Washington Nationals 2025 International Class Scouting Report

The Nationals made several changes throughout their scouting and player development departments last year, both domestically and internationally, including naming Victor Rodriguez their director of international operations. This year’s class for Washington is built around two prominent prospects from Venezuela.

One of their top signings will be Brayan Cortesia, who stood out early in the scouting process as an athletic shortstop with good hands. He’s a plus runner who projects to stay in the infield and has a good shot to remain a shortstop, where his hands and feet work well and he has an above-average arm. Cortesia has grown around four inches since teams began scouting him early. He’s now 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, with newfound size and strength helping his tools tick up with projection for more still to come. Cortesia always showed a short, quick swing from the right side to maneuver the barrel throughout the zone and spray line drives around the field. As he has gotten bigger and stronger, he has started to come into more power and should have more to come given the room he has left to fill out. 

Another talented Venezuelan prospect for the Nationals in their 2025 class, Daniel Hernandez, is an offensive-minded catcher. He’s 5-foot-11, 168 pounds and has performed at a high level against live pitching. He’s a lefthanded hitter with a loose, easy stroke with good bat control. He’s not that big, but he has strong, fast hands with good bat speed and drives the ball well in the air, showing the signs for his flashes of home run power to continue to trend up. Scouts who liked Hernandez the most thought he could stick behind the plate because of his agility and receiving skills, though his below-average arm will get tested more at higher levels.

Dominican shortstop Ronny Bello is a third key member of Washington’s 2025 class. He’s an offensive-oriented infielder who physically developed a little bit later than some of his peers and has shown intriguing attributes in the batter’s box. He has good pitch recognition skills and has typically hit well in games. He’s a righthanded hitter with a line-drive approach and gap power. Bello is an above-average runner who should get a chance to develop at shortstop, but second base, third or the outfield could all be in his future.