Tag Archives: Awards

Skole and Karns Named Nats’ Minors Players of the Year

  By Luke Erickson | September 3, 2012 - 3:21 pm |
2 Comments

Not sure how much earlier the PR machine can push out the news (September 28th in 2010, September 10th last year), but today it was announced that the Washington Nationals Player and Pitcher of the Year honors will go to 3B Matt Skole and RHP Nathan Karns.

Photo Credit: Potomac Nationals

Both players split time between Hagerstown and Potomac, with a considerable contingent upset that the promotion of Skole came only slightly faster than Mississippi’s ratification of the 13th Amendment.

Skole was named the Sally League’s MVP late last week and 3B for the Postseason All-Star team. He led the Sally League with 27 HRs and a slugging percentage of .574 and has a combined line of .292/.427/.562 and 104 RBI entering play today. Skole was a 2011 fifth-round pick out of Georgia Tech and led the New York Penn League in RBI with 48 in 72 games last summer.

Karns spent too much time in the Sally League to garner either an All-Star nod or postseason honors from the Carolina League, but led the Potomac starters in ERA (2.26), WHIP (1.02), and strikeouts (87). Combined, Karns went 11-4 with a 2.17 ERA, 2.09 FIP, 1.01 WHIP with 47BB (3.65/9) and 148K’s (11.48/9). Karns was 12th-round pick out of Texas Tech but underwent shoulder surgery in 2010 and did not pitch for the Nationals until last summer, when he went 3-2 in 13 starts in the GCL and Auburn.

At 23 (in late July) and 24 (turning 25 in November), Skole and Karns will have high expectations from fans next year to produce similar results at subsequent levels, particularly for Skole, who appears to be playing second fiddle to Anthony Rendon in the 3B depth chart… unless he is converted to another position. Karns, who was shut down after hitting an unspecified innings limit, will represent a more difficult decision for the front office of deciding whether to continue developing him as a starter or, as speculated last offseason, whether he’ll be converted to relief to accelerate his ascent to AAA and/or D.C.

The two are slated to be honored on Friday night in Nationals Park prior to the Nationals game with the Miami Marlins.

It’s Postseason Award Season

  By Luke Erickson | August 30, 2012 - 2:08 pm |
2 Comments

Rather than wait until, say, after the regular season, multiple leagues have begun issue the press releases for the postseason awards, perhaps because Labor Day is so early this year.

Here’s a rundown of how the Nationals farmhands have been honored thus far…

GCL
Matt Foat was named to the GCL’s All-Star team at second base, the lone G-Nat to make the squad. The 22-year-old NDFA posted a line of .333/.404/.401 in 43 games. He signed on June 11, after a breakout season at USC in which he hit .323 with 3HR and 27RBI in 54 games.

SALLY LEAGUE
To no one’s surprise, Matt Skole was named the League’s MVP and starting 3B for his .286/.438/.574 marks over 101 games, which included 27HRs and will likely be good enough to earn him the HR title as well. He’s also the focus of John Sickels’s prospect report today.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE
As noted a couple of days ago, Corey Brown and Carlos Rivero were named to the International League’s All-Star team at outfield and and third base, respectively. Both are acquisitions under Rizzo, with Brown coming in the December 2010 Washington-Oakland trade and Rivero getting claimed in December 2011 on waivers from Philadelphia.

The Carolina and Eastern Leagues have issued their postseason awards, but no Nationals were honored. The New York-Penn League has not yet announced its awards.

Six Nats Named To 2011 BA All-Star Teams

  By Luke Erickson | September 16, 2011 - 1:13 pm |
8 Comments

The accolades keep coming for the Washington Nationals minor-leaguers, as six farmhands (five current and one former) were named by Baseball America in its roundup of All-Star Teams.

Brad Peacock was named to the first team of the 2011 Minor-League All-Star Team as one of the five starting pitchers, while Bryce Harper was named to the second team as one of three outfielders. Unlike the league awards, this a higher honor because the pool was all of minor-league baseball.

At the classification level (AAA, AA, Hi-A, etc.) the following Nationals were named:

AAA
Tommy Milone, SP

AA
Peacock, SP

High-A
Jeff Kobernus, 2B

Low-A
Harper, OF
Chris Manno, RP*
*Manno was traded along with Bill Rhinehart for Jonny Gomes to Cincinnati

Short-Season A
Matt Skole, 3B