DALLAS (AP) — The Washington Nationals will have the No. 1 overall pick in the amateur draft for the first time since selecting a 17-year-old Bryce Harper in 2010.
Washington got the top overall pick in next summer's draft after winning a lottery in a drawing of ping-pong balls at the winter meetings on Tuesday, setting up the Nationals to make the first pick for the third time in franchise history. In 2009, they drafted pitcher Stephen Strasburg No. 1.
Unlike last year, when the Nationals were ineligible after initially coming out with the top spot, they get to keep the first pick for the draft in July in Atlanta, the site of the All-Star Game.
Washington was ineligible for a top-six pick last year because the collective bargaining agreement states a team that pays into the revenue-sharing plan cannot have a lottery selection in back-to-back years. The Nationals chose outfielder Dylan Crews with the No. 2 pick in 2023, right after Pittsburgh took his LSU teammate Paul Skenes, the hard-throwing pitcher who was this season's National League Rookie of the Year.
The Los Angeles Angels have the second pick for next summer. Seattle, Colorado, St. Louis and Pittsburgh round out the top six.
Harper was the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year, hitting .270 with 22 homers during his big league debut. He played his first seven seasons in Washington before going to Philadelphia in free agency with a $330 million, 13-year contract after the 2018 season, the year before the Nationals won their only World Series title.
Strasburg was the MVP in that 2019 World Series when he won both of his starts against Houston.
A weighted lottery among the 18 teams that failed to make the playoffs this season determined the top six picks for the third year in a row.
The Nationals went in with a 10.2% chance, the fourth-best odds, for getting the No. 1 pick. Colorado and Miami, both 100-loss teams, had the best odds at 22.45%, ahead of the Angels at 17.96%. Miami instead ended up with the seventh pick.
“It’s something that’s a good lucky bounce for us,” Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said. “There’s nobody you can’t have in the draft, which is important. ... We’ll pick the player that fits our organization the best and gives the most possibility for an impact.”
Seattle got the No. 3 selection after having a 0.53% chance to get the No. 1 pick, the second-worst odds among 16 eligible teams.
The 121-loss Chicago White Sox, who had the most losses of any major league club since 1900, were not eligible for the draft lottery since they had one of the top six picks last year (No. 5) and is a team that pays into the revenue-sharing plan.
The CBA also doesn’t allow teams that receive money in revenue sharing to have lottery picks three years in a row. That made the Athletics (69-93) ineligible for the lottery — they picked fourth last year after having the No. 6 selection in 2023.
Chicago instead got the 10th pick, one spot ahead of Oakland.
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Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press
