The first, the best?

In 2008, I was very lucky to be able to go to the Beijing Olympics. Back then, I was thinking about a key thing, which was to watch a pitcher. The pitcher is called Stephen Strasburg and in 2008, he was an outstanding college pitcher, who already drew a lot of attention. The next year, without doubt, the Nationals selected him with the first overall pick. In total, Strasburg spent 13 seasons with the Nationals, posting a 3.24 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP through 1470 innings. Moreover, he earned 113 wins in the Nationals uniform.

In particular, he was named the 2019 World Series MVP and most importantly, the Nationals won the 2019 World Series title. Selecting Strasburg with the first overall pick in the 2009 draft was surely a great decision. While looking back on Strasburg's career, I’m thinking about a question.

There’s no doubt that selecting Strasburg in the first round was a right decision. However, do the Nationals always make the right decisions in the first round?

To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the great baseball reference website to see those players who were selected by the Nationals in the first round. I’m not trying to go so far. Let’s just look back at those first rounders from 2009 to 2020.

 

First Rounders (Nationals, 2009-2020)
Year	Overall Pick	Player
2009	1	Stephen Strasburg
	10	Drew Storen
2010	1	Bryce Harper
2011	6	Anthony Rendon
	23	Alex Meyer
	34	Brian Goodwin
2012	16	Lucas Giolito
2014	18	Erick Fedde
2016	28	Carter Kieboom
	29	Dane Dunning
2017	25	Seth Romero
2018	27	Mason Denaburg
2019	17	Jackson Rutledge
2020	22	Cade Cavalli

The Nationals selected Strasburg with the first overall pick in 2009 and with the tenth overall pick, they selected Drew Storen, who pitched for the Nationals for 6 seasons, collecting 95 saves.

 

The next year, the Nationals chose Bryce Harper with the first overall pick. Harper spent 7 seasons with the Nationals, slashing .279/.388/.512 with 184 home runs and 521 RBI.

 

In 2011, the Nationals selected 3 players in the first round. Firstly, they selected Anthony Rendon, who also spent 7 seasons with the Nationals. Rendon hit .290/.369/.490 with 136 home runs and 546 RBI in the Nationals uniform. Additionally, the Nationals selected Alex Meyer with the 23rd pick, but he was traded to the Twins in 2012. Thirdly, Brian Goodwin was drafted by the Nationals and he played 3 seasons for the Nationals.

 

In 2012, with the 16th overall pick, the Nationals selected Lucas Giolito. He made it into the big leagues in 2016. He made 4 starts and 2 relief appearances for the Nationals before being traded to the White Sox. In 2014, Erick Fedde was drafted in the first round by the Nationals and he played for the Nationals from 2017 to 2022.

 

In 2016, the Nationals used 2 picks in the first round to select Dane Dunning and Carter Kieboom. Dunning was traded to the White Sox in 2016. Carter Kieboom made his MLB debut in 2019 and has played 100+ games for the Nationals.

 

Finally, in 2017, the Nationals chose Seth Romero in the first round, but he only played 3 games for the team. In 2018, Mason Denaburg was selected by the Nationals in the first round and he’s still in the minors. The next year, the Nationals chose Jackson Rutledge and he just made it into the big leagues in mid-September. And, in 2020, Cade Cavalli was drafted in the first round and he made his MLB debut in 2022.

 

Looking back at the Nationals’ picks in the first round from 2009 to 2020. By far, only 1 player hasn’t made it into the big leagues. Many of them haven’t contributed much to the team. Nonetheless, they certainly made great decisions to select Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon. Harper won the 2015 NL MVP in the Nationals uniform and helped the Nationals clinch a postseason berth for 4 times. Moreover, the most important thing is that Strasburg and Rendon were 2 key players to help the Nationals win the 2019 World Series title.