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AFL Update: October 7, 2011


It was a light afternoon yesterday for the Nationals prospects in a 3-2 loss by the Scottsdale Scorpions to the Salt River Rafters.

Sammy Solis started and went three innings, allowing a run on two hits and three walks. He struck out none while throwing 53 pitches, just 30 of which were strikes.

Bryce Harper remains hitless after going 0-for-5 with a strikeout. He once again played LF, making three putouts.

Baseball America is scheduled to release its Top 20 prospects for the International League later today.

AFL Update: October 6, 2011


The 2011 campaign started with a whimper as the Scottsdale Scorpions were pounded for a 10-1 loss. Four Nats saw game action…

  • Zach Walters played 3B and went 1-for-3, one of the two hits the Scorpions managed for the game
  • Bryce Harper played LF and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout
  • Derek Norris played C and went 0-for-3, but picked a runner off 1st
  • Pat Lehman got the last out of the 7th, but also threw a wild pitch


Sammy Solis gets the start today, according to MASN’s Byron Kerr, who also had a feature on Lehman yesterday morning.

Season Review: 2011 GCL Nationals

Believe it or not, the 2011 GCL Nationals were actually younger than the 2010 edition, which wasn’t exactly a tough achievement. As frequent commenter VladiHondo pointed out, this is largely due to the infusion of players from the D.R. — four bats, three arms — with Deion Williams as the sole American-born teenager. Despite being …

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Morning Reading

BA flip-flopping its schedule (again) made for a busy day yesterday… and messed up my plan for having a daily post today. So I’ll pass along some stories that separately wouldn’t warrant a post separately. …It’s no secret that the Nationals are unhappy with the arrangement in Viera, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have …

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Season Review: 2011 DSL Nationals

If you just look at wins and losses, the 2011 campaign was a step back from 2010 for the DSL Nationals. If, however, you consider the trend of the team getting younger for the third straight year, then there’s a modicum of success for this year’s crew. The average batter was 18.1 years old, the …

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Two Suns Named To BA’s Sally League Top 20

OK, so maybe I’m being a little coy. Everybody knows who’s the #1 prospect in the South Atlantic League — Bryce Harper — the real drama is who else might get named. That would be A.J. Cole.^ranked #11 Before Manno’s minions (see update below) storm the offices in Durham, NC, don’t forget that Baseball America …

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Matt Skole, BA’s #13 NY-Penn League Prospect

As mentioned last week, Baseball America has been running its Top 20 Prospect Lists and after getting shut out from the GCL, Matt Skole becomes the first Nationals farmhand to get recognition as the #13 New York-Penn League prospect.

Skole was the Nationals’ 5th-round pick out of Georgia Tech and led the NYPL in doubles and RBIs while posting a .290/.382/.438 line. He was the starting desginated hitter for the N.L. affiliates in the league’s All-Star game last month.

I was fortunate enough to see Skole twice on my midsummer jaunt to upstate New York and couldn’t agree more with Sean Hogan’s one-sentence analysis of Skole having “the bat to be an average major league 3B [and] the glove to be an average major league 1B.” He’ll be 22 entering the 2012 season, just four months younger than Hagerstown’s 3B-SS Blake Kelso, but the best guess is that he’ll start at Hagerstown while Kelso moves up to Potomac.

Checking In…

I’m still here, waiting for the parent club to finish out a fine September. With any luck, the rains will hold off tomorrow afternoon so I can catch just one more baseball game this year. I typically make it out to Nationals Park just once or twice a season. Sounds funny, I know, but I’m …

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