Nats first round pick Chris Hacopian will be making his minor league debut tomorrow. Interestingly, it will not be in Fredericksburg. Instead, the local kid will be skipping over Low-A and will join the Wilmington Blue Rocks. The old regime would always send draft picks to Low-A first, even if it were only for a few games, but that has changed.
After being drafted 11th overall last
month, it will be exciting to see Hacopian get started. That Wilmington team was already loaded, and now they are getting another top prospect. The likes of Eli Willits, Ronny Cruz and Miguel Sime Jr. are some of the players currently in Wilmington. Now, Paul Toboni’s first draft pick will join them.
This assignment is interesting for a couple reasons. First is that it is another change from the new regime. Even when Dylan Crews was drafted second overall, he played 14 games in Fredericksburg. After that, he skipped High-A and went to Harrisburg. Playing for the Fred Nats was like a rite of passage for Nationals prospects.
Wilmington is known as a bad place to hit, and the old regime was hyper-aware of that. The new regime has been more willing to send guys to Wilmington and let them stay there. It is a pitchers park, but if you can hit, you can thrive there. We saw that with the likes of Ethan Petry, Devin Fitz-Gerald and now Eli Willits.
Hacopian will be the next big bat in Wilmington. Toboni and the front office must have felt that the infielders bat was just too advanced for Low-A. There is certainly evidence for that, as Hacopian was seen as one of the best college hitters in the class. He has walked more than he has struck out wherever he has played. Now, he will take on Wilmington.
Getting to see the 2026 draft picks will be fun for fans of the Nats farm system. So far, the only player who has debuted is 9th rounder Cashel Dugger, who has played a couple games in Low-A. Now, we will get to see Hacopian.
I would imagine that second rounder Chase Brunson is next in line to make his debut. There is a chance he also goes to Wilmington, but I think a quick stop in Low-A is more likely. 5th rounder Daniel Cuvet is another exciting bat to watch down the stretch.
The high school duo of Luke Williams and Cooper Harris are unlikely to debut this year. High school pitchers almost never pitch in their draft years and Williams is still too raw to throw straight in Low-A. We saw Eli Willits go straight to Low-A and shine, but he was uniquely polished.
It will be very interesting to see how Hacopian does in his pro debut. I think he will hold his own at the very least, but this is an aggressive assignment in a tough place to hit. If he does struggle, it would not be time to panic just yet. However, with how polished the bat is, the front office clearly thinks he has the hitting chops to succeed right away.
