It did not take long for the Nats to agree on a deal with 11th overall pick Chris Hacopian. The Nats signed the former Texas A&M and Maryland star to a $5.7 million deal. This is notable because it is about $430,000 under the $6.13 million slot value of the 11th pick.
Those savings will be important, especially for the Nats to sign their third and
fourth round picks. High schoolers Luke Williams and Cooper Harris are likely to take over slot deals to buy them out of their college commitments. Hacopian taking a bit of a hair cut will help them get those two players.
Do not get it twisted though, Hacopian was not one of those picks where the Nats reached to get an underslot deal. Hacopian’s talent fit in this range, with Baseball America ranking him as the 11th best prospect in the draft and MLB Pipeline ranking him 14th.
Hacopian is arguably the best pure hitter in the entire draft. He makes a ton of contact while also hitting the ball very hard. The 21 year old also makes good swing decisions, and has walked more than he has struck out at every level. His bat is legit, and could reach an even higher level if he learns to elevate his hard contact more consistently.
We have already broken down Hacopian, and have a cool story about him coming tomorrow, but it is hard to overstate just how good of a hitter he is. Hacopian may not be the fastest or most athletic player around, but he is a true masher who also has great baseball instincts. Hopefully that baseball IQ can help him stick at second base.
As a cherry on top, Hacopian is from the area and grew up as a Nats fan. The Nationals posted a video after he signed where he walked onto the field, and seemed in awe of being down there. Hacopian has been a fan in the stands at Nationals Park many times. Now, he has achieved a dream of his, and is signing with his hometown team to make things even more special.
Hopefully we get more signings in the next few days. The deadline is on July 27th, but ideally we would have things resolved before then. I have my eyes peeled on three high schoolers the Nats drafted in the 15th, 16th and 17th rounds. It is likely at least one of them signs, but hopefully the Nats can land two of the three. Catcher Francisco Rivero seems like the easiest sign of the three.
Landing one of Anthony Murphy or Isaiah Galason would take this draft to the next level. I am not totally sure if the Nats have the funds to pull this off, but we will find out in the next couple weeks.
It is always good to get clarity on your first round pick very quickly, and that is exactly what happened here with Hacopian. Welcome home Chris! It would be awesome to have two DMV kids in the lineup one day with James Wood and Hacopian. That could be a reality sooner rather than later given how advanced Hacopian is offensively.
