This Nats prospect is learning a new position

This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato’s Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Since the Nationals selected Brady House with the 11th overall pick in the 2021 Draft, there had been the possibility of the 6-foot-4, 215-pound infielder sliding from shortstop to third base.

House was lauded for his agility and boasted an arm that threw a 96-mph fastball off the mound in high school, making him a candidate to play the hot corner.

“He moves different,” assistant general manager and vice president, scouting operations Kris Kline said at the time. “He moves very gracefully for a guy his size, and he’s got really good flexibility to his lower half. [He] catches everything, it’s smooth, it’s fluid.”

That defensive shift has happened this season in House’s third year (second full year) of pro ball with the Nats. House, ranked as Washington’s No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline, was tabbed as the starting third baseman for the Single-A Fredericksburg Nationals.

In his first nine games at the new position, House has played 77 innings and recorded 10 putouts, eight assists and one double play without committing an error.

House, 19, estimates he had not played third base since he was around 10 years old. After all 36 of his starts came at shortstop during an injury-abbreviated 2022 season, he entered camp preparing to man the hot corner.

“The biggest adjustment for me has just been knowing that I have time,” House said during Spring Training. “At shortstop, obviously [you are] working through the ball and all that stuff. At third base, it’s more of like, the ball tends to get on you a little bit quicker.”

Though a new shift for House, this is a change in defensive roles that has been seen in baseball.

“With Brady's body type and his skillset, I think he transfers over to third base very comfortably and very smoothly,” general Mike Rizzo said during camp. “He was a big shortstop over there, kind of looked like a third baseman playing shortstop, so that was our thought process since we drafted him. And I talked to a lot of good players that have gone through that transformation. Troy Glaus comes to mind. Matt Williams comes to mind. These guys were big prospects that moved to third base and became Gold Glove kind of players.”

MLB Pipeline projects House to reach the Major League in 2025. The Nationals are getting House acclimated to the role they foresee him having in the organization when he reaches that level.

“We broached the subject with Brady early on, and I think that he's on board,” Rizzo said. “Then when he tweaked his back last year, we thought this was a good time to move him to the position that we think he's going to play in the big leagues for us."

With a new view from the field, House is seeing the ball at the plate, too. He leads the Nats Minor League system in slugging percentage and OPS, and he has hit three home runs in his first nine games.

“Just being in the infield, you’ve got to be ready to go wherever,” House said. “Whether it’s first, second, short or third, whatever helps the team out the best is where they’ll move you. You have to work your best at it.”