WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The fact the Nationals won the World Series in 2019 shouldn’t have surprised anyone given the veteran star-studded pitching staff they had. That they did it with two-thirds of an outfield that combined are younger than Bartolo Colon is something that’s out of the ordinary.

While there have been many championship-caliber teams with young players on the roster, it is rare for two players 22 or younger to play such a vital role. Juan Soto, who was second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2018, got MVP votes last year. Victor Robles had gotten to the big leagues before Soto, then was overshadowed by him a bit, then finished sixth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2019.

Establishing themselves at such a young age not only means good things for the Nationals in terms of long-term impact at the Major League level, there has to be a trickle-down effect on the farm system as a whole. It gives the player development staff confidence to move young players quickly and it gives the prospects a sense that if they can step up to the challenge, they’re going to get opportunities.

“We know Juan and Victor have paved the way for an opportunity for us to be a little more aggressive with someone like Luis Garcia, who mentally is very mature,” Nationals farm director Mark Scialabba said. “Hopefully the next wave of players, the guys in rookie ball, see this and say, ‘Hey, if I do well and I handle failure and I learn, and I learn the language and adapt quickly, they’ll push me if I’m ready.’”

Garcia, No. 2 on the newly released Nationals Top 30 list and No. 97 on the Top 100, doesn’t turn 20 until May and jumped from the Class A South Atlantic League to Double-A in 2019, then held his own in the Arizona Fall League. The next wave includes teenagers like right-hander Eddie Yean and outfielder Jeremy De La Rosa. It’s not just physical ability that determines who the Nationals push up the ladder, it’s a combination of those tools, along with the mental acuity to handle it.

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“There are a number of factors that go into any promotion and obviously we want players who are mature and mentally ready for that challenge,” Scialabba said. “The physical tools are sometimes ahead of that mental and emotional state.

“But when the talent is at the elite level and mentally, we think they can handle it, we feel we want to push them. [General Manager] Mike Rizzo is aggressive because he knows our staff, not only the scouts that sign these players are going to do their background on these players to get to know them as best they can, but our coaches are going to push them and challenge them along the way and give them as much as they can handle.”

Camp standout
Looking around big league camp, it’d be easy to forget that Garcia is still only 19 years old. Much like with Soto and Robles, he carries himself with a confidence that belies his years. He looks like he belongs, but more important, he knows he belongs, but without being too cocky too soon. It’s why the Nationals were OK with jumping him up to Double-A in 2019 and why no one was hitting the panic button when he was hitting .218 over the first two months of the season.

“He handles failure so well,” said Scialabba about Garcia, who then hit .312 in June en route to a much more productive second half.

In addition to that mental toughness, Garcia is starting to physically mature as well. Though still baby-faced, he doesn’t look like a boy among the men and it’s shown in his early Grapefruit League performance (6-for-13 with a home run).

“He’s starting to turn into a man,” Scialabba said. “He’s a big, physical middle infielder who’s done a really nice job this offseason working hard at our academy. You can see it in his face, the way he goes about his business, he’s got that work ethic that it takes.”

Prospect we’ll be talking about in 2021
No. 13 on the current Top 30 list, Jeremy De La Rosa could be the next outfielder from the Dominican Republic to make a big splash. He missed some of the Gulf Coast League season during his pro debut in 2019 (he signed for $300,000 in July 2018) because he was completing his high school education back home, then got dinged up a bit. After a slow start, however, the left-handed hitter showed a glimpse of what he can do by hitting .318/.396/.568 in August in the GCL. And the Nats think he’s just getting started.

“He has a short compact swing, uses the whole field with a very balanced approach for a young hitter,” Scialabba said. “He’s a very gifted athlete who can play all three positions in the outfield. We’re very excited about his development and hopefully with a full season of at-bats and reps, he’ll start to get on the radar more.”

Something to prove
Lefty Seth Romero (No. 9 on the Top 30) came to the Nationals with some baggage when they took him in the first round of the 2017 Draft. He had been suspended, then kicked off his team at the University of Houston and then got sent home from Minor League camp early for violating team rules in his first pro season. To compound things, he missed all of the 2019 season because of Tommy John surgery the previous August.

The stuff has always been undeniable. He’s a big lefty with the chance to have three plus pitches. But he has to get on the mound and prove he can use them effectively since he's thrown just 47 1/3 pro innings. 

“When you’re grading out his stuff, he’s as gifted as any pitcher we have in the system,” said Scialabba, adding that Romero looked very good at instructs last fall. “Obviously, there’s the checkered past, but he’s really starting to mature in a lot of ways. We’re happy with what he’s shown from a work ethic standpoint both on and off the field. I think this is the year he can come and show what he’s about.”