Even though the Nationals were at the bottom of the National League East division over the past four seasons, they have been steadily adding to their farm system with younger, talented players they hope will be stars for them in the near future.
One of those athletes is Brady House. While House is only 20 years old, he has been a touted prospect from a young age. Playing for Team USA for multiple years, he played against some of the game’s best. He also played for Team Elite, one of the top travel ball teams in the nation. He posted a .549 batting average, including eight home runs and 20 RBIs in his senior high school season.
Ranked the best power hitting prospect by MLB.com, House was the Nationals first round selection at #11 overall in the 2021 MLB Draft right after high school, signing for $5 million.
In his first Spring Training, he is already turning some heads. One of the reasons why is his offensive prowess. In his first minor league season in rookie ball, he posted a modest .322 batting average in 16 games. The following season, House batted .277 across 45 games at the single A level for the Fredericksburg Nationals, tallying three home runs across those games. House showed even more potential in the 2023 season while on three different minor league teams, batting .312 and quadrupling his home run total from the previous year, blasting 12.
House is looking like the 3rd baseman of the future for this Major League club. The question is not if he will come up this season, but when. House could likely become the third starting infielder 23 years old or younger for Washington, joining shortstop CJ Abrams and second baseman Luis GarcÃa Jr who have proven to be players that the Nationals hope to have for years to come.
While he played shortstop in high school, he has adjusted to the third base position well in his young career. Since being drafted, he has had a .946 fielding position in 87 games at the hot corner. While he still has room for improvement, House has shown that he can adapt well to what the team needs. He will be an important piece if the Nationals want to get back to the postseason success that they had a few seasons ago.
While he has only had eight at bats in Spring Training so far, he has recorded three hits and three RBIs, blasting his first dinger against the Astros yesterday. Regardless of what happens the next few weeks of Spring Training, Nationals fans are likely to start seeing House sooner rather than later and can look for his bat to be a big contributor in the years to come.
