WASHINGTON -- Catching had not been a position heavily addressed in recent Drafts by the Nationals. That changed this year.

The Nats selected a catcher in the first round when they drafted Caleb Lomavita out of California with the 39th overall pick on Sunday (a compensation round pick acquired on Saturday in a deal with Kansas City for reliever Hunter Harvey).

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The following afternoon, the Nats drafted catcher Kevin Bazzell from Texas Tech in the third round (79th overall) -- their first pick of Day 2.

Washington had not picked a catcher that high since Brady Lindsly in the fourth round in 2020. Jakson Reetz was the Nationals¡¯ highest catching prospect picked in the third round in 2014.

¡°They both can hit, they both have power, they¡¯re both very athletic and we¡¯re excited to add them to the fold,¡± Nationals vice president of amateur scouting Danny Haas said on Monday.

Lomavita, a 21-year-old out of the University of California, was ranked as the No. 33 Draft prospect by MLB Pipeline. He slashed .322/.395/.586 with a .981 OPS and 15 home runs last season while becoming a Dick Howser Trophy (top collegiate player) semifinalist.

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Bazzell, a 21-year-old from Texas Tech, was ranked as the No. 55 prospect by MLB Pipeline. He slashed .307/.401/.473 with an .874 OPS and six home runs last season. During his freshman year in 2023, he was named to the First-Team All Big-12, among other accolades.

MLB Pipeline¡¯s Sam Dykstra wrote, ¡°The Nationals already took a potential catcher of the future in Caleb Lomavita at No. 39 overall and go back behind the plate here with Bazzell. The right-handed slugger is a potential plus hitter, having hit .330 with more walks than strikeouts over three years on campus, and his arm strength behind the plate gives him another above-average tool.¡±

Both Lomavita and Bazzell have experience playing other positions, but they stood out for their work behind the plate.

¡°As far as catchers are concerned, we¡¯re looking for someone that¡¯s going to be a field general, so to speak,¡± Nationals senior director of amateur scouting Brad Ciolek said on Monday. ¡°Someone that his teammates are going to look to in terms of accountability and also make sure everyone is doing the right thing, day in and day out. Both Bazzell and Lomavita have those qualities about them, and we¡¯re very excited that we were able to end up with both of them.¡±

After winning the 2019 World Series with veteran catchers Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki, the Nationals turned toward a youth movement at the Trade Deadline.

In 2021, starting catcher Keibert Ruiz was acquired from the Dodgers in the Max Scherzer-Trea Turner deal, backup catcher Riley Adams was traded from the Blue Jays for Brad Hand and a then-prospect Drew Millas was dealt from the Athletics in a package involving Gomes. The Nationals signed Ruiz to an eight-year contract extension in Spring Training of 2023.

In the past five years, the Nationals have selected the following catchers:

• 2023: Ryan Snell (round 7), Nate Rombach (round 18)
• 2022: Maxwell Romero Jr. (round 9)
• 2021: Steven Williams (round 18), Elie Kligman (round 20)
• 2020: Brady Lindsly (round 4)
• 2019: Andrew Pratt (round 10), Mason Doolittle (round 18), Allan Berr¨ªos (round 22), Tyler LaRue (round 38)

¡°We definitely didn¡¯t set out to say, 'We¡¯re going to draft catchers,'¡± Haas said on Sunday. ¡°... We definitely had conversations with [vice president and assistant general manager, player development and administration] Eddie Longosz that it¡¯d be nice to get some more catchers. So far, we¡¯ve been able to do that.¡±

Day 3 of the MLB Draft (rounds 11-20) begins on Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET, on MLB.com.