WASHINGTON - Jackson Cluff, 23, was camping a few miles from his family home in Utah last month when he got a telephone call from Mark Scialabba, the assistant general manager, player development with the Nationals.
Scialabba had good news: he wanted Cluff – with less than a season or pro baseball experience – to report to the alternate site in Fredericksburg and be part of the Nationals’ 60-player pool. That was a pretty large jump for Cluff, an infielder who was drafted out of BYU in 2019 and played at low Single-A for the Hagerstown Suns last season.