Washington Nationals Prospects Draw Rare Spring Breakout Game Schedule

When Major League Baseball released the schedule for next year’s Spring Breakout games, the Washington Nationals got a bit of a surprise — multiple games.

The Nationals were selected to play two Spring Breakout games. In fact, they were the only Grapefruit League team selected to play two of them. The Chicago Cubs, which play in Arizona’s Cactus League, will also play two games.

The Nationals get to play both games at their shared ballpark with the Houston Astros in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Washington faces Houston as the road team on March 14 and then hosts the New York Mets on March 16. Game times will be announced at a later date.

The first game is a rematch of the 2019 World Series, where the Nationals beat the Astros in seven games to win the franchise’s first title. Washington has not had a winning season since then.

The second game is a National League East rivalry game with the Mets.

It’s not clear who will play in each game, but it’s likely many of the Nationals’ Top 30 prospects will play in the game.

Last year’s Spring Breakout games featured 95 prospects that have reached the Majors, with 35 of them being MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects. When the MLB Futures Game was held last month during All-Star Game weekend, 48 of the 54 players in the game participated in Spring Breakout.

The Nationals had three prospects selected to the game — outfielder James Wood, outfielder Dylan Crews and third baseman Brady House. Wood didn’t play because he was called up to the Majors, while House was only there to participate in the MLB Futures Skills Challenge.

Wood has already graduated from prospect rankings. Crews is now the No. 2 prospect in baseball and could be in line for an MLB call-up soon as he is at Triple-A. The same could be true for House, the franchise’s No. 2 prospect in the organization after Crews.

Both are likely to get an invite to MLB spring training camp and their availability for the Breakout Games may be tied to whether they’re in line for an Opening-Day job.

The Nats have plenty of other prospects that could play in either game. Right-handed pitcher Travis Sykora is at Class-A Fredericksburg and looks sharp. The Nats’ first-round pick from a month ago, infielder Seaver King, is already slugging in the minor leagues.

The rest of Washington’s Top 10 prospects include pitcher Jarlin Susana (No. 4), pitcher Alex Clemmey (No. 6), shortstop Luke Dickerson (No. 7), pitcher Cade Cavalli (No. 8), corner infielder Yohandy Morales (No. 9) and catcher Caleb Lomavita (No. 10).