Team stuck to a familiar script even in a shortened MLB draft

Like everything else these days, the Major League Baseball draft was made unrecognizable by the novel coronavirus pandemic. But it did provide at least one dose of normalcy before fading away: The Washington Nationals didn’t veer off their usual course.

“The way our draft unfolded, I don’t see it any different if it was done under different circumstances,” said Kris Kline, the Nationals’ assistant general manager in charge of amateur scouting. “You know, no changes.”

It was the sort of claim you would expect a front-office member to make: We scouted the same way, went for the best fit, followed our plan, a plan to improve our system and get good character guys and so on. Those platitudes felt normal, too.

But Kline’s point — that the Nationals kept to a tried approach — is backed by five of their six selections. They chose righthander Cade Cavalli (first round, 22nd overall), right-hander Cole Henry (second, 55th), shortstop Sammy Infante (compensation round, 71st), right-hander Holden Powell (third, 94th), catcher Brady Lindsly (fourth, 123rd) and left-hander Mitchell Parker (fifth, 153rd). Lindsly, a senior out of the University of Oklahoma, is the outlier, though he seemed to be a cost-effective pick who could allow the Nationals to offer more money to the other five players.

And those other five players were right in Washington’s wheelhouse.

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“It’s not a different approach,” Kline said of navigating a five-round draft, down from the usual 40, followed by a free agency period that begins at 9 a.m. Sunday. “And the reason I say that is we saw so many players. We had so much inventory, so many looks at these kids, even with the limited time, because we got such an early start.”

The coronavirus made this a tricky spring for scouts. Cavalli made just four starts for Oklahoma before the rest of the college season was canceled. Henry made four for LSU; Powell, a closer, made eight relief appearances for UCLA. Parker was picked out of San Jacinto North, a Texas junior college, and did not pitch at all this season. Infante, an18-year-old from Monsignor Edward Pace High in Florida, had his senior season end after a handful of games.

So the Nationals relied on familiarity and well-worn tendencies. With Cavalli and Henry, they stuck to taking tall right-handers with power fastballs. With the Oklahoma players, they felt confident because Jimmy Gonzales, their top Midwest scout, goes way back with Skip

Johnson, the Sooners’ coach. With Powell, they see a prototype reliever who could rise quickly through their minor league system. With Parker, they saw improvements after scouting him in 2019 — Jackson Rutledge, last year’s first-round pick, also attended San Jacinto — and like his funky and deceptive delivery.

And while Infante might seem like a reach as the club’s only high school selection, he, too, fits a Nationals habit. Kline said Infante has a chance to stay at shortstop. Eddie Longosz, Washington’s scouting director, praised the teenager’s athleticism and raw power at the plate. It all felt like a bit of foreshadowing.

“He does have the versatility because of the athleticism and his actions to play third base, second base, and he can throw,” Kline said. “So the kid has options.”

General Manager Mike Rizzo prefers natural shortstops, saying they have the easiest time transitioning to other spots. The organization has often experimented and used those players as puzzle pieces. Take Trea Turner, the current franchise shortstop, who arrived in a trade with the San Diego Padres at 21 and later played second base and center field as needed. Anthony Rendon, drafted out of Rice as a third baseman in 2011, mostly played second as a rookie. Whenever baseball returns, Carter Kieboom, 22 and drafted as a shortstop, will have a chance to replace Rendon as the Nationals’ everyday third baseman.

Then there’s Luis Garcia, who’s 20, one of the team’s top prospects and a lifelong shortstop who has recently worked at second and third. Even Michael A. Taylor, the club’s best defensive outfielder, was drafted by Washington in 2009 as a high school shortstop. That doesn’t mean Infante’s future is away from his preferred position. It just means, given his versatility and age, he could fit in a number of ways.

“I’ve played a good amount of time in every position,” he said Thursday. “I played a lot of shortstop growing up, and once I really got to that competitive level in high school, when I was playing next to draft picks like myself, I had to take a back seat. I played some second; I played some third.”

Now the Nationals will wipe their big board clean and start again. Teams will be able to sign an unlimited number of undrafted players for a maximum of $20,000 each. Washington will be aggressive, Rizzo said, and could capitalize on how much uncertainty surrounds the sport. While there probably will be no minor league season this summer, the plans for college baseball, in the fall and next spring, remain up in the air.

Everyone has had to adjust to a reworked format. But first the Nationals stuck to what they know.