As reported by Baseball America's Jim Callis, the Nationals signed one of the best talents in the 2012 draft class, righthander Lucas Giolito, for $2,925,000.

Teammates with lefthander Max Fried at Harvard-Westlake High (Studio City, Calif.), Giolito was considered to be a strong candidate to be the first-ever high school righthander to be picked first overall. But a slight tear of his ulnar collateral ligament in March in his right elbow kept him out of games for the rest of the season. He began throwing on flat ground in early May and fell to the Nationals at 16th overall in the draft.

When healthy, Giolito sits in the mid 90s with his fastball and even touched 100 this spring. His curveball is a well-above-average pitch that sits in the mid 80s and he also works with a plus changeup that is 82-84 mph.