The Nationals Review

Just a few observations from the All Star festivities

• Starting about 8:45 EST is completely unnecessary. It was a fast moving game until the late innings, and it still wasn’t going to end until close to midnight, even without the extra innings.
• Guzman made a few really nice plays. Joe Morgan actually echoed my thought by saying “Cristian Guzman made a few plays with two outs and the winning run at third, and they were not easy plays.” Sooo, does anyone want to trade for him? I like the guy, but he could help out a team, and I feel like he’s played well enough over the last few years that the Nats could get something in return. Either way, he should be the national spokesman for laser eye surgery.
• There were a few noticeable missed calls - Tejada didn’t tag Kinsler on the stolen base to name one. If the throw beat you last night, you were out, no matter what.
• You gotta read the article about Ichiro’s pre-game speech.
• Whatever Papelbon said was completely overblown by the media. Then again, so is his performance this year. He has, at best, the 4th best numbers for a closer in the AL right now behind Mariano, Soria, and Nathan. Also he has 4 blown saves. Yet everyone thinks he’s unhittable. Not that he’s bad, either.
• Yankees fans should boo every Red Sox player, but the threats to Papelbon’s wife are unacceptable. HOWEVA, if anyone thinks the same exact thing wouldn’t happen the same way in Boston to a Yankee player, they are kidding themselves.
• Josh Hamilton is probably going to get more votes for MVP than he deserves. He is great, and a super story. But he’s hitting .310/.367/.552 with 21 HRs and 7 SBs right now (no complaints there).
• The interesting thing about being a Yankees for, or a Red Sox fan, for that matter, is when they see someone like Josh Hamilton, they can say “how can we get THAT guy?” For Nats fans, and most other teams, it’s more like “I wish we had someone similar to that guy.”
• Comparatively, his teammate Milton Bradley is hitting .316/.440/.610 with 19 HRs and 4 SBs. And how about Ian Kinsler - .337/.397/.548 with 14 HRs and 23 SBs. Of all of them, I’d vote for Kinsler. Most people still underestimate the value of a quality middle infielder who hits like a very good outfielder.
• Will the three errors and the terrible plate performance allow the Nats trade for Dan Uggla? He would immediately become the best healthy player on the team, and with Zimmerman healthy, he’s probably second best player on the roster (although I really that Dukes will eventually hit better than both of them).
• Speaking of trades, the Nats have about a dozen pitching prospects and their hitting prospects consist of Chris Marrero, Michael Burgess, and Justin Maxwell. Maxwell is a Mike Cameron type, but he is a longshot for real success in the majors. Marrero and Burgess are showing potential. Maybe trading a pitching prospect or two for a hitting prospect or two is a good idea.
• Back to the All Star weekend - will anyone remember that whats his name won the HR derby?
• I am done with the derby needing to be All Stars or defending champions, the league just needs to pick people. Besides what Rick Reilly pointed out - that every participant was white, there were some glaring omissions. Forget about ARod, how about Giambi (who has 19 HRs so far this year) in Yankee Stadium with the short porch? If I could have picked the group, off the top of my head, I would have liked to see Giambi, Adam Dunn, Grady Sizemore, Jermaine Dye, Ryan Howard, Josh Hamilton, Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Braun, and Adrian Gonzalez. I reserve the right to modify that, I probably should have included Justin Morneau in that list…
• If you want to see a real life demonstration of “regressing to the mean” watch Dioner Navarro for the rest of the year.
• Michael Young should get a lifetime invitation to the All Star game, because he loves hitting the game winning RBI.
• George Sherrill has a legitimate claim to an MVP of the game vote. Maybe he wasn’t the most valuable player in the game, but he was probably top 5. Who would have guessed that?
• Lidge warmed up, according to Jayson Stark, SIX times over the course of two hours. No wonder he didn’t look sharp. At least he didn’t have to face Pujols.
• I would have loved to see a position player have to come in and pitch. I’m not sure that would have made the game higher quality , but it would have made it more of a spectacle.
• Everyone knows the least deserving All Star was Veritek, a total reputation pick. But how about Fukudome? Since hitting .348/.443/.500 as of May 3rd, he’s hit .243/.352/.360 over the last 61 games. Also Joe Crede, hitting .248/.322/.433 since April 29. Fukudome was voted in, but did Crede need to be there over Miguel Cabrera, Mike Lowell, Jason Giambi, or Jermaine Dye? (Answer: No)
• I’m usually pretty good at making mid-game calls (Home Run, right now!) but my definitive “there is NO WAY the AL wins after loading the bases with no outs in the 10th, then getting 2 on with 1 out in the 11th and not scoring” was apparently, off the mark.
• One more thing - as someone who lived in New York for a period of time - Bobby Murcer will be greatly missed. Great commentator, by all accounts a great guy, and a great player. He was the one player between the early 60s and late 70s that was actually really good for the Yankees. His numbers may not be very impressive, but I’ve heard interviews with Bill James saying his numbers are much better than they look in context thanks to the era, the stadium and the league. James also said that in 1971 Murcer was, in his opinion, the best player in the game. As bad as his splits look, his career OPS+ of 124 should tell you how he performed.

