Washington’s tendency to take hard-throwing pitchers with their top draft picks had most of the mock drafts once again matching the Nationals up with high-end arms at No. 11, then, when their pick came up, GM Mike Rizzo & Co. in the D.C. front office selected 18-year-old high school shortstop Brady House. Wait, what?
Were they looking at arms, and just surprised that the 6’4’’, 210 lb, 18-year-old infielder was there after 10 picks were made? He wasn’t supposed to be there. So were they hoping for House all along?
“We had four or five guys that we really liked,” Assistant GM and VP of Scouting Ops Kris Kline explained in a post Round 1 Zoom call with reporters.