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Final AFL Stats & Thoughts

First, the stats…
BATTERS

PITCHERS
Now, the thoughts

  • Goodwin’s alleged baserunning gaffe not withstanding, the youngest of the AFL entrants acquitted himself just fine overall. He showed a lot more power than anyone might have expected — hitter-friendly environment or not. I still expect him to return to Harrisburg next year to work on his defense and refine his game.
  • Rendon fulfilled the lofty expectations placed upon him by both the prospect cheerleaders gurus and the casual Nats fans, who are already converting Ryan Zimmerman to first base before he turns 30 to make room for 2011 first-round pick. My inclination is to predict Harrisburg as his 2013 starting point, but can see him in Syracuse next April with a strong spring.
  • The party line is that Skole played first base merely to accommodate Rendon in the AFL, but that seems hard to believe that he’ll go back, given how well he played there and who’s ahead of him on the first-base path to DC (just Bloxom and Marrero). If the knock on his gaudy offensive numbers was that he was playing a level too low, then making him the Senators first baseman can kill two birds with one stone.
  • Martinson started horribly and finished strong. Will it be enough for him to not repeat Potomac? The Zach Walters experience suggests that he’ll sent back but Martinson is much older and played much more High-A ball. Keeping him at Potomac means keeping someone else at Hagerstown, much the way he was made to repeat to make room for Ricky Hague and Walters.
  • Options or not, Perry did not make a strong case to account the hype that he can be the #5 starter for the parent club. He’s likely to stay on the 40-man for now, but don’t be surprised if he’s returned to the bullpen next spring.
  • Demny is a Rule 5 possibility and as much as Rizzo covets hard-throwing righties, the bet here is that he won’t be protected. Demny’s future is in the bullpen and the whispers that the velocity has slipped are other reasons to believe he’ll be exposed.
  • Kimball may still be recovering from injuries, but it’s hard not to see him getting dropped from the 40-man today or tomorrow (if he hasn’t already) in the hopes that he’ll pass through waivers. What we’ll never know is whether that was the plan all along.
  • Barrett came into the AFL with a built-in excuse of inexperience (17 innings of High-A) but instead was used in the 7th and 8th innings and had seven scoreless outings out of ten. Alas, it probably won’t be enough for him to not repeat Potomac in ’13.

    • Next up: A look at the Nationals Rule 5 eligibles.

15 Commments

  1. Have we heard anything regarding off-season shoulder surgery for Zimmerman? I think the future path of Rendon is going to be dictated by the severity of the damage to Zimmerman’s shoulder. Rendon’s injury history (i.e. fine crystal ankles) make a move to 2B seem really unwise where he has to concern himself with turning the double play with his back to an oncoming runner.

    2. Last we heard was that he’d had the AC joint surgery about two weeks ago and would resume activity in about four weeks. I’m sure even if it does go well we’ll get the anecdotes about Gregg Jefferies and how Johnson (maybe it’s just me, but it galls me that the beat writers refer to him as “Davey” – makes me want to ask about his dog Goliath) personally taught him the finer points of turning the DP at second base.

  2. the appeal on the Goodwin play was a calamity. from the replays you see the home plate umpire signal safe when they went back to tag third. this after they already tagged home. the 3B umpire seems to say “are you making that call?’ then he ultimately called him out. never did they go through the usual procedure of having the pitcher step off and throw over, not sure if that’s required. if it was a real game Williams’ appeal could have merit.

  3. Forgive me, Luke. I am going to post about the majors, but with a distinct minor league flavor. I am proposing a trade with Tampa Bay, the team that seems to be an ideal fit as a trading partner with the Nats. Would Tampa do this trade? Would the Nats? Would you, Luke? What about the rest of you?
    Here goes. David Price and McGee for Morse, Espinosa, Clippard, Moore, Leon (Flores), Goodwin and Meyer. Possibly Karns somewhere in the mix.
    Of course, I’m assuming a LaRoche signing and possibly the acquisition of another outfielder.

    2. Jeeves I’m for tall tales but starting off on top of Everest is crazy…that way too much to give and why would Tampa trade Price…than again if prospect mature I could see parts of this happening next year…

    3. Price is not really a match for what we need, considering we already have 3 potenital all-star pitchers under team control for a long time, another very good starter under team-control for a while longer. What we need is someone who is a FA, or a soon to be FA so they can be had for less in terms of prospects. I think if you want to work out a trade with Tampa, Morse for Shields would be a better starting point than Price for Morse Espinosa, Goodin, Meyer.

  4. Sorta thought so myself. But the Rays will want the farm and I did manage to keep Rendon out of the picture. Obviously, you wouldn’t pull the trigger on this one. I wonder what the Rays would think, especially if I pulled back Clippard.

    1. Let’s play this game instead who’s mavable and who’s not movable for the Nationals.

      Movable
      Clippard
      Espinosa
      Moore or Morse not both
      Flores
      Karns
      Skole

      Not movable
      Goodwin
      Meyer
      Rendon

      The return has to be worth it though…I see trades happening next year as the prospect mature…Nice game though Jeeves…

        1. How bout not, with no slary cap $$$ relief has limited value, espicialy sience you cant sign anything good with the money Purke is owed year by year. Also selling low is nevre a good strategy, and considering that Purke has yet to have surgery on his rotaor cuff or Labrum, I want to see him healthy before I even thing about trading him

  5. Call me razy, but I actualy take Kimballs AFL shwing as a positive, in just the fact that he showed he is capable of getting hitters out, because if you remeber on his rehab asignment he was basicly throwing BP, and in the AFL he had solid numbers until the end where the walks really started to hurt him. I think as long as he has the velocity back, the control will come back with time

    1. Only problem is Kimball has never walked fewer than 4.5BB/9 in a full season, and he did that only once (2010).

  6. Luke, your post tomorrow will be timely; I didn’t realize until today that that deadline for freezing your rosters for the Rule V is only a day away.
    It usually takes about a week for the Nats roster moves to be leaked.

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