It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. As the net's wrapped up, the first two rounds of this year's MLB draft, there is one thing that is very clear and that this national's approach in the 2024 draft, it's different. And you may be asking, why is it different? I'll explain after this. And thank you all for making lockdown nationals. Your first list and every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast, and of course, I'm your host Ryan Claire, you can catch me over on Twitter at ryanclaire11 and as well as her show page at hello underscore nationals for our latest nationals news notes and make sure to check us out over on Twitter and of course, search up locked on nationals wherever you get your podcasts, including over on YouTube for the video form. If you want to see my face, it doesn't matter if you want to or not, but just know that it is there over on YouTube. And of course, just search locked on nationals again, wherever you get your podcast and later on in today's show, the nationals, they said goodbye to hunter Harvey. They have traded him over the weekend for a very intriguing kind of haul of guys. We'll have that for you in the third segment of today's shows, nationals, they got pick number 39, which they use on catcher from California, Caleb Lomavita, we'll have that for you in the third segment of today's show. And of course, Kaden Wallace as well, who and just by the way, the nationals, I mean, hit a home run with that trade, we'll discuss that a little bit later on. I mean, it's not even close. I did not expect the nationals to even touch anything close to what they got back or returned for hunter Harvey. So it was a no brainer. I can tell you that right now, I'll explain it even further as to why it was a no brainer for the washington nationals, a little bit later on it today's show, but. Second segment draft profiles, you've got Seiber King, Caleb Lomavita, and Luke Dickerson. Luke Dickerson is a high schooler from New Jersey. He is synonymous with one name. I'll tell you what that name is in the second segment hint might be the greatest baseball player of all time. I'll have that for you in the second segment of today's show, but we start off with discussing the nationals approach in this year's draft because it is a very intriguing one. We've always talked about this. And again, I went into this year's draft thinking that, oh, the nationals are going to do what the nationals do. Under Mike Rizzo, the nationals have always gone best player available. They have always sat there and said, we're going to take a massive swing on whoever has the highest ceiling. We don't care how much money that they will cost, whoever is sitting there at wherever they pick, we're going to take the highest ceiling possible. In this year's draft class, they threw that away. You may be asking yourself, what has changed? What changed with this washington nationals group under Mike Rizzo? Well, if you remember over the off season, the nationals made some front office adjustments. They hired Danny Hawks, who was the scouting director for the Arizona Diamondbacks. They hired him to run scouting operations for the nationals. In my opinion, the most interesting hire possible over this last off season was hiring Brad Ciolick as their new senior director of amateur scouting. He served as the Orioles director of draft operations and has been with the ballroom Orioles since 2013. Now if you kind of just take that for what it's worth, again, the nationals have always done one thing. They have taken a right handed pitcher that throws 100 miles per hour who could be a front of the line guy. They've taken chances on that. They've taken chances on prepster guys like Elijah Green who have massive ceilings and as well as Brady House. One of them was working out for them, the other not so much. The nationals just threw that game plan away in this year's draft. They cut a deal with Seaver King and someone asked me on my first reaction to the nationals pick last night. What does it mean to cut a deal? Well, cutting a deal is basically just kind of what it is verbatim. But cutting a deal is you have this draft pool money. The nationals have the 7th biggest draft pool in this year's draft class, meaning they have the 7th highest or most money to spend in this year's draft. With the nationals though, you get to kind of cut bad explaining it at this point because it's cutting a deal with someone. But it's basically as if you are taking someone for less money at that slot compared to what they would have been later on in the draft and you're just saving money in order to spend on later picks. And so with all that in mind, the nationals, they traded Hunter Harvey for Caden Walls and as well as the 39th pick in last night's draft. I think once the nationals made that Hunter Harvey deal, that kind of rang a bell for me in my head, being like, maybe the nationals are trying to acquire this pick in order to cut a deal with someone at number 10 and then have some more money to spend at number 39 and as well as the second round of this year's draft. Well, I think that's exactly what happened. And again, this is what the Baltimore Orioles did. If you remember when they took Gunnar Henderson in round two, that's exactly what