The Washington Nationals will have the No. 1 pick in the amateur draft for the first time since they selected 17-year-old Bryce Harper in 2010.
Washington won the top pick for next summer’s draft after winning a lottery at the winter meetings on Tuesday. This will be the third time the Nationals will make the first pick in franchise history. In 2009, they picked pitcher Stephen Strasburg with the No. 1 pick.
Unlike last year, when the Nationals couldn’t have the top pick after initially winning the lottery, they will keep the first pick for the 2024 draft, which will be held in Atlanta during the All-Star Game.
Last year, the Nationals were not eligible for a top-six pick due to the collective bargaining agreement, which states that a team paying into the revenue-sharing program cannot have lottery selections in back-to-back years.
In 2023, the Nationals selected outfielder Dylan Crews with the No. 2 pick, right after Pittsburgh chose his LSU teammate, Paul Skenes, the pitcher who was the National League Rookie of the Year this season.
The Los Angeles Angels will have the second pick in next summer’s draft, followed by Seattle, Colorado, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh in the top six spots.
Harper was named the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year after hitting .270 with 22 home runs in his debut season. He played his first seven seasons with Washington before signing a $330 million, 13-year contract with Philadelphia after the 2018 season, which was the year before the Nationals won their only World Series title.
Strasburg was the MVP of the 2019 World Series, winning both of his starts against Houston.
For the third year in a row, the top six picks were determined by a weighted lottery involving the 18 teams that did not make the playoffs this season.
The Nationals had a 10.2% chance of winning the No. 1 pick, the fourth-best odds. Colorado and Miami, both with 100-loss seasons, had the best odds at 22.45%, followed by the Angels at 17.96%. However, Miami ended up with the seventh pick.
“It’s something that’s a good lucky bounce for us,” said Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo. “There’s nobody you can’t have in the draft, which is important. … We’ll pick the player that fits our organization the best and gives the most possibility for an impact.”
Seattle will have the No. 3 pick after having only a 0.53% chance of landing the top pick, the second-worst odds among 16 eligible teams.
The Chicago White Sox, who lost 121 games, the most of any major league team since 1900, were not eligible for the draft lottery because they had a top-six pick last year (No. 5) and pay into the revenue-sharing plan.
The CBA also prevents teams receiving revenue-sharing money from having lottery picks three years in a row, which made the Athletics (69-93) ineligible for the lottery. They picked fourth in 2023 after having the No. 6 pick in 2022.
Chicago will pick 10th, one spot ahead of Oakland.
