From worst to … not quite first

Every spring, Baseball America ranks the 30 major league organizations based on minor league talent, a list that gets significant credence from club executives and media members alike.

This year, the magazine ranked the Washington Nationals 30th, the second time in four years the organization had achieved dead-last status.

The 2008 rankings won’t come out for several more months, but Nationals general manager Jim Bowden has a hunch his club is going to leapfrog its way up the list.

“We’re making progress,” Bowden said this week. “We’ve gone from no prospects to an organization that I would guess they’ll rank us top 12. I think we’ll go 30 to 12 this year.”

From the bottom of the pile to the top half? That’s not such a far-fetched proposition. In just one year since starting a massive rebuilding effort, the Nationals have made huge strides in stocking their farm system with top prospects.

With strong showings in each of the last two amateur drafts, an added emphasis on international scouting and some shrewd trades, Washington has made significant ground on its 29 organizational counterparts.

A system that once featured only a handful of marginal prospects now boasts a horde of top young players, particularly pitchers. Scouts and rival club executives are raving about the talent the Nationals have stockpiled at low-level outposts like Class A Potomac, short-season Class A Vermont and the rookie Gulf Coast League.

“If there was ever a doubt about the plan that is in place here, it’s put to rest,” manager Manny Acta said.

A year ago, Baseball America deemed only one Washington farmhand as one of the top 100 prospects in baseball: right-hander Collin Balester, who ranked 95th. Those numbers surely should rise when next year’s rankings come out, with Balester perhaps joined by outfielders Chris Marrero and Justin Maxwell and pitchers Colton Willems, Ross Detwiler, Jack McGeary and Josh Smoker.

In fact, the Nationals’ top 10 should receive a major facelift during the offseason. Players like Kory Casto, Zech Zinicola and Ian Desmond, who used to be thought of as the organization’s best and brightest, surely will be replaced by the likes of Maxwell, Detwiler, McGeary, Smoker, John Lannan, Jordan Zimmermann and Michael Burgess.

Which is not to say the Nationals’ minor league makeover is complete yet. As much progress as they have made, they still lack overall depth (especially when it comes to position players) and have few top prospects at the highest levels of their organization.

Class AA Harrisburg just completed a dreadful 56-86 season, worst in the Eastern League. Class AAA Columbus (64-80) tied for the third-worst record in the International League with a roster full of veteran minor leaguers who have been unable to make the leap to the majors.

“From Potomac and Gulf Coast and Vermont, we’re loaded with prospects,” Bowden said. “We’re still very thin at the top two levels. … I think we’re 50 percent there. Really, you can almost measure it that way. We’ve got [prospects] at three clubs. They day we get them at the other six, we’ll be there.”

Improvements, though, should be seen next season. Most of the top players from Potomac (including Marrero, Maxwell and fellow outfielder Mike Daniel, plus pitchers Detwiler and Shairon Martis) figure to play in Harrisburg in 2008 and upgrade that club significantly.

“I think next year you’ll see [low-Class A] Hagerstown, Potomac and Harrisburg be pretty good,” Bowden said. “And then you need another good draft to keep it going.”

The draft remains Washington’s primary outlet for acquiring players. After investing millions in scouting, the organization believes it pulled off a coup in this summer’s draft, selecting four of the top 30-ranked players in the nation (left-handers Detwiler, McGeary and Smoker and outfielder Burgess).

Perhaps more impressive, the Nationals signed every one of their top 20 picks, doling out more in signing bonuses ($7.6 million) than any organization except for the Baltimore Orioles (who spent $6 million alone on first-round choice Matt Wieters).

“I think we had the best draft in baseball,” Bowden said. “The results have been amazing.”

To a lesser extent, the Nationals have made strides on the international front. They trumpeted their arrival in Latin America last summer by signing 16-year-old shortstop Esmailyn Gonzalez for $1.4 million. Though they haven’t signed any other players of that caliber, Bowden pointed to the franchise’s two Dominican Summer League clubs (one of which went 49-15 and played for the league title) as evidence of progress in that area.

“That’s quite an accomplishment,” Bowden said. “We went from zero teams to two, and right now you’re one of the best two in the league. And some of those guys will come over next year. So we’re going to start to have our Latin American program, which we haven’t felt yet. Next spring that’s going to start to hit.”