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Harrisburg Announces Its 2013 Opening Day Roster

It was expected to be the first, but perhaps not this soon… this afternoon the Harrisburg Senators announced its 2013 Opening Day Roster.

As was the case last year, there are more than 25 names here, which means one or more of them will be placed on the DL prior to the Sens’ home opener next Thursday (watchlist players in bold, notables in italics):

PITCHERS INFIELDERS OUTFIELDERS CATCHERS
Aaron Barrett Ricky Hague Justin Bloxom Jeff Howell
Brian Broderick Josh Johnson Brian Goodwin Sandy Leon
Caleb Clay Jose Lozada Destin Hood Kris Watts
Paul Demny Sean Nicol Steve Souza  
Marcos Frias Anthony Rendon    
Trevor Holder Matt Skole    
Neil Holland      
Nathan Karns      
Ian Krol      
Pat Lehman      
Matt Swynenberg      
Blake Treinen      
Rob Wort      

As predicted this morning, this is the roster to watch — 13 of ’em from the 2013 edition including two notables, though it remains to be seen whether Swynenberg is fully healed. I’m sure some folks are disappointed to see Rendon here instead of Syracuse, but “conservative” has been the watchword for prospect development under Rizzo (with some notable exceptions like Goodwin and that Bryce Harper kid).

There are worse things for Rendon (or us as fans) than for him to savage Eastern League pitching for a few weeks before moving along.

A couple of guys from Syracuse that I was surprised to see: Sandy Leon and Pat Lehman. Now, both could be here only on paper until the Syracuse roster is settled, but it could also be the classic “pushdown” scenario where replacement-level guys are sent to upstate New York instead.

We’re not going to know until the Chiefs roster is unveiled, which isn’t necessarily next — though this looks promising for Danny Rosenbaum and Jeff Kobernus.

Otherwise, it’s a familiar group of names, with roughly half of these guys spending some time in Harrisburg last season. Both Aaron Barrett and Matt Skole are moving up from Potomac despite limited time in Woodbridge, which is appropriate given their age and developmental path (otherwise, why bother sending them to the AFL).

16 Commments

      1. Yeah … I guess the top levels are getting pretty stacked up with either prospect or AAAA outfielders, not leaving much room for even good solid OGs. But gosh, sure seemed like Chris especially had a really nice year at Harrisburg last year.

        1. Chris Rahl will start the season in Extended Spring Training as will Matt Torra. Lots of outfielders to choose from in Syracuse and few spots especially with Michaels taking up a roster spot as a player/coach.

          1. Thanks for weighing in. Unfortunately, the Nats aren’t very forthcoming when it comes to XST.

  3. Gonna be fun in H’Burg in early spring. Skole and Goodwin can rake. Karns is nasty. Rendon seems ok, too!

    1. Rendon needs ML quality relief pitching in AAA to finish and refine his hitting. He won’t be in AA for long.

  4. Skole is the interesting conundrum. A somewhat better fielding version of Tyler Moore (or Marerro perhaps?) that is a left-handed hitter.

    What do they do with this guy if he starts raking as he did in the lower levels?

  5. Riggleman’s guy Broderick can’t seem to get past AA after getting a brief taste of the majors.

  7. So this ends the Skole as a 3B experiment, right?

    IIRC, they were still using him frequently at third in ST.

    1. Would like to think so, but I suspect they’ll give him some starts there for future considerations, iykwim.

  8. Michael Taylor’s omission, while not surprising, has to be a shot across his bow to step it up at the plate.

    Great defense is nice but he’s got to start producing more offensively if he wants to avoid being buried in the Nats depth chart.

  9. In an interesting little quirk, if you look at the H-burg roster on the MiLB site, their 6 IFs are listed as 3 SS, and 3 3B. I guess they will play a bunch of really extreme shifts 🙂

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