Wednesday’s News & Notes

24 Commments

1. Dane dunning sighting, nice to see.

   Is Neuse on the DL, or just taking a mental health break?

   1. No – NYPL allows for 30-man rosters (25 active) and they don’t report on who those 5 inactives are. Consequently, folks can go Anderson Franco on us quite easily.

2. Good to see a Dunning sighting.

   Max Schrock had another ho-hum day, 3-4 with a walk. His OPS now sits at a sizling .913 at Potomac.

3. In a move that came out of nowhere, the Nats recalled Wilmer Difo today and placed Stephen Drew on the DL (vertigo). With Turner already up, they could’ve recalled MAT, but chose Difo instead. Could mean that MAT is about to be traded or could simply mean that they want MAT to get at bats. Difo had been hitting better lately, but for those that speculated may be DFA’d, instead he gets the MLB call up.

   1. Could have also gone with Goodwin or Bostick… or even Lombo. Difo has been hitting very well over the last month and I’ve always liked his tools, but I wouldn’t have guessed. Perhaps Rizzo is showcasing him a bit… although that would mean that Dusty has to actually play him.

      1. None of those other guys are on the 40 man. They’ve DFA’d all the easy ones.

         Drew had not been 100% for a couple of weeks; they had time to think about this one.

         Michael Taylor needs significant AB’s at AAA. Better late than never.

         1. Bostick and Goodwin are on the 40 man. No move would’ve been required.

         2. Part of the thinking may also be that Difo can cover SS while Bostick and Lombo really can’t/shouldn’t. That leaves the Nats with a pretty weak bench for the road trip, though.

            As for all those ABs for Taylor, where is he??? He didn’t play in either half of the Syracuse DH yesterday.

            1. Turner can also cover SS though. Perhaps it’s just a reward for a good last month for Difo.

               Bostick hasn’t been great in AAA, Lombo is Lombo (and not on the 40) and Rizzo must just not have much confidence in Goodwin. I would have personally gone with Goodwin just so we can see what we have with the guy.

            2. Here’s a vote that Trea is up “for good.” He’s certainly embracing his opportunity thus far. It will be interesting if they keep working him in CF, or if he starts getting looks at SS with Espinosa back to earth.

      2. difo besides being on 40 man seems like speed needed for long roadie
         especially along the Bay with much coffee needed.
         cue Lights JRNY…..
         Landerson Pena .270 BA out of the box DSL.

4. Jake Noll on a roll. He will definately be parked @ 2b in 2017
   for Suns.
   Maybe its good Daryl Florentino is with JJohnson in GCL now
   to learn from his experience vs Head.
   Rizzo make a deal , man!

5. Pretrading deadline…

   well, I did say I would follow up with my updated top-50, and here it is. As you can see, there are many new names, over 25%. That has quite a bit to do with who is now off the list, and the short season leagues, but clearly there are surprise entries and people who are rising (fastest in parentheses) by showing up and showing well.

   Again, this is based on age, gaining momentum, demonstrated skills that translate at the ML level, success close to the majors, and most conspicuously, speed of trajectory (Lopez). When a 19 year old lefty from the Dominican goes right to Auburn, one takes note if he survives. Just like Avila. And Soto(!) On the other hand, at some point one needs to deliver.

   Yes, Vettleson snuck in. He’s been hitting HR (as has Soto), in an organization in which power is hard to find in quantity. We are going to have a lot of names shake out after this year from the upper levels.

   Keep an eye on Stephen Perez. He is as far back from the dead as anyone.

   I suppose we all wished more draft picks would be here. But change will come.

   Enjoy! I’ll do this again at the end of the minor year, at which time Turner will have graduated off this list. But I did want to give him one last turn at the top. So far, he has shown up better than Lucas as I have argued he would.