The Washington Post’s Nationals Journal confirmed what I mentioned earlier in the week. There will no longer be a t-shirt giveaway for the kiddies this coming Sunday. At least they have made up for it in some way. Those kids, instead of getting a shirt, will get 2 tickets to a future game. Also, they finally posted something up on the website about it.

While it’s annoying that they did this, and I wonder if it was done because people complained, and blogs made people’s dissatisfaction more public, at least they addressed the issue. I’m sure there won’t be too many angry fans if they get free tickets in exchange. And it’s not like there aren’t plenty to giveaway. Maybe they should give the kids the Presidents Seats for a few games.

“With the 9th selection in the first round of the 2008 first year players draft, the Washington Nationals select Aaron Crow, a right handed pitcher from the University of Missouri…” So said Bud Selig a few moments ago. This makes me look smart, because I previewed him at the last second yesterday.

ESPNs Steve Phillips mentioned that Crow has an outstanding slider and is someone that you may even see developing a better fastball (which is already very good) as he fills out a bit. He also controls the fastball very well.

Keith Law said he was absolutely a starter, and he touched 97 mph in the Cape Cod league. He’s also shown the ability to hold a mid-90s fastball through 7 innings. He also mentioned that he is at least a #2 starter, and has the best chance out of any college starter to be a #1. He said Crow had great command in college, which was reiterated by ESPN’s Karl Ravech who mentioned his high K/BB ratio.

A summary of Baseball America’s take on him can be found in yesterday’s posting. Overall, everyone seems very high on him and thinks he’s already very good, with room to improve. I am happy with this pick, although I would have liked to see them get someone like Skipworth or Alonso, those guys are gone now anyway. As a college player, he should move quickly in the organization, and will hopefull help fill out a great group of young pitchers the Nats should have on their staff by 2010.

He is, according to Keith Law, the latest player on the Nats watch list. In keeping with giving you perspective on as many possible picks as I can here we go…

Aaron Crow is a right handed college pitcher that BA ranks as the #5 talent in the draft. His big asset is his fastball, which is fast with some sink to it, and he commands it well. He also throws a very good slider, but his delivery is a bit questionable. Which I guess makes him an injury risk, but obviously these guys know much more than me about it… Keith Law says he’s a solid power pitcher with a chance to be a #2 starter.

Enjoy tomorrow’s draft to anyone who’s watching. I’ll be suffering through the work day, but I’ll give some profiling of who gets pick later in the week (or early next week).

Exciting news around here, John Beamer of The Hardball Times interviewed me and used some of the pictures of the stadium that I took in his article. I am excited about the opportunity to work with such a great site. Here is the link to the article:

Say Hello to Nationals Park

For anyone that’s surfed here from that article, here’s a few Nats Review posts to check out.

And be sure to look at the always popular Nats of the 19th century page.

My blog-writing hero, that is to say, the guy who made me think “hey I should do something like that” is Steven Goldman, who writes an incredible column on the Yankees. If you love the Yankees or hate the Yankees, you should read his Pinstriped Bible and Blog, because he is one of the best baseball columnists I have ever read. Articulate, cynical, funny and painfully honest in his assessment of his team, he really shows what intelligent analysis is. Anyway, he wrote his holiday wish list for the Yankees, so I thought I’d copy him and do the same for the Nationals. Mine, however, will concentrate more on the Nats and less on other wishes (mostly)

1. Good physical health for everyone of course. But especially the young MLB ready players - Ryan Zimmerman, Lastings Milledge, Wily Mo Pena, Shawn Hill, and Tyler Clippard. All of whom are young enough to be good for a long time, and good enough to be useful for a long time

2. Good mental health for Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes. I am of the opinion that any bad thoughts in Milledge’s head are overblown and nothing to worry about. Dukes, on the other hand, I am not so confident.

3. The establishment of a solid duo of middle infielders by the end of the season. Belliard is not a long term option, maybe Guzman learned to hit and is the future. Maybe Lopez had a bad slump the last year and a half and can succeed again. Maybe there are answers in the farm system. But going into 2008, it is probably going to be another “let’s wait and see” season, hopefully that won’t last until 2009.

4. Continued growth in the bat of Jesus Flores. Whether it’s in AAA or with the big Nats, I don’t care. As long as he can hit better than the average catcher, I’ll be happy for the future.

