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Quick check on Nationals #3 prospect Brady House

On Wednesday, third basemen Paul DeJong was hit in the nose by a 92.7 mile-per-hour fastball from Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller, subjecting DeJong to the 10-day injured list.

Now I know he’s only out for less than a week, but it made think about the Nats long term plans. I think the answer to that question is Brady House.

In 2021, the Nationals used the 11th pick in the first round on Georgia high schooler, Brady House. House was the third shortstop picked off the board, in between shortstops Jordan Lawlar of the Diamondbacks and Matt McLain of the Reds.

In his first full professional season, House had suffered a back injury that limited his game action. The next year, 2023, is where we saw all the potential. House slashed with a (.312/.365/.497) between Single-A and Double-A. The Nats also decided to move House to third base after noticing his plus arm strength.

As 2024 rolled around, we saw House move up even farther in the farm system. About halfway through the season, House made it up to Triple-A, where he put up a mediocre stat line of (.250/.285/.375) and generated some concern.

House chased pitches outside the zone at a 43% clip which, is higher than most Major Leaguers, and was particularly aggressive against fastballs, swinging at those out of the zone 50% of the time. While his strikeout rate was okay, his tendency to chase limited his ability to square up pitches and contributed to a less than .300, on-base percentage.

Hopefully, House can continue to work on his ability at the plate because he was gifted the physical ability to crank homers. At 6-foot-4, House stands big in the batter’s box and flashes great power potential. His 90th-percentile exit velocity of 104 mph in Triple-A means above-average raw pop, impressive given his age. He launched 19 home runs in his first full season of 100-plus games, and with continued development, 25-plus homers isn’t out of the question for House.

Now in 2025, House through 15 games is batting .259/.333/.407 with 1 HRs and 8 RBIs. Including an 8 game hitting streak and 5 multi hit games.

In 2023, when he was raking, the coaches moved him to the hot corner, which turned out to be a natural fit thanks to his plus arm strength.

If House can put together even a solid season in Triple-A, there’s a legitimate chance he could take over as the Nationals’ starting third baseman in 2025. I’m looking forward to seeing how he progresses this year in Rochester. There’s plenty of upside, and this season could be a major turning point in his journey.