The NationalsProspects.com Top 10 Pitchers

37 Commments

1. Luke, since you’ve seen a number of these guys, I’d be very interested to hear who two or three are you think are underrated, and overrated.

   Also, it’s stunning that two of the last three first-round picks didn’t get voted into the top 10. It’s not surprising, and I didn’t vote for them, but it is amazing.

   1. It’s really hard to say anyone is underrated in the Nats system. Maybe Matt Cronin but I haven’t seen him in person and as a reliever I’d need to see him several times.

      I like Cate but worry he won’t throw hard enough to stick as a starter. I worry that Rutledge will get Fedde’d and converted to relief to plug a hole.

      Overrated? I’ve never been high on Crowe but he had his moments last summer, albeit mostly at AA. But I haven’t seen him in person or even on MiLB.tv in more than a year.

      As KW notes, we may be giving Sharp the Chris Bostick treatment on two relatively small samples, but I wouldn’t go so far as to proclaim him as overrated.

      The Nats are a lower-third organization but in the upper third of the market. That almost guarantees a gap between the reality and the hype.

      1. Ty Tony 6 Two bags for a great ride this year.
         Anybody have an idea where that Angel draft pick falls
         Expo refugees Grissom recall how Langston to Angels netted Thunderwrists Rondell White who was part of that sickeningly talented Harrisburg squad along with Cliffeee Floyd in 1992 or 3. My mind can’t reel back that far …..

      2. Luke the Rule 5 draft was scaled back from years prior ?? No more AA or A portion of draft ??

         1. Three phases: MLB, AAA, AA. AAA has a 38-man roster, AA has 37. Those rosters are strictly for the draft and aren’t made public.

      3. Oops yes the Nats took an interesting SWITCH hitting infielder with some pop in Martin Gerado who may find himself on first FREDNats roster

2. Thankfully, Denaburg and Romero are not there, as they’ve done nothing at all.

   A bit squeamish about the Rule V coming up tomorrow.

   1. Yep… it’s entirely possible our #5 and #6 arms will no longer be on the team on Friday.

   2. Sharp is a goner, I think. Right now I lean toward him being the only Nats prospect to go, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if any of Fuentes, Gushue, or German are taken as well.

      1. He is from Michigan. Detroit is going to kick tires for several years like Junior BR549 on Hee Haw.

3. Just saw where the Yankees had to pay an $80 million premium to sign Cole over their initial offer thanks the Strasburg deal. Boras can.now shut up about their spending plans as they just took the market up another notch. The Nats showed in October that in this rabbit ball era it is difficult to win a title without having at least a couple of elite starters who can keep the opposition from building too big a lead.

   That said, I thought Voth showed real potential last year, and being out of options they have play him or trade him. Beyond the R5 draft, It would be trading for Kris Bryant that would really decimate both of these lists. My bet is it would take Voth plus some combo of three top prospects (Garcia, Rutledge and Cate) to land Bryant. Get that trade done and sign Donaldson to play first and they’ll be WS favorites next year.

   1. Karl — The Nats gave Voth three starts against the Braves last year, including two down the stretch. I laugh when I see un-informed articles contenting that 5th starter is between Ross and Fedde. I think it’s between Voth and Ross and that Fedde is a prime (or slightly past prime) trade chip. Unless the Nats get a wild hair and sign Ryu or MadBum, my crystal ball says that Voth will be the 5th starter, Ross will start learning to use his slider to good effect in the ‘pen, and Fedde will be plying his trade with another team.

   2. Would you sell the farm produce that quick ??
      Rendon stays healthier than Bryant and Donaldson – right ??

4. I don’t get the group fascination with Sharp, particularly in thinking there’s a real threat of losing him in Rule 5. Don’t get me wrong, he’s done tremendously for a 22d-round pick. (The Nats got Braymer in the 18th round of the same draft, so kudos to the scouting department.) I like Sharp and hope he continues to develop, but Sanchez and Fuentes (two years younger) had better stats at AA in 2019 than Sharp did. In fact, all through the minors, Sharp has never had a particularly low ERA or WHIP. He’s a solid prospect, but to me at least, it seems like a leap of faith to think some team can envision him on their big-league roster for all of 2020.