   Trea Turner M
   Rey Lopez AAA
   Luke Giolito AAA
   Victor Robles A+
   Koda Glover AAA

   Max Schrock A+
   Erick Fedde A+ (+28)
   Austin Voth AAA
   Juan Soto R * (+42)
   Drew Ward AA

   Tyler Mapes AA
   Andrew Stevenson AA
   Pedro Avila A-
   Wilmer Difo M
   Tyler Watson SS (+29)

   Taylor Hearn A-
   Weston Davis SS* (+34)
   Pedro Severino AAA
   Jose Marmolejos A+
   Bryan Harper AAA

   Telmito Agustin A-
   Anderson Franco XST
   Rafael Martin AAA
   Rafael Bautista AA
   Matt Grace AAA

   Wander Suero AA
   Kelvin Gutierrez A-
   Brian Goodwin AAA
   Yonathan Ramirez SS *
   Jakson Reetz A-

   John Simms AA
   Blake Perkins SS
   Joan Baez A-*
   Dan Dunning SS*
   Hector Silvestre A+*

   Chris Bostick AAA
   Stephen Perez AA*
   A.J. Cole AAA
   Nick Banks SS*
   Stephen Fuentes SS*

   Randy Encarnacion A-*
   Jake Noll SS*
   McKenzie Mills SS*
   Austin Davidson A+*
   Ian Sagdal A-

   Tommy Peterson A+
   Grant Borne A-*
   Ed Lora A-
   Spencer Kieboom AA
   Drew Vettleson A+*

   (off – Paolo Espino, Jeffrey Rodriguez, Mario Sanchez, Ryan Brinley, RC Orlan, Jorge Pantoja, Bryan Mejia, Abel De Los Santos, Erik Davis, Maximo Valerio, Phillips Valdez, Austen Williams, Mariano Rivera, Matt Crownover, Wilber Pena)

   1. Welcome back, fore

   2. A topic buzzing in my head lately has been the NCAA guys to
      pick it @ SS with the upcoming Latin blue chip signees or
      warm the position until their trail dust arrives? PP, Boggatto or Beckwith. My hunch is telling me Beckwith with bat and size ^ foot 2.

      Gil. I still have fingers crossed on Gilabeau.

      A crystal ball will be needed to see which Latin Righty righty OFs
      join the crawl up the ladder to blend with the 2016 June haul of lefty
      bats. Maybe that is why Brass drafted the NCAA infielders pure righty righty. Funny a Falcon soon to play @ Falcon Park in time.
      Evangelista, Elvis A. and others….if Soto plays GCL this summer
      the bonus baby infielders from July deadline haul should too.

      1. Landerson Pena. and Andri Delos Santos.
         where is Abel in Reds chain- huh
         where is the question mark key on this foreign keyboard lol

   3. Not so quick on Orlan unless you love Howard and some of the other
      lefties from June 2016 draft.
      Yes. the list of fall offs starts with lefty heavy swining guys @ Cuse.
      then Pleffner….
      I still think a guy brass loves in DSL is 6 foot two switch hitting
      Franklin Sierra.

   4. Only one Kieboom on the list? Also, when would you considering adding the new Int’l signings to the list? Thanks for doing this!

      1. Yeah, this list could use a 2016 draftee infusion. If this is based on performance (and less on reputation- hence Noll’s inclusion and not C. Kieboom), then some more of the 2016 draftees that have been playing well should be included. For example:

         Batters:
         Tres Barrera: .225/.340/.375
         Joey Harris: .294/.419/.314
         Armond Upshaw: .367/.444/.433
         Branden Boggetto: .324/.378/.382

         Pitchers:
         Kyle Simonds: 17.0 IP/1.07 ERA/0.76 WHIP/2 BB/15 K (promoted to Auburn)
         Jacob Howell: 20.1/3.54/0.98/5/16 (promoted twice, now in Hagerstown)
         Sterling Sharp: 15.2/3.45/1.40/1/13
         Jonny Reid: 20.2/1.74/0.58/3/10 (promoted to Auburn)
         Samuel Held: 12.0/1.50/1.25/6/11 (promoted to Auburn)

         1. re draft inclusions:

            Wait until they start performing. There is no more reason to include Carter Kieboom for being a top draft pick than there is a Dominican 16 year old given 4 million dollars. That is hype.

