Nationals tab LSU CF Stevenson in second round


WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals, with incredible success with first-round picks in the past, had to settle for a second-round pick this year and they went with LSU center fielder Andrew Stevenson as the 58th player taken overall. He was ranked as the 165th-best prospect by Baseball America based on talent and not signability.

A left-handed hitter and possible leadoff man, Stevenson is hitting .356 with 11 doubles, five triples and one homer with 26 steals in 33 tries for a team headed to the College World Series after beating UL-Lafayette in the Super Regionals in Baton Rouge on Sunday. Stevenson, 21, is from Youngsville, La.

The second pick of the night for the Nationals was Blake Perkins, a high school outfielder from Verrado High in Arizona who went with the No. 69 overall pick. Perkins, 18, hit .461 with seven homers in 89 at-bats this spring. Last year, the Nationals didn’t draft a prep outfielder until the 32nd round.

Mike Rizzo, the president of baseball operations and general manager for Washington, and Kris Kline, assistant general manager/vice president, scouting operations for the Nationals, were slated to hold a conference call at 10 a.m. ET Tuesday to discuss the first two picks. The call had been slated for late Monday but was pushed back since the draft went late, according to a team spokesman.

In an e-mail, Nationals scout Mitch Sokol, whose coverage area includes Arizona, referred questions on Perkins to scouting director Kline, citing organizational policy. Perkins was also used as a closer at times for his high school team.
“Blake, he’s usually our closer,” coach Jim Shields told the West Valley View after one win this season. “We haven’t had to use him much. It was good to see him come in and throw hard, throw strikes and shut the door for not pitching in a while.”

Stevenson was chosen from an LSU team of top prospects. His teammate, shortstop Alex Bregman, went No. 2 overall to the Houston Astros in the draft.

“I wanted to be part of a winning tradition and have an opportunity to win a national championship,” Stevenson said on the school athletic website about picking LSU. His brother, Will, played football at UL-Lafayette for two years and his mother has taught at St. Thomas More, where he went to high school.

The Nationals did not have a first-round pick due to the free agent signing of right-handed pitcher Max Scherzer, who takes a record of 6-4 into his start Tuesday against the Yankees in New York.

The No. 58 pick this year was due the Nationals for the failure to sign 2014 selection Andrew Suarez, a left-handed pitcher from the University of Miami who went No. 57 overall last year but didn’t sign. Suarez was picked 61st overall on Monday by the San Francisco Giants.

Pitcher Erick Fedde, the first-round pick in 2014 for the Nationals out of Nevada-Las Vegas, is recovering from Tommy John surgery that he had prior to the 2014 draft.

Washington had the overall first-round selection in 2009 (Stephen Strasburg) and 2010 (Bryce Harper). It was five years ago, on June 8, 2010, that Strasburg made his big league debut by striking out 14 batters with no walks in seven innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Strasburg is now on the disabled list with neck soreness.

Right fielder Harper appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated six years ago — June 8, 2009 — and currently leads the National League in homers with 19 and ranks among the league leaders in several other categories. Another first-round pick, Anthony Rendon, went No. 6 overall in 2011 to Washington. He hit 21 homers with 39 doubles last year and just came off the disabled list Thursday.

–OF Blake Perkins, a Verrado High School standout from Arizona, was the second pick for the Nationals on Monday. He went No. 69 overall in the second round. He had eight doubles, eight triples and seven homers in 89 at-bats this year. Last year the Nationals didn’t draft a prep outfielder until the 32nd round. That was Elliott Cary, from Oregon, who did not sign. Perkins was also used as a closer at times. A right-handed hitter, Perkins was listed as the No. 136 prospect in the draft by Baseball America.