Rendon and Demny: E.L. Player, Pitcher of the Week
It’s a Harrisburg sweep for the Eastern League’s weekly awards as Anthony Rendon and Paul Demny were named Player and Pitcher of the Week for the period of May 6 through 12.
Rendon hit safely in six of seven games, going 12-for-24 with six doubles, two home runs, and eight RBI for a .500 batting average. He also drew six walks and scored five runs. Despite his 15 days spent in the majors, Rendon is leading the Eastern League in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. He was the Nationals’ 1st round pick out of Rice University in the 2011 draft, and the 6th pick overall.
Demny pitched just once during the timeframe, but nobody got a hit during the eight innings he pitched last Thursday as he combined with Ian Krol for the fourth no-hitter in Harrisburg Senator history. Demny walked three and struck out five for that night, but has struggled to marks of 4.62/3.96/1.38 for ERA/FIP/WHIP for the season with a record of 2-4 in seven starts. He was the Nationals’ 6th round pick out of Blinn (TX) Community College in 2008.
Rendon and Demny are the fifth and sixth Nats farmhands to win weekly honors, following A.J. Cole, Nathan Karns, Taylor Hill, and Jason Martinson (twice).
Folks (well, er, maybe just peric) have been lobbying hard for Rendon to quickly go to Syracuse to get more time against ML experienced pitchers. He does seem to be tearing it up at this level now, but what do you think? Is there more value to going around the league again as teams get to know him, or to fast track to a level that might challenge him more (even tho that has rarely been Rizzo’s style)?
I personally prefer guys get a look at the league twice and vice-versa, but I can’t see him lasting in Harrisburg much past Memorial Day.
Is the plan still to keep him in the minors until September? Or once he’s past the point of Super Two eligibility (around June 15)? If it’s the former, then there’s no harm in giving him another 15-20 games of experience, then move him up. If it’s the latter, then the time for the bump might be as soon as Thursday so that he’ll have at least a month at AAA before he gets the call up for good (another assumption).
That said, I should note that the actions that Nats have taken with AA and AAA tells me that they see the difference in play as being smaller than the fans do. Lately, they’ve been a little more aggressive in pushing *prospects* from AA to AAA (e.g. Walters, Leon)