Washington Nationals select eight players on second day of 2024 First-Year Player Draft

The Washington Nationals selected eight players on the second day of Major League Baseball’s 2024 First-Year Player Draft on Monday. President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Vice President, Amateur Scouting Danny Haas, Senior Director, Amateur Scouting Brad Ciolek, and Assistant Director and National Crosschecker, Amateur Scouting Reed Dunn made the announcements.

The Nationals kicked off Monday’s action by selecting catcher Kevin Bazzell from Texas Tech University in the third round. Bazzell is the No. 55 ranked prospect in the 2024 Draft, according to MLBPipeline.com. He combined to hit .330 with a .431 on-base percentage and a .530 slugging percentage in 112 games across two seasons at Texas Tech, clubbing 37 doubles, a triple, 16 home runs, 94 RBI and 92 runs scored along the way.

As a freshman in 2023, Bazzell was named Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American, a NCBWA First-Team Freshman All-American, ABCA All-Region Second Team and First-Team All Big-12 after ranking 11th in NCAA Division 1 with 24 doubles and pacing his club with 87 hits. Bazzell joined Texas Tech in the spring of 2022 after spending his first collegiate fall season at Dallas Baptist University.

In the fourth round, Washington selected left-handed pitcher Jackson Kent from the University of Arizona. Kent earned First-Team Pac-12 honors as a sophomore in 2024 after he went 3-4 with a 4.08 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 15 starts and helped Arizona to the Pac-12 Baseball championship. He pitched to a 2.41 ERA (18 ER / 67.1 IP) in his first 11 starts of the season and did not allow more than three runs in any of those games.

Between his freshman and sophomore seasons, Kent went 2-1 with a 2.52 ERA in six starts for Yarmouth-Dennis in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He struck out 27 in 25.0 innings of work.

In Round 5, the Nationals selected shortstop Randal Diaz from Indiana State University. Diaz hit .360 with a .437 on-base percentage and a .632 slugging percentage in 59 games during his third season with the Sycamores. He recorded 15 doubles, 18 home runs, 55 RBI, 31 walks and 55 runs scored. Diaz finished the season with a 32-game hitting streak and a 38-game on-base streak.

Diaz was a back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference First-Team selection in 2023 and 2024 as well as a 2022 Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American. He hit 35 home runs in 168 games across three collegiate seasons.

Washington selected right-handed pitcher Davian Garcia out of Florida Gulf Coast University in the sixth round. Garcia went 5-3 with a 3.03 ERA in 16 games (eight starts) in 2024. He struck out 71 in 59.1 innings of work on his way to being named First-Team All-Atlantic Sun Conference. In his eight starts, Garcia was 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA (14 ER / 46.2 IP) with 49 strikeouts.

In the seventh round, the Nationals selected right-handed pitcher Robert Cranz from Oklahoma State University. Cranz went 2-1 with a 1.63 ERA and two saves in 30 relief appearances for the Cowboys in 2024. He struck out 59 in 49.2 innings and allowed just 26 hits, holding opponents to a .139 average.

In Round 8, Washington selected outfielder Sam Petersen out of the University of Iowa. Petersen hit .333 with 11 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 27 RBI, 20 walks, 17 stolen bases and 47 runs scored in 33 games in 2024. He was named First-Team All-Big Ten as a sophomore in 2023 after he hit .319 with nine doubles, a triple, 11 home runs, 47 RBI, 25 walks, 20 stolen bases and 45 runs scored.

The Nationals selected third baseman Jackson Ross from the University of Mississippi in the ninth round. Ross hit .271 with nine doubles, eight home runs, 41 RBI, 51 walks, five stolen bases and 45 runs scored in 50 games in 2024. He was named First-Team All-Conference USA in 2023 while at Florida Atlantic University after he hit .345 with 20 doubles, 14 homers, 58 RBI, 40 walks, three stolen bases and 54 runs scored in 59 games.

With their final pick of the day, the Nationals selected right-handed pitcher Luke Johnson from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the 10th round. Johnson was just the second player in America East Conference history to win Pitcher of the Year in back-to-back seasons after he earned the honor in 2022 and 2023. As a junior in 2023, he went 7-1 with a 2.96 ERA, 84 strikeouts, and two complete games. He was 3-2 with a 3.93 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 73.1 innings during his sophomore campaign in 2022. He capped off his college career by going 5-4 with a 5.64 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 89.1 innings in 2024.

Over the first two days of the 2024 First-Year Player Draft, the Nationals selected 11 players: three right-handed pitchers, one left-handed pitcher, one outfielder, four infielders and two catchers. Of Washington’s 11 selections, 10 came from four-year universities and one from the high school ranks.