For the minors fans, the news is sparse this time of year, but thanks to MASN’s Byron Kerr, we can at least discuss the annual list of minor-leaguers who’ve been asked to come to camp early, a.k.a. “accelerated camp.”
This is the analog to the Fall Instrux – extra time for instruction, etc. And, of course, a chance for the Nats to make sure everyone’s moving in the right direction.
As I’ve previously noted, it’s difficult to make realistic inferences from who’s been invited or not, but I have marked up the list…
| RHPs | LHPs | CATCHERS | INFIELDERS | OUTFIELDERS |
| Joan Baez | Grant Borne | Raudy Read | Osvaldo Abreu | Telmito Agustin |
| Ryan Brinley | Matt Crownover | Jakson Reetz | Zack Cox | Rafael Bautista |
| Weston Davis | Taylor Guilbeau | Matt Reistetter | Anderson Franco | Blake Perkins |
| Matt Derosier | Taylor Hearn | Jorge Tillero | Kelvin Gutierrez | Victor Robles |
| Wirkin Estevez | Tyler Watson | Edwin Lora | Andrew Stevenson | |
| Erick Fedde | Bryan Mejia | Rhett Wiseman | ||
| Koda Glover | Jose Marmolejos-Diaz | |||
| Cody Gunter | Stephen Perez | |||
| Jake Johansen | Shawn Pleffner | |||
| Andrew Lee | Ian Sagdal | |||
| Reynaldo Lopez | Max Schrock | |||
| Tyler Mapes | Drew Ward | |||
| Luis Reyes | ||||
| Mariano Rivera III | ||||
| Jefry Rodriguez | ||||
| John Simms | ||||
| Luis Reyes | ||||
| Phillips Valdez | ||||
| Austen Williams |
… with red for guys not on the watchlist, blue for 2015 Draft picks, with purple for those are both, while resisting the urge to demarcate the surfeit of soap-opera first names (e.g. 80% of the LHPs. Just sayin’).
This time around perhaps the only unfamiliar name to the non-regulars is Zach Cox, who’s probably this year’s Mario Lisson – a veteran being asked to “plug and play” at either Harrisburg or Syracuse and probably both by year’s end.
Also, as usual, there are a couple of veteran names to remove a little bit of doubt as to who’s had their last gasp, which is also an unfortunate part of both spring training and the offseason.
Until next time — or when the games begin…