Follow the Prospects: Luke Dickerson, SS

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Seaver King is up to .696 OPS in A+ and there's only Made ahead of him in AA. I can see pushing Made aside and promoting King to AA and Dickerson to A+ 2d half of the year.

King got off to a slow start (1st 2 series in April when the weather stunk), but since 4/16, he's .309 / .349 / .463 over 147 PAs. 10 SBs, 12 XBH. The BB% is a bit low (4.1%), Otherwise he's done well, shown good contact skills as advertised, and probably needs more of a challenge than A+ pitching.

Moving Dickerson and King up sometime next month may make sense, especially if they recognize Made as a lost cause.

[IanRubbish]

Moving Dickerson and King up sometime next month may make sense, especially if they recognize Made as a lost cause.

Made is just 6 months older than King.  There will probably be some reshuffling around 2B-SS-3B at High A and AA to accommodate promotions.  That said, Dickerson's patience gives him a big advantage over King.  Sample size is still too small, but he's also showing greater power potential with a .172 ISO.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Made is just 6 months older than King.  There will probably be some reshuffling around 2B-SS-3B at High A and AA to accommodate promotions.  That said, Dickerson's patience gives him a big advantage over King.  Sample size is still too small, but he's also showing greater power potential with a .172 ISO.

The difference between Made and King right now is that Made has shown absolutely nothing offensively since he was acquired and, frankly, even before that above low A. At least King's contact skills and baserunning came as advertised.

King is not my type of hitter. I like patience, too. But Made should be released, and King should be at a level he can fail at if he's blocking the guy you and I think is the better prospect.

[Elvir Ovcina]

The difference between Made and King right now is that Made has shown absolutely nothing offensively since he was acquired and, frankly, even before that above low A. At least King's contact skills and baserunning came as advertised.

King is not my type of hitter. I like patience, too. But Made should be released, and King should be at a level he can fail at if he's blocking the guy you and I think is the better prospect.

There's no reason to cut Made.  No, he is not going to be an MLB-level hitter (I've now seen him in person twice this year at two different levels and maybe 6 or 7 times over the last two years), but he can play MLB-level defense at SS.  You do not release a 22-year-old stone-cold SS who is in AA simply because he isn't going to hit, especially not when the two SS prospects pushing him out of his job are not likely to stick at SS.   

Right now, Made is at most two injuries from being on the MLB roster, because he's the only guy anywhere in the minor league system who can actually play SS at the required standard in MLB.  For those of you who wanted to dump Nunez last year, this is why he is still around: he is the only guy that means a long term Abrams injury doesn't result in Made playing SS in DC.  That's how barren this system is at shortstop for the moment.

And no, Made should not be in the majors; not now, hopefully not ever unless he learns to hit anything on the inner half of the plate.  But cutting him would be insane.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

So, what do you do with Made? When do you move up King or Dickerson of SS? Both of these guys are hitting better than their levels. If Made is the only SS below Nunez, then do you promote him? It's not like he'd hit worse in AAA

[Elvir Ovcina]

So, what do you do with Made? When do you move up King or Dickerson of SS? Both of these guys are hitting better than their levels. If Made is the only SS below Nunez, then do you promote him? It's not like he'd hit worse in AAA

Move King up.  Try him at SS.  Made can play SS when he doesn't, 2B a bit (they don't have a prospect there at AA), and do a lot of side work to fix the gaping hole in his swing on the inner half.

Then you promote Made to AAA when the second middle IF prospect comes up.  Those guys split SS, 2B, and whatever else they need - Harrisburg has nothing meaningful in terms of prospects right now.

If Made doesn't hit at AAA (likely, but it's not like JT Arruda is Robinson Cano either), you put him on the Development List and send him to Florida with the new draftees to try to figure it out for a couple weeks.  Then to Wilmington, and if it's fixed, back to AAA.

He's not looking likely, but he's only a year older than college draftees and he actually can play SS.  It's way too soon to give up.

[welch]

Promote Dickerson and King. If they step on Made's toes, then so be it. Made has never hit. When House gets promoted, in a couple weeks, Nunez will go to Rochester and should start at SS. Maybe, as Elvir suggests, Made might learn to hit if he works in the FCL, but he looks more like a "good field / no hit" guy.

