Washington Nationals Duo Headline Elite National League Rookie Class
On Monday, Major League Baseball will announce the National League Rookie of the Year. The winner will not be a Washington Nationals player.
But that doesn’t mean the Nationals didn’t have one of the league’s best rookies in 2024. In fact, according to MLB.com, they had two.
The site put together a list of the top rookies in the NL recently, with the writer, Will Leitch, calling the class “elite.”
In fact, in his opinion the class was so deep — 17 players in call — that he was able to divide into five categories and predicted that half of them could be in the 2025 All-Star Game.
The future Gold Glover category included Nationals center fielder Jacob Young.
He had a cup of coffee with Washington in 2023, but he played in 150 games with the Nationals in 2024, as he finished with a 2.6 WAR (wins above replacement). He finished with a slash line of .256/.316/.331/.648 with three home runs and 36 RBI. He also had 24 doubles and 33 stolen bases.
But, the 24-year-old Florida product is on this list for his glove. He finished with a .980 fielding percentage. While he did have a Major League-leading eight errors, he also had five outfield assists and turned two double plays. Going deeper into analytics, he was credited with 12 defensive runs saved above the average.
At Baseball Savant, he has a 100% value in fielding range with 20 outs above average and a 99% fielding run value. He led all outfielders in OAA in 2024.
The other Nationals rookie to make the list was outfielder James Wood, who was listed among the sluggers on the list.
Washington called Wood up on July 1 and he fit right into the batting order. In 79 games he finished with a slash line of .264/.354/.427/.781 with 13 doubles, four triples, nine home runs and 41 RBI. He also stole 14 bases. In his half-season in the Majors he finished with a 1.1 WAR.
The Nationals are teeming with young talent aside from these two rookies. C.J. Abrams made his first All-Star Game last season. Their 2023 first-round pick, outfielder Dylan Crews, made his MLB debut late in the season.
It’s part of the reason some believe Washington will spend money this offseason in an effort to jump-start a team that hasn’t been back to the playoffs since it won the World Series in 2019.
But, for now, the Nats will just have to be content with having elite rookies under team control for the next several years.
