Guessing The Rosters, Part Two
Picking up where we left off on Tuesday, let’s take a look at my guess at the P-Nats position players from last February.
CA – Sandy Leon
1B – Justin Bloxom
2B – Jeff Kobernus
SS – Rick Hague
3B – Steven Souza
OF – Destin Hood
OF – Eury Perez
OF – Bryce Harper
DH – J.P. Ramirez
BCA – Sean Rooney
BIF – Francisco Soriano
BIF – Stephen King
BOF – Chris Curran
BOF – Brett Newsome
Aside from picking 14 instead of 13 position players, my success rate was more or less the same as Hagerstown — eight of them made the Opening Day roster. I was a little less accurate in picking the eventual positions: five of the eight in the field, six of the nine if you can give me a pass for the DH slot, five of nine if you can’t. Obviously, picking Harper wrong again was to “blame” for a lot of my mistakes (red), but position changes (blue) are also duly noted. As we saw in the debate for Hagerstown, I could be wrong there again, too.
Unlike the previous post, I’m a little more boxed in here. I’m choosing between repeats and promotions without the benefit of knowing who’s hurt and who’s still with organization. There’s also the twilight zone of XST, too. Invariably, I’m going to overlook someone, but here goes anyway…
CA – David Freitas
1B – Brett Newsome
2B – Adrian Sanchez
SS – Zach Walters
3B – Jason Martinson
OF – Michael Taylor
OF – Kevin Keyes
OF – Randolph Oduber
DH – Blake Kelso
BCA – Cole Leonida
BIF – Sean Nicol
BIF – Cutter Dykstra
BOF – J.P. Ramirez
Those last three slots were the hardest to pick. My choice for 1B was also tough, but I made my bed when I decided not to leapfrog Matt Skole from Auburn, which left me to choose between Mills Rogers, who finished on the Auburn roster, Brett Newsome, and possibly Jose Lozada. Or perhaps Steve Souza repeating.
My gut says Souza showed enough by learning a new position and showing good plate discipline. The counterargument, of course, is that the latter came at the expense of power (.367 and just 2HR after Memorial Day). This one of the toughest questions because if he and Justin Bloxom are on the same roster, Matt LeCroy won’t always have the luxury of the DH to solve this dilemma.
I don’t expect to be as accurate with this year’s picks for the A-ball teams as I had last year. The health questions of Rick Hague and Anthony Rendon are the twin elephants in the room, and while I’m optimistic that they’ll be healthy, I think a reunion of the Rice IFs in Potomac this April is highly unlikely.
I’ll expand this series to a third part, which will address the Harrisburg roster, but be forewarned: I’m gonna have to punt and waffle [insert GOP debate joke here] on some of the slots.
As always, discuss in the comments. Ten days until pitchers and catchers report.
So they say Rendon is advanced enough to start in Potomac, but don’t really have room for him without hosing someone else…Harrisburg anyone?
If so, it would be the first position player to make his professional debut at AA since the franchise relocated to Washington.
As Rizzo adds talent through the draft, it’s actually getting harder to map out the initial rosters. I agree with you on the OF & Freitas behind the plate, but the IF has around 10-12 players who could raise arguments both for or against.
At the very least we should see a real 3B at Potomac this year, given the choices (hurray!).
Here is my Potomac roster. I still have no clue on how to sort out the IF mess, but it is what it is. Guys with a BN* means I only have them in bench roles because other guys have the starting spots.
SP Matt Purke
SP Alex Meyer
SP Robbie Ray
SP Trevor Holder(torn between him or Winters)
SP Robert Gilliam
RP Rob Wort
RP Neil Holland
RP Ben Graham
RP Ryan Demmin
RP Paul Applebee
RP Matt Swynenberg
RP Cameron Selik
1B Steven Souza
2B Adrian Sanchez
3B Blake Kelso
SS Jason Martinson
C David Freitas
OF Kevin Keyes
OF Michael Taylor
OF Randolph Oduber
BN*Zach Walters
BN J.P. Ramirez
BN* Rick Hague
BN Cole Leonida
BN* Anthony Rendon(will most likley start, but Im to lazy to change it)
feel free to pick it apart however you want
I’m not convinced both Purke and Meyer go straight to Potomac. I think the organization may want to set them up slower unless they are lights out in Spring Training. So, I’d look for them to both start in Hagerstown, but be contenders for mid-season promotions.
Where does Soriano end up this year?
I’m guessing Harrisburg.
I have the same thing
I know this is jumping to the Harrisburg roster, but Keith Law has Destin Hood as the Nats #4 prospect and, when asked about it said he’d made remarkable progress since High School.
If he makes the adjustment to AA, he’s still quite young and could very quickly start forcing his way into the conversation with the big club in a year or two.
I know what you’re going to say but Harris said that Rendon would likely be starting at third for the P-Nats. Of course that kind of put to rest your “no top prospect first rounders risked on Potomac’s field” theory.
Not exactly my theory, but rather an observation. Considering that the Potomac field has been leveled and redone completely, it’s a moot point.
Now don’t be fooled into missing the adverb: “likely” isn’t all that different than “possibly” or “probably.”
And I think you’re also forgetting that by being wrong I get to see Rendon sooner rather than later.
Rendon and Hague could make up for missing the best starting rotation in years for the P-Nats. Throw in Freitas and they ought to score runs in bunches.