The Arizona Fall League rosters were released today, revealing which Nationals will be playing for this year’s assigned team, the Mesa Solar Sox.
None of the eight are Rule 5 eligibles for the first time, which has been the case a few times in the past few years, particularly with pitchers (e.g. Paul Demny in 2012, Cole Kimball in 2010). Four of the eight, however, have played here before, though for the two starting pitchers this is largely because surgeries and injuries have limited their playing time during the regular season. Perhaps the good news is that the organization feels confident enough to not shelve them yet again.
Without further ado, here’s Washington contingent (listed alphabetically):
- RHP Robert Benincasa
- OF Brian Goodwin
- RHP Richie Mirowski
- C Adrian Nieto
- LHP Matt Purke
- 1B/3B Matt Skole
- LHP Sammy Solis
- OF Steve Souza Jr.*
*Taxi squad, eligible to play twice per week
For folks that might be disappointed, let’s not forget that the Strasburg-Harper-Rendon sequence was the exception not the norm, which this seems to be. I’m a little curious as to the selection of Steve Souza Jr. if only because it was my understanding that he will be a free agent with this being his seventh season in the Nats organization. Perhaps this is a signal that he fully intends to re-sign? Or did his PED suspension delay his FA clock? Not exactly the kind of thing that’s easily researched, especially when so many offenders are quietly released.
Otherwise, I think we’re looking at the Nats fulfilling their obligations to help fill out the Solar Sox roster without providing any other teams a free look since the lion’s share of the aforementioned Rule 5 eligibles are position players or Dominican-born pitchers.