[IanRubbish]

Averaging over 4.3 pitches per plate appearance, could be the highest in the entire org

[nobleisthyname]

Age: 19
Team rank: 6
Current level: A

May recap (2 levels)
Games played at position
SS: 17
DH: 3

PA

|

AVG

|

OBP

|

SLG

|

HR

|

SB

|

K%

|

BB%

|

ISO

|

OPS

|

wRC+

98

|

.288

|

.398

|

.450

|

2

|

4

|

20.4%

|

16.3%

|

.163

|

.848

|

139

[GataNats]

Hit another bomb tonight

[KnorrForYourMoney]

Pretty exciting prospect.

Between this guy, House, Sykora, Cavalli, Yohandy, and Susana - the system is inspiring confidence at the moment.

It does leave me wondering why things couldn't even be half this good during the peak years.  Were there just a few bad scouts who needed replacing, or is this the Rizzo regime just unable to walk (manage a winning ML product) and chew gum (restock the cabinet in the minors) at the same time?

[Smithian]

Pretty exciting prospect.

Between this guy, House, Sykora, Cavalli, Yohandy, and Susana - the system is inspiring confidence at the moment.

It does leave me wondering why things couldn't even be half this good during the peak years.  Were there just a few bad scouts who needed replacing, or is this the Rizzo regime just unable to walk (manage a winning ML product) and chew gum (restock the cabinet in the minors) at the same time?

I think we had a lot of good prospects in the 2010's, not evening counting the Rendon, Harper, Soto, Stras. Rizzo was constantly trading minor league assets for deadline and offseason assistance. Fister, Eaton, too many relievers to count, Gio, Span.

I do think something we completely wrong in the back half of the 2010's. The system was pretty bad behind Soto, Robles. I don't know what went wrong, but there was no excuse for how awful it was. I still think Rizzo should have been fired after the 2022 season, but I do admit since then it is clear a lot of positive changes were made, not even focusing on the Soto trade alone.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

I think we had a lot of good prospects in the 2010's, not evening counting the Rendon, Harper, Soto, Stras. Rizzo was constantly trading minor league assets for deadline and offseason assistance. Fister, Eaton, too many relievers to count, Gio, Span.

I do think something we completely wrong in the back half of the 2010's. The system was pretty bad behind Soto, Robles. I don't know what went wrong, but there was no excuse for how awful it was. I still think Rizzo should have been fired after the 2022 season, but I do admit since then it is clear a lot of positive changes were made, not even focusing on the Soto trade alone.

That's really what I meant. The drafting was pretty bad around this time, as well.  If you look at the first two rounds of the draft from 2013-2019, Erick Fedde is probably the most successful name, and that's pretty sad (although good for him for reinventing himself recently).

I'm not necessarily strongly in the "Rizzo should have been fired" camp, myself.  There are certainly some success stories for franchises who held onto a GM who failed for a period of time (Brian Sabean and the Giants come to mind).  But I do think if the team starts to get better and the farm system begins to suffer for it again, that should be the final nail in the coffin.

[imref]

https://www.threads.com/@granthpaulsen/post/DKleA2GtsZv?xmt=AQF01vfqNWtv892mrntTfdISOTVnRgfAtFvhJlrE5JU3Ag

[GataNats]

Why only one at bat tonight?

[blue911]

Why only one at bat tonight?

2. He was hit for his second AB

[GataNats]

2. He was hit for his second AB

Injury, because he was pulled

[GataNats]

Missed tonight’s game.  Not good

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Missed tonight’s game.  Not good

why can't we have nice things?

[GataNats]

Missed another game.   Anyone know what happened?

[imref]

Via TheNatsReport.com:

FAYETTEVILLE, NC. - Washington Nationals prospect underwent an X-ray after being absent from the Fredericksburg Nationals lineup for two consecutive games, according to Talk Nats. Dickerson last played on June 10, when Fredericksburg began a 13-game road trip against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers.

The Nationals took a cautious approach with Dickerson, holding him out of professional games for the final two months of 2024 and starting him in the Florida Complex League to open 2025. However, his strong early-season performance—batting .273/.385/.409 in six games—led to a quick promotion to Low-A Fredericksburg. Since joining Fredericksburg, Dickerson has continued to impress, posting a .294/.387/.490 line over 15 games. Notably, his advanced plate discipline and power stand out: at 19 years old, he makes more contact in the strike zone, chases fewer pitches, and swings and misses less than the average Low-A player.

[imref]

BBA now ranks Dickerson as our #5 prospect, up from #11

Via talknats:

.
@BaseballAmerica
 names Luke Dickerson, SS, Nationals (Single-A Fredericksburg) as one of their 25 biggest early risers. They wrote:

"Dickerson could push into the Top 100 soon if he sustains his production against better velocity and sharper stuff."

[imref]

Talk Nats says X-rays were clean. He’s D2D