high school, as would be the case with Holliday, or from college, but only if they’ve spent at least three years there, as would be the case with LaViolette come 2025. Anyone who has signed a minor league contract is not eligible for the MLB Draft.
The draft lottery is a relatively new concept for Major League Baseball as this year’s edition was just the third ever. Much like the NBA version, the non-playoff teams are all placed in a lottery with the chance to earn the top pick.
Once the draft order has been sorted out with the non-playoff teams, then the rest of the first round is determined by previous season’s win-loss record, followed by playoff finishes. In regards to the last criteria, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers will have the final spot in the first round, 30th overall, while the runner-up New York Yankees will draft 29th.
The 2025 MLB Draft will consist of 20 rounds and is scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 13 from Atlanta. The city will also host the All-Star Game that week, as the draft coincides with All-Star festivities.
Last year’s top pick, Travis Bazzana of the Cleveland Guardians, spent the entire 2024 season in the minors. The top pick from 2023, Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates, also spent his first season in the minors before making his MLB debut in 2024, which ended with him being named NL Rookie of the Year.