they did. Draw him away from his college commit. They gave him a little bit more money in round two. And now he's an MVP candidate and probably the best shortstop in all of baseball at this point in time. That's what the Orioles did throughout their time. And again, Brad Seeolick ran that operation. Now here's the thing. Here's the big butt, you could say. The nationals over the years with player development, it's been up and down, very up and down to say the least, you've got these monster ceilings in the Orioles. There's no better organization in baseball at this point than developing talent than the Baltimore Orioles. They have had just a classic master class for developing future prospects. They've done that and they've done that time and time again and they'll continue to do that post-Brad Seeolick in my opinion. But now with this national team, you've got the Orioles kind of brains behind this in the way that you draft. But now it's time to kind of get nitty gritty. Can you develop them? That is the big question, in my opinion. With the Washington Nationals, again, this is a smart operation, this is a smart thing to do to quote unquote, cut a deal with someone, save some money and get some high school talent or even later talent in the later rounds. Save some money. And again, some people here save money and be like, "Oh my God, the learners are so cheap." That's not what this is about. They're going to spend their money no matter what in this year's draft class. It is a smart way in order to get better talent through your door. And again, most of the time, these guys have been talking to agents, they know what they want. They know what Dickerson will want coming out of high school. So he's going to sign no matter what in my opinion, second round pick in this year's draft. Similar to what they did with Travis Sakura last year, they just gave him a ton of money and then didn't really do all too much after that. But with the Nationals, is this a smart kind of way to go about the draft now? It is. But my big concern is if you're going to run this the way that the Orioles did with cutting deals with someone and getting a lot of talent through the door, young talent, raw talent in particular receiver king, then you better have the development skills to go alongside that. Because Seaver King, while people are raving about the possibility of what he could be, this guy is still very raw. He was in Division 2 Wingate from 2022 through 2023, two years. Last year made the jump to Wake Forest, put up very impressive numbers across the ACC, but still, how much faith do you have in this Nationals player development side of things? I've got a little bit more faith than what I did at this time last year, but one thing is for sure, this Nationals player development side, this is still a big question mark. That's my one big massive concern right now sitting here today. Can the Nationals develop these guys now? Is the method to get to this point by cutting deals with someone, taking someone for under slot at number 10, and then using that money to get Loma Vida and as well as Dickerson later on in the draft, it is a smart method. But can you now develop these guys and get the most out of them and turn them into big time prospect, blue chip kind of prospects? That's the big question at this point in time. And I don't know if the Nationals can do that, we simply have not really been able to see how the Nationals kind of use this method and see if it can turn around this Nationals farm system. Again, let's say top 10 farm system in baseball. You just got three pretty solid talented guys through the door now. But the big question is going to be now, how can you develop them? That is my concern. And again, it probably should be your concern as well. I don't need to tell you about the first rounders that have flopped under this regime. There is a new player development side, but still, if you're going to be like the Orioles and you're going to cut deals like this, you have to be able to develop the talent as well. Because other than that, you probably should have taken a safe kind of promising prospect that you know would have been able to help you relatively soon. Now Mike Rizzo, I think still one of the best executives on baseball, Brad Siolik has a track record of finding talent through the draft. It's now up to the player development side. Again, can they develop these guys? That is going to be the big overwhelming question with them. But other than that, I am very excited for the way that the Nationals handled that draft yesterday. At first, I was like, "Sever King, I mean, I guess, solid talent." At the end of the day now, you've got three really solid, could-be blue chip kind of prospect someday down the road. I'll go over those draft profiles with you, but again, the Nationals, three guys should enter your top 10-ish of this farm system at this point in time. Sever King will be a top 100 prospect. Kamlo Mavita might be a top 100 prospect entering today's, I don't know, at this point in time, but still solid prospect nonetheless. We'll have those draft profiles for you from Sever King, Kamlo Mavita, and of course, you've got your high schooler, Luke Dickerson, who is the most intriguing one of them all. We'll have that for you, but we got to tell you guys about some of our very good friends over at booking.com. Guys, this episode of Lockdown Nationals is brought to you by booking.com. Booking. Yeah, with summer travel heating up, especially travel for baseball games, it's time to explore those U.S. cities you always secretly wanted to learn about. Yes, we're talking about your rivals, cities with hotels, bedded breakfast, vacation, red tools, resorts, and so much more on booking.com. 