Washington Nationals Select RHP Lucas Giolito With The 16th Overall Pick Of The 2012 MLB Draft.

Though there were significant changes to the rules of the 2012 MLB Draft in the new CBA which was agreed upon this past winter, but Washington Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo told reporters yesterday that it was business as usual as he and his front office staff prepared for this year's edition. "We're going to take it as we always have," the Nats' GM said, "We're going to put the board together, ability-based and we'll do our due diligence on health, makeup, signability of the players and we're going to pull the trigger and pick the best player available."

The Nationals had to wait until fifteen other teams made their 1st Round picks, however, and right from the start the Houston Astros shook things up by taking shortstop Carlos Correa out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy when just about every Mock Draft out there had Stanford right-hander Mark Appel going no.1 overall. As team after team decided against selecting the Cardinal starter, rumors began to crop up on Twitter and elsewhere that he might fall all the way to Washington with the 16th pick, but the Pittsburgh Pirates ended all that speculation when they chose the pitcher with the sixth overall pick.

Eight picks later the Washington Nationals made their selection, drafting right-handed high schooler Lucas Giolito out of Harvard-Westlake in Studio City, California.

Love that pick. #nats

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) June 5, 2012

Nats love them some high ceiling pitchers with injury concerns.

— Kevin Goldstein (@Kevin_Goldstein) June 5, 2012

• We'll have more from Nats Park and comments from D.C. GM Mike Rizzo soon...