NationalsProspects.com

Checking In…

Uninspired for NPP
We’re in a weird place right now. Whenever I would hit a lull like this, I would quite literally see what I posted this time a year ago. Well, can’t really do that since a year ago today I made the decision to dial back (if not off) this site.

I appreciated the kind thoughts at the season’s end. I’ve also appreciated the break from the daily grind over the last week and a half. So even though I plan to resume covering the Arizona Fall League — which doesn’t start for nearly a month — I will need to resist the temptation to do more than that.

Hence, today’s post to reset the hot stove comments and let folks know we’re still here; we’re just back to weekly (or semi-weekly) posts.

Now, for a couple quick hits…

• For those that missed it, Byron Kerr posted a list of who’s been assigned to the Fall Instructional League. Like the Rule 5 Draft, this mole hill becomes a mountain when the parent club isn’t doing well and we’re desperate for discussion fodder. The first year of this site a commenter broke it down. Five years later, I see little reason to disagree.

• Our Hagerstown guy has his takes on the Suns’ hitters and Suns’ pitchers. The only thing I have to add or object to is the characterization of Raudy Read’s defense as being anything other than subpar. The kid can hit, but a catcher he is not.

Until next time…

32 Commments

  1. I followed the link to the 2010 post and had to chuckle at the crack about “breathless stories about Bryce Harper.” I wonder whatever happened to that kid. We all thought he’d be hitting 40 HRs by now . . . Oh, wait, he may not be done at 40. The hype monster didn’t consume him after all. I imagine that 98 percent of the other Nats in the Instructional League that fall are now in other lines of work, though.

  3. Spike lives!

    Looking back at that 2010 post, Michael Taylor looks even younger, if that’s possible.

  4. I was on a golf trip to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia with some buddies so didn’t get to thank you, Luke for your effort this year. So thanks for sticking with it despite other commitments.
    As an Expo fan since their inception, I have had many disappointments–Blue Monday, ’94 strike and the subsequent giving away players including the horrible Colon trade. The treatment of the franchise by Major League Baseball was deplorable.
    So I became a Nats fan and lived with the rest of you through the good and bad, but this year is up there with the most dismal moments I’ve experienced in professional sport.
    I don’t live and die for professional sport, but I’m 74 years old and like many cub fans, not to mention Mr. Lerner, I would like my team to win, but instead I’ve had to watch ineptness to an intolerable degree, especially from the manager who I’m convinced will still be around next year.
    Sorry for the rant and Cape Breton has some great golf courses, two being in the top four in Canada.

    1. Jeeves / jackson. There is a great story about
      Felipe Alou being interviewed by a Bay Area
      Guy who asked the question about 94. A tear ran
      Down his face like the Indian in the old don’t litter
      Or start forest fires .
      Actually this year reminded me of SI picking the expos
      During 0 Al Oliver years. .
      Take a look @ Felipe’s life in SF: three rings as an
      Advisor . So time can pay you back in ironic ways .
      GG. You hint about a position change for Drew
      Ward. Maybe Austin Davidson can surprise and join
      The infield carousel @ potomAc 16?? Ward to harrisburg
      As a 1 b or OF???

        1. He was very loyal to Montreal, though, and the community to him. Of course, Moises became a star there, one of the better trades. And Felipe married a Quebecois. But nos amours never failed to fail.

  5. Thanks for the free pub,Luke.
    Re;Raudy Read-I wrote about liking his arm which I think is good (not Severino level), his actual receiving skills need a sizable amount of work,especially after missing time this yr,
    Thanks again!

    1. Shawn, good reports! It’s always great to get a firsthand viewpoint. I agree with forensicane that the news on Glover sounds especially good. FYI, Andrew Lee went to the University of Tennessee for three years. He was a very good hitter as a two-way player as junior, so you may have seen him sneak into the batting cage with the “real” hitters on occasion. He is still young for a junior draftee out of college, though. Both Lee and Glover should have the opportunity to move up a couple of more levels next season if they can keep getting guys out.

      From afar, I have shared your opinion of what you saw up close on Fedde. I’ll cut him some slack coming off TJ surgery, but I’ve yet to be convinced that he’s the #3-4 guy in the system that the prospect watchers make him out to be. In fact, I thought it was telling, as you basically noted, that Lee and Glover were a lot more dominant in the step up to the Sally League than Fedde was. It will be interesting to see if the Nats give Fedde the “social promotion” on to Potomac or make him prove that he can be more dominant at Hagerstown first. There’s a big step between the two, as Lopez and even Giolito discovered.

      1. Thanks for reading! Yes,Lee’s official MILB page doesn’t list UT at all,so that makes so much more sense.
        Thanks for clearing that up….

        1. Here’s a link to Lee’s stats, including college, which show an interesting progression at UT:

          http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?P=andrew-lee

          He was only a hitter as a frosh, but struggled (.187 average). He became a starting pitcher as a soph (7 starts), but seems to have had more success with a switch to the ‘pen (4 saves). As a junior, he succeeded as both a hitter (playing 1B) and as a reliever. I had actually jotted him down as a potential power hitter when I looked through the SEC stats pre-draft. If he can stay a starter in the Nats’ system, though, and maintain that strikeout rate, he’ll only be hitting every fifth day.

  6. We all know this scenario. Two on, one run down,
    Matty has lefties in pen. RoArk pitches to Bo Ar.
    …..

  7. Luke, thanks for posting Shawn’s “Sun’s Eye for the Nats Guy” reports. He is far from euphoric, and tempers his compliments, so few points to highlight:

    1) He has done nothing to diminish the enthusiasm for Bryan Mejia.
    2) There is a certain chaotic quality to the movement and management of players within the organization that may be unnecessary and may be risky – or may not be
    3) Koda Glover sits in the mid to upper 90’s and the description reminded one of “pretty frickin bueno”

    Great read and we hope that sooner or later you can do your end of year for Potomac that covers much the same. Thanks for keeping the tentposts up.

