With the offseason fully underway, I wanted to introduce Nats nation to the 2026 MLB draft. Due to the lottery rules, we already know the Nationals will be picking 11th this year. With new POBO Paul Toboni’s
background, the draft will be a massive emphasis for the Nats. Here are some players they should be doing some digging on already.
In my opinion, the Nationals should go for a college prospect in this draft. It is a very good group of college players and the Nats went very high school heavy in the 2025 class. They need some players that can move through the system quickly and become impact big leaguers. We have seen guys like Nick Kurtz and Trey Yesavage become stars just a year after being drafted.
With that in mind, I came up with four college players who are interesting talents and could realistically be available with the 11th pick. For example, Roch Cholowsky is my favorite player in the draft, but there is next to no chance he will be there for the Nats to select. I came up with two pitchers and two hitters the Nats could look at.
No Fluke:
The first player I want to talk about is Cameron Flukey, a pitcher from Coastal Carolina. Baseball America has Flukey as the 10th ranked prospect in the draft. He had an outstanding season for Coastal, leading them to the College World Series final, where they came up short against LSU.
He is a big right handed pitcher with a 6’6 210 pound frame. While he is a bit slim, he still averaged 95 MPH on his fastball and can run it up to 98. That heater is Flukey’s bread and butter. In addition to the velocity, it has great life at the top of the zone. He also pounds the zone with that heater, walking less than 6% of hitters.
Flukey throws a curveball, a slider and a changeup. All of them are quality pitches, but none are wipeout pitches. Flukey is a well rounded guy with a great heater, solid secondaries and very good command. He should be a guy that is picked around the range the Nats are picking.
Flukey should be able to move through a system very quickly due to his strike throwing and his deep arsenal. This is an impressive arm with not a lot of flaws. He is a slam dunk first rounder, and if he has another elite season, he could even be a top 10 pick.
The Hometown Hero:
The first hitter I want to talk about is Chris Hacopian. He is a very attractive prospect for the Nats as a pure hitter. Hacopian is one of the best pure hitters in the class and has an impressive blend of contact, power and plate discipline.
To put a cherry on top, Hacopian is a local boy. He is from Gaithersburg and attended Winston Churchill High School before transferring to a more baseball centric high school. Hacopian also played his first two seasons at the University of Maryland.
At Maryland, he hit .347 with 29 homers in two seasons. My favorite Hacopian stat is that he had 70 walks to just 45 strikeouts in two seasons at College Park. Hacopian left Maryland though, transferring to Texas A&M to challenge himself in the SEC.
While his hitting set up is a bit unorthodox, you cannot argue with the results. He is always on time for the fastball and has an innate ability to pull flyballs. Everyone is chasing those pulled flyballs, but often doing that comes at a cost. However, Hacopian can just do that naturally.
Defensively, Hacopian is a shortstop right now, but most scouts do not expect him to stick there. A move to third base seems likely, but his bat is more than good enough to handle that move. If the Nats want a pure hitter and hometown hero, Hacopian is their man.
Another UCSB Arm:
Last draft, Tyler Bremner of UC Santa Barbara was the second overall pick to the Angels. While it was a surprise he went at 2, Bremner was no doubt a top 15 guy. His power fastball and disappearing changeup were an elite combo. This season the Gauchos have another first round arm in Jackson Flora.
Like Bremner, Flora has a power fastball in the mid to upper 90’s. Flora can even touch triple digits. It also has good life and explodes out of his hand. However, Flora’s go to secondary pitch is a dynamic sweeping slider. It has crazy movement and is a huge whiff generator.
He combines that with solid command despite a delivery that has some effort. The key for Flora is to deepen his mix. Last year, he was almost exclusively a fastball-slider guy. However, there are reports that he has added a kick changeup and is playing around with his breaking ball shapes.
With his huge arm talent and feel to spin, he could take off with a deeper mix. I am a bit worried he could pitch his way out of the Nats range despite being the 17th ranked prospect right now. He has insane tools and has the ceiling to be a top 5 guy like his teammate Bremner.
Small but Mighty:
The last player I want to talk about is Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress. While the Nats have a ton of outfielders, Burress is a very intriguing prospect. At 5’9 180 pounds, Burress has nutty power for that size. He already has 44 homers in his college career.
Burress can drive the ball to all fields. Like Hacopian, he has an unorthodox set up, but he finds a way to make a ton of contact. I love a lot about his game, but that size will create some question marks.
Defensively, he has a chance to stick in center field, but it is not a lock. That puts plenty of pressure on his bat. His wood bat track record is not amazing, but he has just been so productive in the ACC. He is probably not my first choice of this group, but he is another good option to look at.
Wrapping up:
The 2026 draft is supposed to be a very strong and deep group. That gives Paul Toboni a chance to really make a strong first impression in his first draft. The Nats have obviously struggled in the draft for a long time now, but Toboni will look to change that.
This draft has a lot of talent on the high school and college side. However, I have a pretty strong preference for a college guy right now. They are easier to develop and move quicker through the Minor Leagues.
Flukey, Hacopian, Flora and Burress are my favorite realistic options right now. However, there is so much time until the draft. A ton can change between now and the draft in July. We will be following it closely just like we did for the 2025 draft.
