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Apr 17, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Washington Nationals hats and gloves in the dugout against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the sixth inning at PNC Park. Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Meet the Three Nats Prospects Who Earned Top Honors for 2025 Performances

Originally posted on Washington Nationals on SI
By Sean O'Leary | Last updated Sep 28, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The Washington Nationals have worked hard over the last three or so years to rebuild their farm system. Once they received multiple prospects in exchange for Juan Soto, it has stayed pretty steady in the upper half of the league's farm systems.

Even after players like MacKenzie Gore and James Wood graduated, they were quickly able to replace them with Dylan Crews, Travis Sykora, Alex Clemmey and Eli Willits. It's stayed heavy at the top with top-tier prospects to their really good depth players behind them.

This season, Washington decided to honor three different prospects as the team's hitter, pitcher and defender of the year. This year's crop all came from that second tier of players.

Nats Honor Two Unranked Prospects

Mike Cardew / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In a system full of young talent, it was two older prospects who took the Hitter and Pitcher of the Year awards for the team.

Phillip Glasser, 25, is a utility player who was drafted in the 10th round of the 2023 draft out of Indiana. He hit the ground running after he signed, hitting .310 with a homer and three doubles in 18 games.

His first full season was 2024, where he played across three levels and reached Double-A. In 108 games, he hit .298 with 23 doubles, eight home runs and an .813 OPS. He also stole 23 bases and showed great discipline, having 54 walks compared to 68 strikeouts.

He upped his efforts even more this season, leading the entire system with a .302 average and 143 hits. His .793 OPS is in the top ten, and he also stole 32 bases, third in the system.

Glasser's name was all over the leaderboard this season, and by doing so, earned a promotion to Triple-A, putting him and his .389 OBP one step closer to the big leagues.

The second 25-year-old to be honored was Riley Cornelio, a right-handed pitcher who reached Triple-A this season.

After pitching to a 5.56 ERA in High-A last season, Cornelio improved his game to the point that he forced the Nationals' hand. In 134.1 innings, the right-hander posted a 3.28 ERA while striking out 135 batters. He drastically improved his walk rate from last year (4.6 per nine) to a 3.7 clip this season, which caused his WHIP to shrink to a 1.146.

Corneilio has come a long way in a good year, especially when arms like Alex Clemmey and Travis Sykora are having as good a year as they did. He's already an older prospect with a lot of innings under his belt, which could help him be an option for the big leagues next year.

Neither Glasser or Cornelio was ranked in MLB Pipeline's Top 30.

However, the number 21 prospect, Cristhian Vaquero, flashed his glove at a standout level this year, winning him the system's Defensive Player of the Year. The plus runner is a stolen base threat, but his strength is that he's a plus defender.

This season, he was in the top five of Single-A with 11 assists and 237 putouts, and first and third among players in the system, respectively. He played the fourth most innings in the system with 827 1/3, and he started four double plays.

He may still need to figure it out with the bat, but Vaquero is already one of the upper-echelon defenders in the minor leagues.

These honorees show how good the Nationals system really is, given their prospect status.