Rising Washington Nationals Prospect Overshadowed by Injury, Brady House

The Washington Nationals wanted corner infield power in free agency this offseason. They landed one half of the equation in a trade for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.

Third base is still, in IT help-desk parlance, an open ticket.

The Nationals haven’t landed a full-time third baseman. Amed Rosario can spend some time there, but he can play just about any position outside of pitcher and catcher. Plus, he’s only with Washington on a one-year deal.

Brady House is ever-so-close to making his MLB debut, and third base is the position he’s played the most in the minor leagues. He slashed .241/.297/.402/.699 last season and has back-to-back 21 home runs seasons. He has the power profile teams want at that position and he’s the Nationals’ No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline.

The Nationals’ first-round pick in 2021 will likely get every opportunity to win the job in spring training and give the franchise another young star to build around.

But baseball is all about development and coverage at each position. House is one of the top prospects in the organization. But there are no guarantees of future production.

The Nationals do have coverage in the minor leagues at third base in the form of a relatively new prospect, Cayden Wallace.

Wallace was part of the payoff for trading pitcher Hunter Harvey to the Kansas City Royals in July. Wallace was the Royals’ second-round pick in 2022. Washington also got Kansas City’s second-round pick last July, which it used to select catcher Caleb Lomavita.

Wallace is the Nats’ No. 11 prospect. Lomavita is No. 10.

Wallace played his college baseball at Arkansas and was climbing up the ladder in the Royals’ system before a rib injury put him on the shelf for the majority of last season. Still, the Nats saw enough to make the deal, even though they knew Wallace would need time to recover.

In fact, he spent most of his time in the system last year on the 60-day injured list at Double-A Harrisburg. When he finally returned in September, he slashed .186/.222/.209/.431 in 11 games with three RBI. He played three games in the Arizona Fall League and batted .250.

His career slash line is much better — .260/.337/.407/.744 in 2016 games, with 18 home runs and 124 RBI.

He said to Baseball America recently that he’s excited to get a fresh start with the Nationals and said the organization told him one thing that made him feel much better about the trade.

“The Nationals built my confidence up just by saying how I fit the mold they were looking for,” he said.

The mold, for now, looks like House. But if the mold breaks, Wallace could be there as a back-up plan.