With last night’s loss to the Phillies, the Nationals “clinched” a protected first round selection in the 2008 draft. According to the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement, the first fifteen selections of the first round are protected from being used as compensation for signing Type A free agents. The Nationals fell to 68-85 on the season with the 7-6 defeat and in doing so can finish in no “worse” than a tie for 14th with the Toronto Blue Jays. As of this morning, the Nationals have the #9 selection in the 2008 draft and can still finish with any pick from #1 to the #15.

UPDATE:

Here are a few more bits of information on how the draft order will shake out for the Nationals …

and the remaining schedules …

• Tampa plays six of their final nine against teams leading either their division or the wild card
• Baltimore has three games remaining against a wild card leading team
• Every one of Florida’s game is against a division leading team
• The White Sox are playing only three games with a team that has a chance (and those odds are long for Detroit)
• Pittsburgh has six games against division leaders
• Kansas City has three against a division leader and three against longshot Detroit
• Houston has only three games with longshot Atlanta
• The Giants have three games with a division leader
• Every one of the Nationals game has playoff implications
• Cincy has only three games with playoff implications
• Texas also has three games with a division leader
• St. Louis has four games with playoff implications
• Oakland faces all division leaders
• Minnesota closes with four games against a likely playoff team
• Toronto has four games remaining against a likely playoff team

Baseball America has begun their top prospect rankings with the Gulf Coast League. OF Michael Burgess was ranked the #1 overall prospect.

Of all the players with a draft pedigree or a solid international background, just one performed to where he stood out among all the rest. The lone exception was Nationals outfielders Michael Burgess, a supplemental first-round pick who leads our GCL prospects list.

“He doesn’t run real well, but when you hit it as far as he does it doesn’t matter,” said one scout from a National League club. “He was very aggressive in all phases of the game. He had something to prove. Pitchers really went after him and challenged him, and he just ate that up.”