            The needle of the top 50 prospects in this organization does not move for college seniors who play well in the GCL against high school products. That explains a few of the omissions above. Held, Reid, and Simonds have very small sample sizes at Auburn since promotion.

            As for Jacob Howell, I’ve been watching him just as close, but I also recall Justin Thomas. He, too, shot up to A ball faster and then slowed — and he is still laboring at A+ a couple of years later, and may well be at the end of the line. Howell has lost steam at A-. I’m not pessimistic on him — but a college product with mediocre performance cannot crack this top-50.

            If I had to guess one guy who will rise to the list from all of those noted above it will be Simonds, but based only on college performance. He is an arm advanced above his draft slot. But he just got to Auburn! That, by the way, explains why Dunning is not higher either. Again, watch this list and rationale and we will revisit after the minor league playoffs in Sep.

            Jeff, my Yorba Linda pal, it’s interesting how the bloom has changed on the 2015 lefty class, no? Hearn-Crownover-Borne-Guilbeau. Hearn has really shown the ability to mow em down, and is at age appropriate A-. And Borne is putting up numbers. But the others are underwhelming.

            Again, I have railed against ageism and include people like Harper because he has not yet peaked as he rises. But numbers are more impressive when you consider at what stage they present. And tools are fine, but for folks like Jake Johansen, let’s see tools translate or you cannot place.

            Upshaw is a college product who has hit nothing but singles so far, and in GCL.

            All are worth watching, but let’s see what they do the rest of the way. For all that you note of omissions from the lowest level, the closest that I noted was Perdomo, a Latin product holding his own as a 19 year old leadoff hitter. He has a better case for inclusion than the others, but I just picked the others for the reasons noted. But he’s a comer — and a lot cheaper than Upshaw was.

            As for the other Dominicans, I can’t get excited until they come stateside, when they come, and how they do. The one Dominican I did not include here but who placed high (and one to watch) is Jeyner Baez at catcher. The GCL has an interesting battle royale with catchers, and Joey Harris is getting at bats but clearly because the upper levels are blocked now until the end of the year and the system appraises what they have. I still believe in Reetz because he is only 20 and showing great OBP and anchoring a pitching staff of a dominant team. But clearly Read and Kieboom are fizzling and that affects the upper mobility at that position and opportunities for people like Baez, Harris, and Davinson Pimentel, who set the DSL on fire in ’14. So I am reluctant to get enthused about internationals unless we see what we have seen from Soto, which is very exciting when you compare it to Drew Ward’s debut on a loaded team in his own country. Soto is the most exciting riser in the Nats system for me, and you will be hearing this from the “pundits” soon enough.

            With that said, I have been borne out as right on Turner. He is a winner and catalyst and that transcends numbers. He will be a very popular player with us Nats fans and deserves his #1 and has for the past year. Great to see him arrive in time for a playoff push and a trip to the West Coast.

            1. Wait until they start performing. There is no more reason to include Carter Kieboom for being a top draft pick than there is a Dominican 16 year old given 4 million dollars. That is hype.
               AMEN!!!!

6. 🙂 I missed you,too !

7. Orlan is old, old for A+. Let’s see something at AA and fast. Pleffner is at AA and with no power at 1B. He may get to AAA in time, but like out guy Ike the Cat, it’s a steep climb any higher.

8. Carter K may indeed be great, but he is now only playing sporadically at GCL and striking out too much. So methinks he is an instructional league project in the making like DSL risers. But patience with instruction has rewarded us with breakouts like Weston Davis. But he’s got growing up to do.

Comments are closed.