Nationals Name 2023 Farm Managers, Coaches
For the second time in three years, the Nats have waited until February to release the roster of their 2023 managers and coaches:
* = New Assignment for 2023 | Italics = New to the organization
ROCHESTER
Manager – Matthew LeCroy
Hitting Coach – Brian Daubach
Pitching Coach – Rafael Chaves
Athletic Trainer – Eric Montague
Strength/Conditioning – Mike Warren
Developmental Coach – Billy McMillon
Performance Analyst – Daniel Minter
HARRISBURG
Manager – Delino DeShields
Hitting Coach – Tim Doherty*
Pitching Coach – Joel Hanrahan*
Athletic Trainer – Don Neidig*
Strength/Conditioning – Ryan Grose*
Developmental Coach – Oscar Salazar
Performance Analyst – Samantha Unger
WILMINGTON
Manager – Mario Lisson
Hitting Coach – Micah Franklin*
Pitching Coach – Mark DiFelice
Athletic Trainer – Kirby Craft*
Strength/Conditioning – Brandon Pentheny
Developmental Coach – Mark Harris
Performance Analyst – Paul Sirena
FREDERICKSBURG
Manager – Jake Lowery
Hitting Coach – Delwyn Young
Pitching Coach – Justin Lord*
Athletic Trainer – Jacob Meyer*
Strength/Conditioning – Nathan Sier
Developmental Coach – Carmelo Jaime
Performance Analyst – Josh Freligh
FLORIDA COMPLEX LEAGUE
Manager – Luis Ordaz
Hitting Coach – Ender Chávez
Pitching Coach – Franklin Bravo
Athletic Trainer – Nitfrancis Marrero
Strength/Conditioning – RJ Guyer*
Developmental Coach – Destin Hood
Complex Athletic Trainer – Cesar Roman
DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE
Manager/Field Coordinator – Sandy Martinez
Hitting Coach – Alex Valdez
Hitting/Outfield/Baserunning Coach – Freddy Guzman*
Pitching Coach – Edwin Hurtado
Assistant Pitching Coach – Feliberto Sanchez*
Infield Coach – Rafael Ozuna
Outfield Coach – Emiliano Alcantara
Athletic Trainer – Miguel Cabrera
Strength/Conditioning – Santo Del Rosario
Latin American Training Coord. – Manny Moore
Tryout Assistant – Anthony Rosario
As they did a year ago, Washington added several more positions and shuffled the deck a little, which really shouldn’t be viewed as a promotion or a demotion, but invariably will because the MASN Commenters can’t grasp that a coach in the complex or the DSL has more influence in PD than his counterpart at AAA or AA.
The addition of a performance analyst seems indistinct, but thankfully the FanGraphs job posting is still up:
The Player Development Analyst will help summarize our baseball datasets to produce actionable insights, evaluate our player’s [sic] strengths and weaknesses, build player plans, and communicate regularly with Player Development staff. The analyst will also help analyze data from various tracking technologies such as Hawk-Eye, TrackMan, and Blast Motion and occasionally assist with the operation of these technologies. The analyst will report to the Coordinator of Player Development Analytics in Baseball Research & Development.
Translation: We need someone to read the numbers and watch the film and be able to translate from “coach” to “front office” and vice-versa. If you’ve ever had to deal with, for example, both VPs and IT in your job you should have an idea of why this is necessary.
Either way, it looks like the Nats are edging away from the ’00s and toward the ’20s in this department, which everyone here should agree is a good thing.
Interesting update. So pleased to see the team finally beginning to embrace analytics! Hopefully, with so many other teams having been deeply invested in developing their own systems and methodologies (and therefore working out the kinks), the Nats can just poach talent from other orgs and not have to reinvent the wheel themselves. A quick search on LinkedIn shows this is the case.
Juan Hillman AAA/ AA lefty place holder to borrow a Luke phrase .
Tejera and Bravo eagle eyeing the lower level arms .
Cody Ransom a new addition to Big club staff
So Alex Valdez dates back to 2011 Senators while Rafael Ozuna dates back to 1996 Dodger farm hand @ Savanah and Vero Beach .
Well, really this is a continuation of an expansion of “analytics” (which actually includes a lot of different things) that the team has been moving on for the past 18 months – two years. But agreed that it’s good news.
Delwyn Young/Elijah Green will be huge. If Green can hit, he will be one of the best players in MLB history, if he stays like he is he will make Bubba Starling and Jo Adell looknlike Tony Gwynn.
LOL re Starling and Adell. One of Starling’s few career highlights actually occurred in Woodbridge, when he hit a grand slam off a rehabbing Gio Gonzalez.
It seemed like Delwyn Young did a good job with T. J. White, helping White keep adjusting as the league adjusted to him. White had some real troughs at the plate but bounced back every time.
Curious the connections of the guys added in the DSL staff where they have been in their careers .
Delino continues that north of the border link to Davey .
Btw congrats to Brad Wilkerson getting that gig in the Bronx on Boones staff
I remember reading about 10 years ago the opinion that your best pitching coaches should be at Low A or in the now named FCL. It was controversial at the time but seems dead-on now.
I’ve read that the Nats f.o. is very high on Joel Hanrahan, which makes me wonder why he is headed to Harrisburg.
Mark, I had the same thought about Hanrahan. There aren’t any pitchers of significant consequence who I can think of who likely will be starting the season in Harrisburg. I guess Mitchell Parker will be, but that’s about it, and there is divided opinion on how much of a prospect he is.
Agree KW. The only pitchers I could think of were Parker and Bennett.
I think Bennett will start at Wilmington but should reach Harrisburg quickly. He’s a polished player. After those two can’t think who else Hanrahan could help.
That seems like an aggressive timeline for Bennett, but it certainly would be great for the organization if he can move up that quickly.
Speaking of being aggressive, I’m curious whether they will start Susana at A or A+.
Susana only has 45 innings under his belt so it seems a lock that he starts at Fredericksburg.
The Nats have been particularly aggressive with placement and promotion of Adon and Lara recently, and Susana seems much or more physically advanced as those two. Not predicting that he’ll start at Wilmington, but it’s a possibility if he comes in and is unhittable in the minor league camp.
They’ve also got an interesting decision on whether to have Aldo Ramirez at A or A+ coming back from a missed season.
Yes, I think we can all agree that revamping/modernization was long overdue. There also needs to be coordination across the system, so concepts emphasized at one level are the same at the next level. I sure hope that plate discipline and contact are among those concepts.
Also, I don’t want to hear about how this organization isn’t spending enough since they have a $32M trainer for the DSL team ; )
I saw the Nats are the favorites to sign OF Victor Hurtado for the ’24 IFA class. Wow what a swing from the left side. 6’3″ 170 at 15 years old. Ridiculous bat speed for his age. Rated 7 by PG, but I bet he will be higher when we get closer to the signing date.
Hurtado must have older relatives who played ball somewhere on the globe .
Intetesting. De La Rosa broke his hamate bone in his first game in Wilmington. No wonder he struggled.
Both Wilmington and Fburg should be fun.