Minor League Ball: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Sports blogs for fans, by fans.
New Blog: The Boxing Bulletin for Boxing Fans!

Washington Nationals Top 20 Prospects in Review

This list was originally posted November 20th, 2007.  THIS IS NOT A NEW LIST!!! THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE OLD LIST AND OLD GRADES!!!!!!!

1) Chris Marrero, 1B-OF, Grade B+
     .250/.325/.453 at Class A Potomac before going down with broken ankle/leg injury. Plate discipline is so-so, loads of power potential, just 20.
2) Ross Detwiler, LHP, Grade B+
     5.08 with 101/50 K/BB in 108 innings for Potomac, 122 hits allowed. I expected better.
3) Michael Burgess, OF, Grade B+
     .249/.334/.477 with 20 homers, 142 strikeouts in 117 games between Hagerstown and Potomac. Tons of power, young, high strikeout rate is a concern.
4) Justin Maxwell, OF, Grade B
     .233/.367/.459 with 13 steals in 43 games for Double-A Harrisburg, out with a wrist injury since May. The Adam Miller of hitters.
5) Jordan Zimmerman, RHP, Grade B
     3.32 ERA with 91/35 K/BB in 98 innings, 82 hits allowed for Harrisburg. A very good prospect.
6) Collin Balester, RHP, Grade B-
     4.00 ERA with 64/23 K/BB in 79 innings for Triple-A Columbus, 5.06 with 28/16 K/BB in 43 innings for the Nationals. His scouting reports have always been better than his stats.
7) Josh Smoker, LHP, Grade B-
     Destroyed in the Sally League, 11.50 ERA with 31 hits allowed in 18 innings. In the GCL, 1.19 ERA with 14/12 K/BB in 23 innings. Disappointing performance from a guy I was very high on. Still interesting, but young pitchers will break your heart.
8) Adam Carr, RHP, Grade B-
     6.17 with 51/30 K/BB in 54 innings combined between Potomac and Harrisburg, 56 hits allowed. Looks like command is the main problem here.
9) John Lannan, LHP, Grade B- 
     3.40 ERA with 87/50 K/BB in 138 innings for the Nationals, 129 hits allowed. A solid 3/4 starter.
10) Glenn Gibson, LHP, Grade C+
      Traded to Tampa Bay, has been horrible, 7.29 ERA with 60/51 K/BB in 88 innings, 113 hits combined between Sally and NY-P Leagues. Seems to have completely fallen apart.
11) Colton Willems, RHP, Grade C+
      3.70 ERA with 60/31 K/BB in 109 innings for Hagerstown, 103 hits allowed. Good control, gets grounders, young, but low strikeout rate worrisome.
12) Ian Desmond, SS, Grade C+
      .246/.321/.388 for Harrisburg. I thought he was capable of better, but Double-A transition has exposed flaws.
13) Jack McGeary, LHP, Grade C+
       5.09 ERA, 46/12 K/BB in 46 innings for the GCL Nationals, 54 hits allowed. Good K/BB and K/IP ratios, other numbers so-so, gets grounders. Need data from higher levels.
14) Jake Smolinski, OF, Grade C+
      .260/.338/.385 combined between Hagerstown and Vermont in the NY-P. Numbers don't stand out but a 57-game split sample size isn't huge.
15) Jon Albaladejo, RHP, Grade C+
      Traded to Yankees for Tyler Clippard.. 3.95 ERA with 13/6 K/BB in 14 innings in New York before going on DL with elbow injury. Can be useful if healthy.
16) Adrian Alaniz, RHP, Grade C+
      2.62, 56/25 K/BB in 65 innings for Potomac, 3.97 ERA with 46/30 K/BB in 66 innings for Harrisburg. Ratios slipped after promotion to Double-A, still has a chance to contribute.
17) Shairon Martis, RHP, Grade C+
       3.75, 93/43 K/BB in 110 innings, 111 hits combined between Harrisburg and Columbus. Hasn't received much notice this year, but having a good campaign. Fly ball tendency will have to be watched.
18) Jhonny Nunez, RHP, Grade C+
       5.22 ERA, 82/21 K/BB in 81 innings at Potomac. Converted to relief, pitched better then traded to Yankees on July 31st, has 1.86 ERA with 10/1 K/BB in 10 innings for Trenton. Could help next year if that continues.
19) Kory Casto, OF-3B, Grade C+
       .315/.400/.457 at Columbus, .196/.301/.290 used on the Nationals bench. Might get stuck as a Quadruple-A guy.
20) Josh Whitesell, 1B, Grade C
       Put on waivers in March, claimed by Arizona. .329/.426/.565 for Triple-A Tucson. The PCL seems to agree with him. Strikeout rate remains high and don't expect similar numbers in the majors.

Making slow progress. As I wrote in the original list, there is a lot of potential depth here, but young pitching can go backwards on you fast and that happened with some of these guys. They really could have used Crow.

0 recs  |  Comment 7 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

McGeary?

Why does firstinning.com have him with a 3.63 ERA and a 53:9 K:BB ratio in 44.2 IP? Is that a typo?

www.loftylantern.com

by OldProspects on Aug 21, 2008 11:13 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

stats

McGeary’s current numbers: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Jack%20McGeary&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=519009

he made a start since I wrote the post. I don’t know where firstinning.com gets their numbers but it looks like older data.

by John Sickels on Aug 21, 2008 11:16 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Weird

It seems like firstinning.com missed 2 starts, but they weren’t the last ones. Somehow they didn’t get his July 3rd start and I guess 1 other one.

www.loftylantern.com

by OldProspects on Aug 21, 2008 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

A very fluid list

With five names definitely coming off of this list (Lannan, Nunez, Gibson, Albaladejo & Whitesell) and a sixth not too far behind (Balester), it will be interesting to see who comes on the list (Stephen King, Derek, Norris, Destin Hood, Danny Espinosa, or Adrian Nieto?)

The Nationals have made progress in the minor leagues but from where the started, there was little place to go but up. They are still a few years away from being a solid middle of the pack farm system. Until they can greatly scale back the number of 24-25 year olds in Low A ball and 25-26 year olds in High A, it’s a work in progress.

by NFA Brian on Aug 21, 2008 11:17 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Esmailyn Gonzalez

Any idea where Esmailyn would rank as of now?

http://mvn.com/mlb-tossingtherosin/

by koolkerns101 on Aug 21, 2008 1:02 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Any chance...

..Jordan Zimmerman will be the number one prospect next year? That guy is truly lights out!

by soccerman0 on Aug 21, 2008 1:19 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Cory Van Allen

has pitched better than any of the Nats pitching prospects except for Zimmerman.
He should make next years list.

Check out my blog at thoughtsofrs@blogspot.com

by Count Vertigo on Aug 21, 2008 1:32 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Minor League Ball: Where the Future of Baseball is Discussed
Start posting on Minor League Ball »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Small
Arizona Fall League 2009 Video Posted

Recent FanPosts

Small
Last year's rookies top community prospects for future performance #13
413niegoftl__sl500_aa280__small
UPDATED - Open Thread: Best of the Unprotected; Top Rule V Prospects
Small
BP DET Top 15
Small
BA Pirates Top 10
Small
Last year's rookies, #12 runoff
Small
Great block at plate by A.J. Jimenez
Small
BA MIL Top 10
Small
Last year's rookies, top community prospects for future performance #12
Small
Last year's rookies, top community prospects for future performance #11

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >


Managers

Carew_small John Sickels


Site Meter