And just like that, Washington is back on the clock.
Of course they are.
At this point, the Senators have accumulated enough first-round picks that I’m beginning to suspect they receive compensatory selections every time another general manager merely thinks about making a trade.
The good news for Washington is that they’ve already done the heavy lifting earlier in the round. Assuming they’ve walked away with Carlos Beltran, Javier Vazquez, and Corey Koskie, they’ve added impact talent on both sides of the ball while somehow still retaining enough draft capital to keep the front office happy.
A truly magical experience.
Now comes the interesting part.
Like the Florida Marlins before them, Washington is an organization that appreciates quality relief pitching. There are certainly arguments to be made for John Rocker here, especially considering he’s one of the last remaining players with a three-star projection.
But projections aren’t everything.
And frankly, the control scares me.
Rocker has the stuff to dominate.
He also has the command profile to occasionally turn a routine save opportunity into an impromptu cardiovascular stress test.
For a team built to contend, that’s a difficult sell.
So instead, Washington goes a different direction.
A bit of a wildcard.
A bit of a sleeper.
And honestly, exactly the kind of player good teams seem to identify before everyone else does.
The selection is Randy Winn.
At first glance, some people will look at this pick and wonder why Washington passed on higher-profile names.
The answer is simple:
Fit.
Randy Winn does a lot of things winning baseball teams appreciate.
He runs.
He fields.
He puts the ball in play.
And perhaps most importantly, he doesn’t need to be the star.
With the lineup Washington is building, that’s valuable.
Let’s look at the situation.
Eric Davis isn’t getting younger.
His defensive future comes with some legitimate question marks.
The Senators are going to need options in the outfield moving forward, and Winn provides exactly that.
His defensive versatility allows him to play all three outfield positions. The speed is legitimate. The glove is reliable. The contact skills are good enough to keep him from becoming an offensive liability.
Is he a middle-of-the-order hitter?
Absolutely not.
Does he need to be?
Also absolutely not.
When your lineup already features names like Kendall, Hrbek, Durham, Rodriguez, Belle, Beltran, Davis, Greene, and Koskie, the requirements for the ninth hitter become much simpler.
Catch the ball.
Run the bases.
Get on occasionally.
Don’t ruin everyone else’s good work.
Winn can do all of those things.
In fact, he might thrive in that role.
There’s a tendency late in the first round to chase upside for the sake of upside. Sometimes that’s the correct move.
Other times, a good team identifies a player who fits exactly what they’re trying to build and simply takes him.
This feels like one of those moments.
Not flashy.
Not sexy.
Just useful.
And useful players tend to stick around a lot longer than people realize.
PICK #23
Washington Senators select CF Randy Winn