Plugging Away at the Watchlist
Still here, still waiting for some new, relevant Nats- or minors-related news. In the meantime, I have been plugging away at the player reports while we wait out the winter.
Perhaps not coincidentally, one of the last times I wrote a post like this, there was a story from the St. Louis Dispatch‘s Derrick Goold about qualifying offers and their effect on free agents. This week, Goold wrote about Seth Maness, who could be the trailblazer for a new UCL surgery (Hmmm, maybe this is Nats-related after all 😉).
Until next time…
Thanks Luke, much appreciated!
This truly is the slow time of year.
Luke, I know you only got a brief look at Gutierrez at Potomac, but based on the small sample, is there any concern that he may outgrowing 3B? He looked like one large human in the one game I saw him. If he is outgrowing the INF, does he look athletic enough to move to a corner OF slot?
With Ward probably staying at Harrisburg and Gutierrez likely manning 3B at Potomac, I wonder whether the Nats will make Austin Davidson the 2B at Harrisburg and leave Mejia for another turn at Potomac. It wouldn’t be wise to promote someone with a .279 OBP (Mejia) at the level. Actually, Mejia’s batting stats aren’t that much different from Abreu’s, except Abreu took 33 more walks, accounting for a 47-point better OBP.
Actually got a brief look at him in person at the Potomac Booster Club end of season banquet; he was in line just ahead of me, which is why I put “more like 200” on the 3B page. That’s roughly the size of Drew Ward but he moves much better. In a pinch, I’d think he’d be fine as a RF (wouldn’t want to waste that arm in LF).
Your Watchlist comment on Gutierrez’s size was what prompted my question. He certainly has a “major-league” body. If Robles was built like him, he’d be even higher on all the national lists. Of course Gutierrez’s size has yet to manifest itself in homers; doubles and a few triples, yes, but he needs to get some big-fly pop out of that size if he’s going to play a corner INF or OF position.