Nationals Make Second Straight Trade Not to the A’s
OF Brian Goodwin dealt for RHP Jacob Condra-Bogan
Teetering between contending and pretending, the Washington Nationals made another trade with the Kansas City Royals, dealing 27-y.o. OF Brian Goodwin for 23-y.o. RHRP Jacob Condra-Bogan, who made his High-A debut on Friday night for the Wilmington Blue Rocks.
Goodwin, who was drafted in supplemental 1st Rd. of the 2011 Draft, spent all but four games of the 2018 with the big club but mostly appearing as a pinch-hitter and a defensive replacement. He posted a line of .200/.321/.354 with 3HR, 12 RBI, and 3SB.
Condra-Bogan was drafted in the 32nd Rd. bu Toronto in 2017 but never signed. Instead, he went the independent-league route pitching for the other Washington – the Wild Things of the Frontier League with an ERA of 1.76, a WHIP of 0.85, and a record one win, no losses, and one save over 11 appearances. He walked three and struck out 15 over 15⅓ innings.
Kansas City signed him as an NDFA in January and held him in XST until May. In 16 appearances for the Low-A Lexington Legends in the Sally Lg., Condra-Bogan struck out 39 and walked two (2) over 27 innings prior to his callup to the Carolina Lg. which didn’t go quite so well: 1IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 1K. Believe it or not, he did not face the Hagerstown Suns.
For more details on the 6’3″ 220-lb “northpaw” who can reportedly throw 99 m.p.h., you can read his profile in the Kansas City Star.
As of this writing at ~1 p.m., the Nationals have not assigned Condra-Bogan, but with the Potomac Nationals playing in Salem this afternoon and tomorrow morning, he could potentially make the short drive from Lynchburg to join the P-Nats.
Hurray for Goodwin, maybe he finally gets to play?
I was about to write “thus ends the great 2011 draft other than Rendon,” but the Nats still have two vestiges of it — Khayyan Norfork (23d round) and Bryan Harper (30th). Rendon lived up to billing, but here are the bWARs of the other “Big Three”: Meyer (0.8), Goodwin (0.0), and Purke (-0.1). At least they got three years of Span in exchange for Meyer (and a year of Blevins for Billy Burns).
Condra-Bogan is a hard-throwing lottery ticket, but not a bad return for a guy who would have had to be DFA’d. Farewell to Goodwin, who we’ve followed for a long time. I still think there’s a chance he becomes a more consistent MLB hitter than Taylor. But that wasn’t going to happen with the Nats.
Sounds like a late-bloomer.
Odds are he doesn’t make the bigs. But if you’re gonna take a chance on a long-shot, it might we well be on one that can throw 99 MPH.
Scouting ain’t an exact science, after all. So maybe he’s one of the longshots that pays off.
Surely better than getting nothing for Goodwin, whom I always thought warranted more of a look but understood why he didn’t get it, which is what they were looking at if they didn’t trade him. It’s not like Goodwin’s trade value was high. So a longshot is perhaps the best the Nats could’ve hoped for.
Wow, quite an interesting story behind him. Let’s hope he rises quickly. Because of his unorthodox path to the minors, he’s 23 years old with 1 inning of experience above low A. But then again, I don’t think any of our 2017 draft picks have risen to Harrisburg yet (and most haven’t even made it to Potomac), so it’s not like he’s been very stunted developmentally.