The Nationals close out the top tier of this draft at No. 11, and their pick carries an unusually clear subplot. No team has been tied to one prospect more relentlessly than Washington has to two-way prep star Jared Grindlinger, the youngest player in the class.
Yet the latest signals suggest the Nats may zag, a fitting bit of intrigue for the draft of new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni. The choice doubles as a referendum on timeline: chase a teenager’s ceiling, or add a college player who can help sooner.
How the Board Sets Up for the Nationals
By No. 11, the consensus top tier is gone, and the board has settled into a deep run of college bats, a few college arms, and a handful of high-upside prep names. Washington fits at the intersection of those groups. Toboni’s scouting group, much of it imported from Boston, has shown an appetite for risk and a lean toward position players, but the front office also has to weigh how a pick fits the CJ Abrams and James Wood contention window taking shape in D.C.
The Most Likely Pick
For weeks, the answer looked like Grindlinger. The Nationals have been the team most often connected to the 17-year-old two-way phenom, a reclassified prospect whose elite hit tool and projectable left arm make him one of the most fascinating talents in the class. The fit aligns with Toboni’s background: he and his staff ran Boston’s draft room for years, and the Red Sox have been linked to Grindlinger as well, suggesting shared models value the upside.
But the freshest read points elsewhere. MLB Pipeline’s June 18 mock sent Texas A&M second baseman Chris Hacopian to Washington at No. 11, noting the Nats could hop on the college-bat train with Drew Burress, Hacopian, or AJ Gracia, even while acknowledging their stronger-than-most interest in Grindlinger.
Chris Hacopian of Y-D turns a double play as Braden Holcomb of Bourne pulls off. Cape League final Aug. 12 2025Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo went further, suggesting the Grindlinger buzz had grown so loud it might be a smokescreen, almost to the point where he didn’t want to believe it. Hacopian is a polished college bat some clubs grade as the best in the crop, the kind of quicker-moving piece that fits a team eyeing the next couple of years.
The Wild Card
The names beyond Hacopian underscore the tension in the timeline. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel has tied Washington’s appetite for risk and position-player lean to its Red Sox-rooted scouting group, while flagging Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell’s late rise as a name gaining traction. Bell put up a strong .343/.510/.608 line at Kentucky, and an earlier Pipeline mock had Washington taking him outright at No. 11. Coastal Carolina right-hander Cameron Flukey has surfaced as a college-arm option too, a profile that would address pitching while still helping sooner than a prep bat.
Cameron Flukey (2) throws against the Arizona Wildcats during the ninth inning at Charles Schwab Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-Imagn ImagesThe decision will be telling. Take Grindlinger, and it signals Washington is still building for the long haul. Take a college player, especially an arm or an advanced bat like Hacopian, and it suggests Toboni is prioritizing the Abrams-Wood window. Either path is defensible, which is what makes the Nationals one of the more genuinely unpredictable picks in the top half of the round.
Bottom Line
Washington sits at a crossroads at No. 11. Grindlinger is the high-ceiling teenager the Nats have chased all spring, but the latest intel, and a possible smokescreen, point toward a college bat like Hacopian, with Bell and Flukey as alternatives that balance talent and proximity. However Toboni plays it, his first marquee draft pick as the decision-maker will say a lot about whether Washington is drafting for ceiling or for the contention window already coming into view.
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