Washington Nationals Recent Second-Round Pick Hot Prospect to Watch

The Washington Nationals have one of the best young trios in the MLB with left fielder James Wood, shortstop CJ Abrams and starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore.

That is a great foundation to start building around, but the team desperately needs other players to step up and start producing if they are going to climb out of this rebuild in the near future.

The Nationals have been one of the worst teams in baseball since winning the World Series in 2019, deciding to move on from several key contributors from that championship squad in the following years.

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Their toughest decision was trading away superstar right fielder Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres. But, that deal is providing the most optimism for the future with the aforementioned trio, outfielder Robert Hassell III and pitching prospect Jarlin Susana all being part of the return package.

Washington would love to see some of their homegrown players start to make an impact more consistently at the Major League level, recently receiving some ridicule for how they have drafted and developed.

One of the players who is already garnering some positive attention is shortstop Luke Dickerson.

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A second-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Morris Knolls High School in Rockaway, New Jersey, he is already a Top 10 prospect in the organization with immense upside that the team was not afraid to commit big money to.

“Dickerson was of nine high school shortstops taken in the first two rounds of the 2024 draft, and he received the fourth-largest bonus of the group, inking a $3.8 million deal to forego a commitment to Virginia,” wrote Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report.

His professional career got off to a strong start, slashing .273/.385/.409 in six games at the Florida Complex League.

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The Nationals saw enough that they liked to promote him to Single-A Fredericksburg, where he has been playing since.

His production hasn’t been as good with a .240/.349/.384 slash line across 36 games and 149 plate appearances, but there are some things to like.

Dickerson has a well below average strikeout rate of 20.1% and an impressive walk rate of 14.1%, showing strike zone recognition beyond his years.

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With three home runs and nine doubles, he is showing some of the pop that graded out so well in high school, where he tied the record Mike Trout set for home runs in a single season.

With ample power potential, speed and athleticism, Dickerson has the tools to stick at shortstop and become a great player in the future for the franchise.

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