Nationals win No. 1 overall pick through MLB Draft Lottery

The Washington Nationals will have the first overall pick in the 2025 MLB draft for just the third time in franchise history.

The team was awarded the top selection through Tuesday’s lottery at the winter meetings in Dallas.

After finishing with a 71-91 in 2024, the Nationals had the fourth-shortest odds and a 10.2% chance of landing the No. 1 pick. They’re followed in the Top 5 by the Los Angeles Angels, the Seattle Mariners, the Colorado Rockies and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Baltimore Orioles will pick 19th. The Rockies and Miami Marlins, both 100-loss teams, had the best odds at 22.45%, ahead of the Angels at 17.96%. The Marlins received the seventh pick.

The 2025 draft marks the first time since 2010 — when the Nationals drafted outfielder Bryce Harper — that Washington will make the first selection. The franchise also selected pitcher Stephen Strasburg — the eventual 2019 World Series MVP — with the top pick in the 2009 draft. 

The Nationals were ineligible for a top-six pick last year because the collective bargaining agreement states a team that pays into the revenue-sharing plan cannot have a lottery selection in back-to-back years.

A weighted lottery among the 18 teams that failed to make the playoffs this season determined the order of picks for the third year in a row.

The 121-loss Chicago White Sox, who had the most losses of any major league club since 1900, were not eligible for the draft lottery since they had one of the top six picks last year (No. 5) and is a team that pays into the revenue-sharing plan. They received the 10th pick.

Ethan Holliday, the brother of Baltimore Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday, is widely considered the best prospect in the 2025 draft class. Fans on social media have already started speculating about the younger Holliday’s future in the District. 

“Ethan Holliday is a Washington National,” one fan wrote on X. “Who has it better than me?”

“Jackson Holliday vs. Ethan Holliday. Baltimore vs. Washington,” Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan said. “Going to be so good for the rivalry.”

Whoever the Nationals select with the top pick will join a talented crop of prospects looking to lead Washington back to the postseason for the first time since 2019. 

Outfielders Dylan Crews, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft, and James Wood, who was once the top prospect in MLB.com’s pipeline rankings, made their highly anticipated debuts in 2024. Shortstop Seaver King, who the Nationals selected with the 10th pick in 2024, is still working his way through the minor league system. 

“Now is not the time to hit the brakes,” Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said on MLB Network on Tuesday. “It’s time to hit the gas.”

This article is based in part on wire service reports.