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And now we get back into the actions the Nationals made three picks in yesterday's draft. Let's get into it. Pick number 10, Seever King, you already have my initial reaction yesterday, being a little bit confused with how the Nationals handled that, but still, this is someone who I think has a pretty high ceiling. And then again, we went over why the Nationals made this pick. They're cutting a deal, quote unquote, with him at number 10 overall, less money presumably than what you would imagine. He was around the 17 best prospects according to MLB.com, but this is where he kind of, this is profile. He's got a 55 grade hit tool, which is solid, 45 grade power, 65 grade runner, a 55 grade arm and a 55 grade in the field. And again, at Wake Forest this year, this guy played second base, third base, center field, and as well as shortstop, you can move them all over the diamond. The Nationals did announce them as a shortstop, which I think was very interesting in my opinion. Is he going to be a shortstop up in the bigs? I would not say so. It doesn't necessarily fit that profile for me. I look at him most likely as a second baseman. At this point in time, maybe a third baseman, if it takes Brady House another year or so to develop, I don't know where the Nationals will put him, but the one thing is for sure is this guy has position flexibility and he's very good defensively. So right then and there, that is a good profile to have. Where he's going to have to improve is probably his swing and miss potential. This is someone who did chase a lot down at Wake Forest and you don't really have his overall numbers down from D2 Wingate, but from his one year at Wake Forest, number one, the guy was one of the better offensive talents in the ACC this last year and number two kind of at times putting the offense on the back of Wake Forest. So Seaver King, the one thing that I really question is, can the Nationals fix that chase? Can you not have this guy chase up at the Major League level? And can you develop some power within him, because he's got that big frame for it, but the big question is, can you bring that out of him? How good can Seaver King be? And I think with Brad Siolik, it gives me a little bit of hope, because again, this guy does find talent and he finds a lot of raw talent as well. If you remember Gunnar Henderson when he went in the second round, everyone was kind of scratching their head to be like this guy, now he was a very talented high school prospect, but he was not considered to be some huge superstar in the making. I'm not saying Seaver King's going to be that, but they do have similar profiles where people were kind of questioning the swing and missibility, people were questioning how good he can be at the Major League level and can this guy be a shortstop at the Major League level. So there are similar profiles there. So it is interesting to see that because again, he had a 577 slug this last year, a 635 slug in total in college over Wingate and Wake Forest as well. And again, the position flexibility is a huge key for this national's organization. So you see that Seaver King, 10th overall, it's an interesting pick to say the least. Caleb Lomavita, pick number 39, catcher out of California, the number 33 prospect according to MLB.com, this guy's a 50 grade hit tool, 55 grade power, a 50 grade runner, which we'll kind of get into here a little bit later on, but a 55 grade arm and a 50 grade fielder overall a 50 grade prospect. Caleb Lomavita was actually rumored to go number 10 overall to cut a deal quote unquote, but the nationals ultimately did not, they went Seaver King and then they got Caleb Lomavita and this is someone that has actually been rumored to go to the nationals for quite some time. So it's obvious that they've had their eyes set on him for quite some time. Solid defensively, pretty decent arm, really good athlete and again, look at these numbers. This guy was a catcher again in the Pac-12, he stole 36 bases over his three years in the Pac-12. That's pretty good. It doesn't matter where you're coming from, if you're a catcher and you're stealing bases, I'm not expecting to steal bases up in the bigs because you know, catchers have a lot more wear and tear over nine innings playing every single day. It's a tough one, but Caleb Lomavita has stolen bases. He stole 12 bases this last year, 15 as a freshman. That's pretty good. Hit 16 home runs in 2023, hit 15 home runs in 2024, had 52 RBI's this last spring, that at 322, a 395 OBP, a 586 slug and a 981 OPS, Caleb Lomavita is one of those guys where it's an intriguing pick and again, the Nationals and Major League Baseball as a whole, you do not draft for need, but the Nationals, they know what they need right now and they know what they