ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Nationals finished with the third-worst record in baseball last season. But unlike previous years, they were not eligible for a lottery pick when the Draft order was revealed on Tuesday night at Winter Meetings.
The Nats will make the No. 11 selection in the 2026 Draft. The White Sox will choose No. 1 overall.
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Washington was not in the lottery pick mix because it is a “payor club" -- it gives revenue sharing dollars rather than receiving them.
“Payor clubs” cannot receive lottery picks in consecutive years. The Nationals landed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 Draft, and they selected shortstop Eli Willits (MLB No. 15 prospect).
Of the 18 non-playoff clubs, the Angels also were ineligible as a “payor club,” and the Rockies were ruled out from a lottery pick because they received one in the past two Drafts.
Projected around the 11th spot on the Top 100 Draft prospects list by MLB Pipeline are outfielder Sawyer Strosnider (Texas Christian) at No. 10, shortstop Tyler Spangler (De La Salle H.S.) at No. 11, catcher Vahn Lackey (Georgia Tech) at No. 12, right-hander Liam Peterson (Florida) at No. 13, right-hander Jackson Flora (UC Santa Barbara) at No. 14 and outfielder A.J. Gracia (Virginia) at No. 15.
“Excitement,” said president of baseball operations Paul Toboni. “And this is probably due to my background -- I kind of came up through the game working in amateur scouting, and it still remains a huge passion of mine no matter how removed you get from it.
“So I’m really excited. This is the time of the year where you really start to sink your teeth into who are players that are going to go in the top 15 picks or top 30 picks, whatever it might be, and you start really doing your homework on who might be a fit at -- in this case -- pick 11 for us.”
Over the past five years, the Nationals have selected with their first overall picks: Willits (No. 1 pick, ‘25), Seaver King (No. 10 pick, ‘24), Dylan Crews (No. 2 pick, ‘23), Elijah Green (No. 5 pick, ‘22) and Brady House (No. 11 pick, ‘21).