   To me, there’s a much bigger threat that Sharp, on sort of the second tier Nat of prospects, leaves in a trade than that he gets plucked in Rule 5. Rule 5 almost always turns out to be a benign bogeyman. (Where have you gone, Adrian Nieto? Nats Nation turns its lonely eyes to you.)

   1. KW, I’ve said this before but my biggest fear tomorrow is losing Fientes, unless his success was dependent on whatever drug he was taking.

      I remember Luke saying it was not a classic steroid. I think he is only a year at most from knocking on the big clubs door.

   2. Sharp has a “carry tool” that Sanchez and Fuentes don’t have, and it’s his ability to induce groundballs at a very high rate. His groundball percentage this season was 65%. That’s quite valuable, especially if you have a strong infield defense behind you.

5. That does lead to an interesting question, though — who do you folks think is “untouchable” among minor leaguers as potential trade chips. I think the Nats would have to be blown away to include Kieboom right now, since they have both 3B and 2B open and probably want to fill one of them with someone cheap and controlled. I don’t know about Garcia. They’ve certainly pushed him through the system like a player they think can excel, but since he still seems to be a couple of years from the majors, I could see them at least listening on him, but only in a major deal.

   Among pitchers, if it’s me, I’d say Rutledge and Cronin. Maybe the front office still thinks highly of Denaburg, but I’d take something for him and/or S. Romero in a heartbeat. And honestly, I don’t know that I’d let Cronin stand in the way of a major deal, so maybe it’s just Rutledge.

   Cate? He’s been very effective, but is he elite? We don’t know yet. The big hard throwers generally generate more trade interest, . . . except with the A’s. Cate seems like an A’s type of guy. Of course I said that about Voth for years, yet he’s still here.

   The Nats have a ton of second-tier and third-tier pitching prospects, which are the ranks from which they’ve regularly traded.

   1. It all depends on who is lefthanded. Rizzo has always loved trading lefthanders.

6. My biggest concern for the Rule 5 is Jakson Reetz. His bat really ripened in the last part of the year and he held up well in the AFL until injured. I think he has a higher ceiling than any catcher in the Nationals’ system, and seeing that Gomes is signed through 2021, if he can develop for two more years he may be a prospect with the biggest likelihood (outside of Kieboom) of situating himself at some point in the 2022 lineup.

   Sharp may not be exciting to some people, but a groundball pitcher such as he is is exactly what some organizations have to have to survive in their ballparks. I’ll be sorry to see him go, and I think he could stick on a 26 man roster all year. That said, I also think he is down the pecking order of starting pitcher prospects in an organization that has two spots committed for the next five years. Hopefully he stays or if he goes, is shipped in a trade to bring back a guy like Daniel Murphy with the Rockies paying most of his salary — or, another catching prospect or corner infielder with popopopop.

   1. Corner infielder with pop ? Miguel Andujar ? Lesser infielder from Yanx chain ??

      1. Andujar – Rizzo cannot outfit a defending champ with players who can’t play defense. So the infielder has to be able to play infield.

         1. Gotcha. That’s why Miguel is available.
            Moreno money always shows up in the last minute

7. Rutledge is my untouchable. I think of him and am reminded of Randy Johnson’s stature and how traumatized that the Expos traded him. Rizzo may not be perfect, but if you are an Expos refugee like Jeff and I are, he’s essentially the GM for a lifetime. The idiocy that Expos fans lived through from fools like Omar Minaya defies adequate explanation.