aren't getting. Keebert Ruiz is on the hot seat, dare I say, a little bit. Lomavita is one of those guys who will be a pretty quick riser in my opinion, and also number two, could make an impact relatively soon. It depends how this guy hits. He is an athletic catcher, I believe some of them said that he's one of the most athletic catchers in this year's draft, so that's number one very interesting, state healthy throughout his career as well, put up very good offensive numbers, pretty solid defensively, nothing crazy, but Keebert Ruiz, keep an eye on that, I don't know what the Nationals will do with him, I don't think anything will happen to him, he's not going to get traded, he's not going to get cut, he's not going to get TFA, he won't do any of that, but it is interesting. The Nationals, they've got their catcher, again some people thought that this guy would be a pretty early first round pick, some thought he would go number 10 overall to cut a deal with the Nats, but he went at number 39 and the Nationals took advantage of it, they took their guy, you get someone who can be an impact relatively soon to enter your farm system, so I thought that was a very good pick for the Nationals at number 39, that kind of cooled me off from the number 10 pick with Seaver King, I like Seaver King, but there's a lot of question marks of what he could be. My favorite pick of the draft, pick number 44, second round pick, Luke Dickerson out of New Jersey, high school preps your shortstop, the number 49 prospect according to MLB.com, and I did say this a little bit earlier, he is tied to one of the greatest players of all time, New Jersey, high school, you all know the name, Mike Trout, he tied his high school record for home runs with Mike Trout, here's his profile though, it's a 45 grade hit tool, 55 grade power, 60 grade runner, a 50 grade arm, and 50 grade in the field, he is a shortstop, but I think by the time he makes the majors, this guy will be in the corners, I believe MLB network was talking about that yesterday, this guy could be a third baseman, could be a first baseman, all said and done, could also maybe even be a second baseman at this point, but this guy is very raw, a ton of power, again, a good profile, very stocky built up guy, maybe he's an outfielder at this point, maybe he's a right fielder, a left fielder, I don't know, when you are a young 18, 19 year old come out of high school, if you're number one if you're a shortstop, that's what you do, you draft a shortstop, the best athlete on the diamond, get them in your system and see what the nationals can do with them, again, this is going to be a project, this is one of those Brad Seolik picks, you're giving someone an above slot kind of money for and seeing what they can do with it, I don't know if the nationals are going to be able to develop these guys again, but one thing is for sure, is they've got an eye for talent with Brad Seolik, so now it's up to the player development side of things, can you get the most out of Luke Dickerson, we'll see, but still, exciting picks nonetheless, but still the nationals, they had a busy weekend and it wasn't because of the MLB draft, you just traded away Hunter Harvey for what, we'll discuss that, that's what you tell you guys about some of our very good friends over at Game Time and guys, when we talk about Game Time, you already know Game Time is an authorized ticket marketplace of major league baseball, which makes getting tickets faster and easier, prices on the Game Time app actually go down the closer it gets to the first pitch, with killer last minute deals all in prices views from receipt and their lowest price guarantee, Game Time takes the guesswork at a buying MLB tickets and of course, maybe you're going against the Cubs later this month, maybe when the Phillies come into town, you want to walk up half street, just like I do every home game, when I do, I open up Game Time, two clicks away, bam, I've got tickets, I am walking in the ballpark, I see the national anthem and then I get to my seats, but you may be asking, what's the best deal about Game Time, well, I can tell you this, you get views from your seats right from your phone, so you see if there's any obstruction and of course, their flash deals and their zone deals, you can get those at any given moment, walking up to Nationals Park or maybe even a day ahead of time, you can get those last minute tickets as well and the lowest price is always guaranteed and of course, there is event cancellation protection, which I love. 