Nationals Announce Affiliate Rosters
Yesterday, the Washington Nationals officially announced the 2016 Opening Day rosters for the full-season affiliates. Here’s how it breaks down by the Watchlist:
SYRACUSE
Pitchers – A.J. Cole, Matt Grace, Sammy Solis, Austin Voth
Hitters – Brian Goodwin, Pedro Severino, Matt Skole, Trea Turner
HARRISBURG
Pitchers – Dakota Bacus, Abel De Los Santos, Lucas Giolito, Bryan Harper, Nick Lee, Reynaldo Lopez, Tyler Mapes, John Simms, Austen Williams
Hitters – Isaac Ballou, Rafael Bautista, Christopher Bostick, Wilmer Difo, Spencer Kieboom
POTOMAC
Pitchers – Erick Fedde, Koda Glover, Phillips Valdez
Hitters – Osvaldo Abreu, Alec Keller, Jose Marmolejos-Diaz, Bryan Mejia, Narciso Mesa, Andrew Stevenson, Raudy Read, Drew Ward
HAGERSTOWN
Pitchers – Connor Bach, Joan Baez, Matt Crownover, Matt DeRosier, Taylor Guilbeau, Taylor Hearn, Andrew Lee, Tommy Peterson, Mariano Rivera III, Jefry Rodriguez
Hitters – Telmito Agustin, Edwin Lora, Kelvin Gutierrez, Jakson Reetz, Victor Robles, Max Schrock, Jorge Tillero, Rhett Wiseman
M.I.A. (excluding DSL and GCL players) – David Kerian, Oliver Ortiz, Darryl Florentino, Max Valerio, Grant Borne
As of virtual press time, there were no additional releases reported by MiLB.com. However, this is the time of the year when some players go Judge Crater, with no official word of an XST assignment, placement on the DL, or a retirement.
Some thoughts…
• No real surprises on Syracuse, as per usual. The days of a AAA guy necessarily being better than a AA guy are long gone.
• Giolito returning to AA is not anything to fret about (unless you’re a Chiefs fan). He only made eight starts there last summer and a few more in April won’t kill his development.
• Williams getting the bump is a mild surprise, but that’s just my opinion, which, along with $2 gets you a cup of coffee
• As is usually the case, Potomac is interesting mix of might-be’s, could-have-been’s, and I-thought-that-guy-retired’s. Most folks will be focused on Fedde, Glover, and Stevenson.
• Bravo to the decision to not socially promote Drew Ward. Obviously, it’s not a good sign to repeat a level, but he’ll still be about a year an half younger than the league average, so there is no need to rush [insert Anthony Rendon remark here].
• Conversely, it is a head scratcher to see Reetz in Hagerstown after struggling in the NYPL in 2015.
• Hagerstown’s roster appears to be loaded but it reminds me of the story of a basketball coach telling his team on the first day of practice: “I added up everybody’s scoring averages from last year and it’s impressive. But gentlemen, we are not going to score 200 points per game.”
As always, feel free to discuss in the comments. Opening Night is tomorrow.
Nice quip Luke about the basketball coach
XST just the activity code for some guys
Waiting on GCL
Surprise on Borne ?
Factor in the : Warmer in Viera than northern
Affiliates
Lol
Production is production
But going so young @ hags without
Possibly Davidson , Gardner and
NCAA final four Illini Kiernen is bold and brash
But maybe injuries factor in or XST
Hmm
Thoughts on Debruin not being on a roster?
All Star in A and hit as good or better than Ward in both leagues.
Injury rehab maybe or just age?
Age. 25-y.o.’s are supposed to dominate in Low-A.
.327 in Low A for the full season would have been the 2nd best batting average in the league to the leaders .328.
Spann
Matthew Spann
I was most interested to see what the Nats did with Fedde, Glover, and Andrew Lee. Pushing Fedde on to Potomac after his shaky brief stint at Hagerstown is a bit surprising but shows organizational confidence in his development and TJ recovery. The Carolina league is no piece of cake, though, as even Giolito and Lopez found out last year. Let’s hope they don’t regret an ambitious move with a high draft pick (cite whatever previous failed example you wish).
I would guess, based on no inside knowledge whatsoever, that Glover will remain a reliever at Potomac but that Lee is staying at Hagerstown to work out the kinks of transitioning to starting (after five starts at the end of 2015). Byron Kerr had hinted a few weeks ago that the Nats might look at making Glover a starter, but I doubt they would do that on top of an aggressive promotion. Perhaps Gott’s failure to look much like the closer of the future in the spring had some influence on keeping Glover on the closer track.
I thought Connor Bach would get pushed on to Potomac, but considering the fate of Van Orden, who had similar stats, perhaps he’s just thankful to still have a job. Lots of arms in Hagerstown, though. Look for some to get moved up quickly if they show early success (a la Austen Williams last year).
I assume Kerian and Borne will be making another visit to Auburn.
I agree very much with Luke in approving the decision to keep Ward at Potomac. The light came on for Michael Taylor during his “repeat” year there, so let’s hope the same happens for Ward.
All in all, these look like decent teams, healthier rosters up and down the organization than in 2015. It’s hard to know, though. The Auburn squad that’s now at Hagerstown didn’t exactly set the world on fire.
I have found the Carolina League
Last few years pitcher dominant
Great review
Thanks.
Hoping to get to a P-Nats game early this year. In addition to Fedde, Glover and Stevenson, I’m very much interested in checking out Abreu, “Orange,” and Mejia. I’m especially hoping the last of those three can repeat his success to date with some more walks thrown in.
I hope we get to see Wiseman, Hearn, and Andrew Lee at Potomac by later in the season as well. I don’t know how aggressive they would be in promoting Robles, with how young he is. There’s going to be a good Dominican contingent at Woodbridge already, though, which would help with his acclimation.
BRUCE QUINN sighting in Hagerstown yesterday
But they missed, right? (*rimshot!*)
Turnbull out all year rehabbing after having minor shoulder surgery 5 weeks ago
Looks like we’ll have to wait to Cheer, Cheer, Cheer for the Chiefs. Opening Day got pushed back to Monday.