        1. Cat did listen to mucho Art Fowler while an Athletic
          So queens english did not apply to billy Martin and
          Drinking buddy , Fowler : hence my poetic license
          In years past about McCatty hearing the ghost of Fowler in dugout
          After mad Matty 9 pitching moves. Lol

    1. I eat crow after the opinions I had of Keyes
      When @ hagerstown !
      The Texas Longhorn trifecta drafting didn’t
      Work out. Rice kids do. Lol!
      Rizzo drafted a bunch of guys the horns overlooked .

  9. Luke, does your server blow everytime Matty9
    Makes a bone headed pitching miscue ??
    Great summer work , Luke !!
    I want Knorr skipper, TED !

  10. Interesting about Alou, Jeff. I really liked him when he was with the Expos. And yeah, I agree with you about Knorr.

  11. Wondered if anyone on this site has followed Billy Burns’ season in the American League. He is putting up some decent numbers.

  12. A sort of prospect list borne out of first half frustrations….

    Non-2015 draft picks who helped their stock the most in the last half of the year, including biggest rebounders from slow starts to respectability. Basically, the list of those who made the last half of the year more tolerable and added to/restored their luster

    1) Victor Robles – turning high hopes into rational exuberance
    2) Bryan Mejia – turning anonymity into irrational exuberance
    3) Jose Marmelos-Diaz – from being benched for strikeouts to MLPOY candidate
    4) Isaac Ballou – from fading and aging to multiple tool dynamic player
    5) Anderson Franco – power can indeed show up by age 17
    6) Joan Baez – hit the wall, then climbed back over it
    7) John Simms – running in sand, but hitting stride by the end
    8) Richard Bleier – non-descript to organizational mainstay, kept it going after promo
    9) Telemito Augustin – had to wait for a chance, and then grabbed it and forced a later promotion, kept shining
    10) Chris Bostick – sloooow start, then really picked it up, respectable afterAA promo at age 22
    11) AJ Cole – got the Roark treatment, fizzled, then turned it on by year’s end
    12) Rafael Martin – storybook outing in ML, really bad outing in ML, goes back to AAA and gets hmmered, then back to being lights out. And doing so now for Nats, as he should

    * No, I did not forget Keyes or Skole

      1. You have a good point on KG. Though I did not include him because he never earned a promo and was good all year. He did finish strong, to be sure.

  13. Got to keep things fresh here….and I am reminded of Luke’s jokes about “Ten Hottest WAGS”

    So here goes:

    Twenty top newcomers (Draft or stateside or other (trade)

    1) Joe Ross – Which just goes to show you, you can;t even predict this on opening day
    2) Trea Turner – Which just goes to show you, the Souza trade really was a great trade
    3) Victor Robles – The good news is that the pundits are more excited than we are
    4) Anderson Franco – When 900K nets him, loosening the purse for Juan Soto is easier
    5) Andrew Lee – A draft full of plus performances gets the top performance outside the first ten rounds? Looks like 2015 was a quantum leap ahead for the Nats draft team.Passed every test, and THEN turned into a starter
    6) Koda Glover – A closer to write home about?
    7) Erick Fedde – Promising early returns, even if those returns were not Aroldis Chapman
    8) Tyler Watson – Maybe it isn’t irony when the highest paid lefty signee turns out to be the most exciting (small sample size)?
    9) Telmito Agustin – Has bad, has eye, has speed. 18, will he grow? VI product, so learning English a non-issue?
    10) Max Schrock – See Above, re; Watson. In high school, a player. Injuries in college notwithstanding, the Nats have not forgotten that. Nor did he.
    11) Andrew Stevenson – Fan favorite, speed defense guy. Feels like Matt Den Dekker without the power but more of the other stuff.
    12) Maximo Valerio – One of these guys we’ll know a lot more about by the time he starts next year, if he goes from XST to Hagerstown
    13) Rhett Wisemann – Hard to root against, harder to bet against. Lets see what happens after a winter to condition himself for the pro game. More promising than the last BMOC they drafted (Gardner)
    14) Pedro Avila – Video game numbers gets you on a list like this
    15) Alec Keller – Considering he debuted after a season ending injury, his 2015 was remarkable. Too many players like him in system, but he is smarter and a winner.
    16) Dalton Dulin – Scrap iron. Brings more to the table than Tony Renda. And didn’t cost a 2nd rd pick
    17) Taylor Hearn – They whisper loudest about his stuff. Drafted repeatedly. Doesn’t mean a whole lot, but it gets you on the list when you are a lefty
    18) Wilber Pena – Overshadowed in the rookie league but some nice, nice outings.
    19) Blake Perkins – Survived a horrendous start to at least advance from being an insurmountable project to an intriguing project
    20) Matt Crownower – Was headed for promotion when he ran out of season. Performance may outpace potential for the college senior

  14. BMOC. Still have to ask after Einstein bagel bros coffee.
    Must be the argyle socks worn this Monday.
    BMOC??
    I still say , GG, that until after 1,000 ABs in minors
    One should read heavy in the doubles column .
    Either way , Jeff Gardner should help aid a nice
    Lineup @ hags or potomAc. Jeffs band together .
    Does anybody know the time frame for IL?
    Rooting for Webb to reach city isle !
    Wisdom for the day. Watch out for melted peanut
    Butter on your bagel dripping over your pants !

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