AFL/Offseason Update: Nov. 20, 2015
The Salt River Rafters scored single runs in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th innings and withstood a late rally from the Scottsdale Scorpions finish the 2015 campaign with a 4-2 win.
As you might have guessed, just one National got into yesterday’s game: Drew Ward (pictured).
The turns-21-next-week Oklahoman was the designated hitter but did not get a hit. He struck out three times in four plate appearances, but did draw his 11th walk in 12 games this fall (versus nine K’s). He finished with an average of just .097 (3-for-31), but had a respectable on-base percentage of .326.
Salt River finished the year 16-13, 1½ games behind Scottsdale. With that the 2015 season — the sixth this site has covered — officially comes to a close.
In what now seems rather anticlimactic, last night the Nationals added three from this year’s AFL contingent to the 40-man roster: Christopher Bostick, Spencer Kieboom, and Nick Lee.
Bostick, who was originally drafted in the 44th Rd. by the Oakland A’s as a HS pick in 2011, and Kieboom (5th Rd., 2012) were both in their first year of Rule 5 eligibility. Lee, however, was in his second year of eligibility as an 18th Rd. 2011 pick (and drafted 38th but did not sign in 2010).
A common thread through all three picks is the shoring up organizational depth. With the departure of Ian Desmond and the continued fragility of Anthony Rendon, the Nationals will need a backup to the backup of Wilmer Difo for 2016.
Kieboom is also an addition to a catching corps that has been thinned by trades and the Rule 5 draft over the past few years. Like Bostick, he’s the backup to Pedro Severino.
Lee, of course, is a bit of a surprise given that he’s already been passed over for the Rule 5 and a good but not great 2015 regular season. But he’s still lefthanded and throws strikes (though he has yet to tame his tendency to issue walks) and will be the backup to Matt Grace as a situational southpaw.
As for projections, it might be safe to say that this trio will be teammates in Harrisburg next season with the players in front of them moving up (or returning) to Syracuse. But there’s a long offseason to go and Washington has a GM that “kinda, sorta” likes to make trades.
For those interested, here’s a link to the Rafter final stats:
http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&sid=l119&cid=527
About the only positive I see for Ward is 11 walks. Simms and Bostick clearly helped themselves, and Kieboom and Bacus did nothing to disappoint. Ward and de los Santos both really struggled.
In the comments on the last post, Wally mentioned that the Nats had started moving Bostick around. Here’s the breakout. At Harrisburg, he played 48 games at 2B, 20 in LF, 2 in CF, and 1 at SS. At Potomac, he had 47 at 2B and 5 at SS. He didn’t have much previous experience at SS, either, so he’s probably just an emergency guy there. It’s hard to know if they truly are trying to give him the OF utility experience; if they just needed to find a place to get him on the field around Difo, Cutter, and the like; or if they’re concerned about him in the INF and are contemplating making him mostly an OF, as they did with Kobernus.
Thanks KW. What’s generally his defensive rep? And is he fast? Enough to try CF? I think that is the easier OF spot to master as far as reading batted balls, and often where MI types transition to.
The defense question would be a good one for Luke, who saw him for half a season at Potomac.
Not really. CF has to cover a lot of RF and LF. Good Center Fielders are hard to find not everybody can play it.
Mama, if your son is lefthanded, please teach him to pitch.
I always thought I should have sued my parents for not forcing me to learn to throw left-handed! Of course since I spent most of my time as a middle infielder, perhaps that wouldn’t have worked out so well . . .
Scott Sizemore
Chris Heisey
Who next for Cuse shuttle ??
I think Heisey is the first of what will be four or five RH bats to audition in the spring like the LH bats they had last year in Viera. They’ve also re-signed Reed Johnson to a minor-league deal. Uggla is gone from the bench, and there is a lot of speculation that T-Mo will be moving on as well. Even though they are RH-heavy among the starting 8, they are LH/Switch heavy on the bench right now, with Robinson, den Dekker, Espy, and Lobaton. Frankly, I hope they can do better than Heisey and Johnson.