If the Nationals decide they need help for the stretch run, Christian Franklin is the kind of name that could end up in the middle of the conversation.
Washington is still working through a rebuild, which means the front office does have some prospects it would be reluctant to move. But there’s also enough depth in the system to give president of baseball operations Paul Toboni some room to maneuver if he wants to chase major league upgrades. One player who could draw real interest is Franklin, the 26-year-old outfielder at Triple-A Rochester.
According to Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic, Franklin stands out more than the rest of Washington’s Triple-A outfield group. “From what I've been told, Christian Franklin has the most value of the Triple-A group ...,” the insider reported.
That kind of buzz makes sense when you look at Franklin’s track record since arriving in the organization. The Nationals got him, along with breakout prospect Ronny Cruz, from the Chicago Cubs before last year’s trade deadline in the Michael Soroka deal. He still hasn’t reached the majors, but he has shown enough in Triple-A to keep his name in the mix.
After the trade, Franklin hit .290/.382/.427 with four home runs, eight extra-base hits and 23 RBIs in 31 games with Rochester. That performance made it easy to imagine him pushing for a big league outfield job this season. Instead, he opened the year back in Triple-A and has yet to get the call.
Part of that is the production line on his card this season, which sits at .240/.370/.357. Another piece of the puzzle is the way the Nationals’ outfield has shaken out. Jacob Young is hitting better, and the team appears committed to giving Dylan Crews room to work through things in The Show.
That leaves Washington with a real decision. Franklin is the club’s 19th-ranked prospect, and he could be the sort of piece that helps bring back an impact bullpen arm or starter for the second half.
Of course, moving him would come with a cost. Fans who are fed up with the pitching staff’s struggles might be willing to make that trade in a heartbeat if it means immediate help comes back to Washington. But losing Franklin would thin out the organization’s depth, and that matters.
He looks like a hitter who can hold his own in the majors once he gets there. If Young, Crews, Daylen Lile or James Wood were to miss time, Franklin would be the type of option the Nationals would want available. Without him, that safety net gets smaller.
MLB Pipeline lists Franklin as one of seven top 30 prospects in the system, but he and Andrew Pinckney are the only ones at Triple-A. The other five are still at Double-A or below, which puts Franklin and Pinckney closest to the majors and makes them the most realistic trade chips among Washington’s upper-level outfielders.
That’s the balancing act for a team trying to improve without emptying the cupboard. If the Nationals want to land an impact arm or two, Franklin is exactly the sort of depth piece that could be moved to make it happen.
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Nationals Prospect Is Making This Decision Impossible To Ignore
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What has made the conversation harder to ignore is that Morales has also shown signs of tightening up the parts of his game that had been holding him back. His recent strikeout rate has improved, his ball flight has trended in a better direction, and with his Rule 5 eligibility coming this offseason, Washington may soon have to decide how much longer it can keep waiting before making room for him. [Read more 🡒]
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Cosgrove is a recent pickup from the Astros and has barely had time to settle in with the organization, making just one appearance for Triple-A Rochester since arriving. With the roster picture changing quickly, Washington is giving itself another look at a pitcher it brought in to provide depth and flexibility as the bullpen keeps evolving. [Read more 🡒]
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The Nationals pitching pipeline took another turn this week, with the organization making a move that could ripple through the depth chart as the big league club keeps sorting out its relief picture. It comes against the backdrop of a busy minor league slate, where Rochester dropped a tight 8-7 game at Worcester, Harrisburg kept rolling with an 8-3 win over Erie, and Fredericksburg and the FCL Nationals also turned in wins that offered a snapshot of how much arms and bats are being tested across the system.
For Washington, the larger question is less about one box score than about how the club balances immediate needs with long-term depth. The minor league results show a system with some momentum in spots and some frustration in others, but the pitching shuffle is the part that matters most at the top level. However the next round of decisions plays out, it figures to say plenty about which arms the Nationals trust to help now and which ones they want to keep close for later. [Read more 🡒]