Carter Kieboom, Wil Crowe, Ben Braymer, and Jake Noll were the winners of the Washington Nationals 2018 Organizational Awards for Player, co-pitchers, and coaches’ favorite the Bob Boone Award.
Kieboom split time between Potomac and Harrisburg, posting an .880 OPS in 61 games at High-A and a .721 OPS in 62 games at AA. He was third in the minors with 16 HR, trailing 24-y.o. Rhett Wiseman (21) and 30-y.o. Yadiel Hernandez (18). Kieboom turned 21 on the final day of the minor-league season.
Wil Crowe also split time between High-A and AA, but with decidedly different results. At High-A he won 11 games with a 3.63 FIP. At AA he lost all five starts and posted an FIP of 6.10 but pitched into the 8th for the first (and only) time in his final outing. Crowe tied with Sterling Sharp for the most wins but posted just six quality starts to Sharp’s twelve.
Braymer started 2018 in Low-A and won three of seven appearances in long relief before getting the bump to Potomac. He remained in the bullpen until June when he joined the P-Nats rotation for two months and won five of 11 starts with seven quality starts and no starts where he gave up more than three runs. He returned to relief in mid-August in what would appear to be an effort to keep his innings down before pitching next month in the Arizona Fall League.
Noll, like Kieboom, split time between the Carolina League and the Eastern League but saw his power numbers drop (.460 SLG% to .359). Unlike Kieboom, he still hit for average (.302 vs. .278). After 150-plus games at 2B prior to 2018, Noll spent most of the season at 3B where he committed 17 errors.