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We get back into it now with the Nationals as we say goodbye to Hunter Harvey and again, if you're in every day or out there maybe asking where's the stock report, throw it away today, wait too much to talk about, we had to move on. The Nationals had a solid weekend, I'm a walking, that's all you need to know but today, Hunter Harvey, MLB draft talk, the Nationals got a lot better in my opinion over this weekend and to get the weekend started, you trade away Hunter Harvey for the 39th pick which turned into Caleb Loma Vita and then you also got Caden Wallace. Caden Wallace was a second round pick back in 2022 out of the University of Arkansas, he was the second overall prospect in the Royals farm system, now you may be asking how good is their farm system, not good at all. This is the sixth press prospect in the national system right now and that is before you enter the three guys that we just got in the MLB draft. I would assume Seyfer King jumps him and I'll also assume Loma Vita jumps him and I think right now Dickerson might be around just a tad behind Caden Wallace at this point but this is someone who has put up solid offensive numbers, he is around a tad above average as far as minor league hitters go, he has hit for a little bit of pop, he's been getting on base but what he is known for as a third baseman is number one is R, a 65 grade arm over from the hot corner. I would not be surprised to see Caden Wallace sometime in the season. If Trey Lipscomb is struggling and Brady House isn't necessarily ready at this point, I would not be surprised to see the Nationals maybe move Caden Wallace relatively quickly up into the big leagues. Now I don't know where the Nationals will start with this kit, I don't know if he's going to start in AA because he did have some injury history here with the Royals but this kit has really turned it on in AA with the Royals so far. Now the Nationals get him, he's a 50 grade power guy, 45 grade hit tool, solid defensively, really good defensively in fact, big arm. The Nationals now have a really good kind of section of third baseman. You enter Seyfer King who's in that conversation, obviously Brady House as well, you've got Caden Wallace and you also have your Hondie Morales and again, Trey Lipscomb as well. You've got a loaded kind of system right now, a third baseman. I like this method. This was number one, a great trade by Mike Rizzo, a masterclass in fact, Hunter Harvey. Now I saw some people kind of bagging him a little bit saying, "Oh, he sucks, he sucks, he does not suck." Hunter Harvey does not suck. He has had a rough few weeks here, whatever. It happens to relievers. He's going to be just fine in Kansas City. But that does not take away the fact that Kansas City overpaid for him, absolutely. I was not expecting to get a 39th pick in this draft and I certainly was not expecting to get Caden Wallace the number two prospect in the Royals system. Mike Rizzo, take a bow. What a trade. Hunter Harvey again, he's got some years of control left under him. So what? He was not going to be part of this future. Again, if you make a postseason run next year, yeah. And now the focal point turns to Kyle Finnegut. What can you get in return now if Hunter Harvey's price tag was that? What do you want to get from one of the better closers in all of baseball? That makes me giddy. Again, it sounds a little bit sexier getting the second best prospect in a team system but let it be known that the Royals farm system is not good at all right now. So when you get Caden Wallace, it's intriguing. Is he going to be some impact major leaguer? I don't know at this point in time. He has hit well. Camden Asheville is kind of untapped some talent from him because at this point in time, last year when you trade Candelario, you get Kevin Medei and DJ hers. DJ hers really took off, looked really good this year as well. Maybe Mike Rizzo just does this and again, I've always trusted Mike Rizzo when it comes to trades. I think that is his kind of cream of the crop when it comes to him as an executive. He is one of the better trade guys in Major League Baseball. If Mike Rizzo is calling, you should not answer the phone. He simply wins trades. He has always done that and I think he always will do that. That's the way that it works with him. There are some that have been kind of not so great, but ultimately overall, big picture. Mike Rizzo is very good at this finding talent where others may not see it. I am intrigued with the Nationals. Did here, moving on from Hunter Harvey was absolutely the right thing to do with this price tag in mind. Again, you get the 39th pick with Caleb Lomavita, a catcher who could be a DH, could be a first baseman, but likely will probably say a catcher. Another good hit tool, he also get Cade and Wallace, so who might be a utility guy for this team down the line, may even be a little bit more. Cade and Wallace is a very intriguing prospect, a young guy, 2022 second round pick at an University of Arkansas, so Mike Rizzo, take a bow, you did it again. You man a good trade, some fortunate to see Hunter Harvey go, but we kind of saw the writing on the wall. He was not going to be here for the future, so good trade, good trade all around. What a show, a packed show today, MLB draft was yesterday, the MLB draft continues today, starting with a third round, we'll have more of those picks in the Nationals, maybe cut a deal with someone in third round. We'll have that for you on tomorrow's, locked on Nationals, and depending on what the Nationals do in the draft today, we'll probably move the stock report to end off the second half of the season. And of course, just talk about the Nat's first half, and again, the MLB home run derby is tonight. So you will not want to miss that, but of course, enjoy the day, have a good one, go next. Hey Prime members, you can listen to this locked on podcast, add free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. (upbeat music)