   1. I almost drove my automobile off the road when Vin Scully on a mlb broadcast received in Northern California announced the Holman , Harris , RJ deal for Langston .
      Reetz truly is a commodity behind the plate for the right org.
      Interesting how this week we have been hearing about Patriots sideline video filming on the Bengals. Funny how the whole bat banging Morse code in Astro dugouts died a quick MSM life .

   2. Cane now that we have the WS 2019 trophy in DC… one last look back at how the Nats might have been year 1 with Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips. ….

   3. Cane. Did MLB have something against the Bronfmans and the Expos with the manner the commodity was never truly given life beyond tight budgets and recycling every 5-6 years
      Maybe the Rothchilds globalists wanted the Bronfman power focused on wider global scenarios.

8. My reference point is that the Nationals are champions BECAUSE of the Lerners. Just like the Orioles are not because of Angelos.

   It isn’t easy to be a great owner. And most franchises don’t have them.

9. I still think we should sign Rendon. The money is there. The Expos may have had more than they let on, butnowhere near the wealth of the Nationals.
   Also, I sincerely hope Denaburg and Romero get going. Otherwise, two wasted first round picks.

10. With Rendon gone I fear one or more of the pitchers, (starting with Ross, Fedde, and Voth and going down into the system), could end up going to the Cubs along with Carter Kieboom to the Cubs for Kris Bryant.

    1. I don’t like that idea, but I like it at least slightly better than getting Jedi mind-tricked into guaranteeing $100 million to a 34-year-old with a bum leg.

    2. Bryant’s deteriorating leatherwork is industry wide known.
       Maybe that the mix abs match roster could play out. Carter , Starlin, Difo, AC, Howie , Zimm and a 1 b addition .

       1. Not to mention his pending appeal about service time manipulation. If the Cubs win, the asking price will either be too high or they’ll pull him off the trading block.

11. Stings to lose two franchise players in back to back years with little compensation in return – especially given how much time, loyalty and patience was given to them after all their significant injuries.

    Anyways, no choice but to move on I suppose…

    Quick thought, if the market for 3rd baseman is at such an insane premium, why not shift and go for a huge bat at 1st and plug third for now. (M Franco?).

    Pretty sure it would be easier to get a young impact bat at 1st than it is at 3rd given the way this off-season is playing out. And let’s be honest, our production at 1st over the years has been subpar and inconsistent to say the least.

    1. It’s the opposite actually. The market for 3B is discounted at the moment, because there’s a ton of elite 3B now. There’s very few teams on the market for 3B. The fact that Rendon, a superior player to Strasburg (20 WAR vs. 14 WAR over the past 3 seasons), just signed for basically the same amount while being two years younger is further evidence of this. Elite starting pitching is at an insane premium these days.

       The Nationals should go hard for Donaldson (and shift Kieboom to 2B), unless they think they can secure a quality 2B (Villar would have been a great pick up).

       1. I thought the demand for 3B exceeded the supply, with teams like the Braves, Rangers, Dodgers are all looking for one and therefore are gonna have to overpay for a guy like Donaldson as there really is no one else (other than Franco). You may say Bryant and Arenado might be available, but teams are very wary of their contract situations as the former has an opt out and the latter may be a free agent at the end of the year..so why waste a ton in prospect capital to trade for them unless you want to go all in. I still think getting a big bat at 1B would be easier to get and much more needed as we literally have no one in the minors who fill that position for next few years.

12. I think bringing Cabrera back is worth every penny. Where the team goes from there can then proceed without frantic decision making to “do something.” I recall that was the context of the Adam Eaton deal, struck on the rebound of failed McCutcheon and Sale negotiations. Ironically, look at Eaton vs. McCutcheon now.

    By the same token, I’ll always remember that Daniel Murphy was plan C. I trust Rizzo and expect he is thinking beyond the box of players we’ve seen listed her, on TalkNats, or on NationalsArmRace.

    1. Grissom you agree that the FREDNats might roll out a real interesting infield in their inaugural season ??
       Maybe some here might want to piece together some names which may end up FA signees for F troop??

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