5. 150+ games for Nick Johnson. Wouldn’t that be a miracle?

6. Also, 20 good starts from John Patterson. I’m no longer even considering him in any assessment of the team other than as an ancillary player. But if he was able to pitch again like he used to… I’d be happy.

7. Justin Maxwell, Christopher Marrero, Ross Detwiler, Michael Burgess, Josh Smoker, Colin Balester, and maybe even Matt Chico play enough time in the minors in 2008 to get the proper experience before being asked to do too much for the Nats.

8. And they all keep improving.

9. The farm system continues to grow and get better. Last year’s draft was great, but the upper level of the system is still pretty barren. Rather than worry about who’s coming up in 2008, it’s important to make sure that ‘10, ‘11 and ‘12 will all bring good crops to the big leagues.

10. That Nationals Park be a truly great place to watch and play baseball. From convenience, to accessibility, to speedy bathroom lines.

11. At least one more Redskins win before baseball starts.

12. 3rd place in the NL East. It’s always possible.

13. Gary figures out what the hell is wrong with the Terps and fixes it.

14. Somebody - anybody - pitches 200 innings this season. Chico, Bergmann, Clippard, Redding - I don’t care who, just somebody would be nice. Last year there were only 4 teams that didn’t accomplish that: Washington, Seattle, Texas, and Philly. But Philly had Moyer go 199 1/3, Seattle had 3 guys who pitched 190 or more, so they were fine there. Only Texas compared to the Nats. This is how bad it was last season: Chico lead the team with 167 IP, Bacsik was second with 118 IP. Their top 2 guys had 285 IP which was dead last, with Texas 308 2/3 second to last, and the rest of the league significantly higher. St. Louis was next, with 377 IP. In other words Washington’s top starters combined for about 25% less IP then the worst of the other teams except for Texas. And who can blame those pitchers in Texas, that park is tiny! Sooooooooo, like I was saying, somebody pitch all year, please.

For one 2 month stretch this season, Matt Chico made 12 starts (7 of them quality), had a 3.52 ERA, and even struck out 34 hitters. Take out one horrendous 8 ER start, and his ERA drops to 2.63 over that stretch. Shawn Hill at one point made 8 straight starts where he went 3-3 with a 2.70 ERA before hitting the DL. Thankfully, in his 2 starts since returning, he has made 2 QS and has given up only 2 ERs. Tim Redding, since coming to the major league squad, has made 9 starts and has a 2.53 ERA. While in his first few starts he may have gotten a bit lucky, he has struck out 7 or more batters in 3 of his last 5 starts. While these guys all have had good runs, they have been doing this almost exclusively of each other. Here are the dates in which these starters went on these great runs

Shawn Hill: April 3 through May 11
Matt Chico: May 7 through July 4
Tim Redding: July 3 through now

Simontacchi and Bascik have both pitched and won, and at times even pitched very well, but neither have done it over any sustained stretch of time. Only Jay Bergmann has approached doing that, and his low strikeout numbers and scary fly ball potential suggested the entire time that he wasn’t built to last. The good news is that Redding and Hill are both pitching well over the last week. Chico was good enough at the beginning of the year that there is still a great deal of hope for him. If those 3 pitchers can be counted on to pitch effectively and concurrently, this team could have the makings of a good pitching staff.

Phillies Fans

I attended the Nats-Phillies game on Wednesday Aug 15. They say that Philadelphia fans, in general, are the worst in the country. It’s the often heard stories of cheering when Michael Irvin broke his leg, throwing snowballs at Santa, constantly booing Mike Schmidt, selling secrets to the Soviets, etc etc. Well, I had the good fortune of sitting behind this group at Wednesday’s game. I can’t decide whether I admire this sort of ridiculousness or just think it is completely idiotic. But I can say this, despite the fact that the Nationals won the game 4-2 and the Phillies only really threatened once (in the 7th inning, when Ray King and Luis Ayala came in and shut the door getting 3 outs with the bases loaded never surrendering a run), they were by far the most obnoxious fans I have ever been around. And it’s not because of who they were rooting for, it’s the way they were rooting. Thank god they only had a combined total of 10 minutes where they could actually legitimately cheer. I only hope the Nationals never have so many generations of futility, ineffectiveness and underachievement as the Phillies, because if we cheered for the vaunted Washington Nationals with such bitterness and anger I’d be very disappointed. But seriously, nice cape.

Alright, let’s get right into it. According to Baseball Prospectus, the Nationals may actually be focused on having guys who’s contracts run out at the end of the year:

“The Nats have been mentioned as suitors for Adam Dunn, Eric Gagne, and even Omar Vizquel. Does any of that make sense? No, not really, unless you buy into the idea that Mike Rizzo’s draft prowess is in play here. By grabbing soon-to-be free agents and the picks gained by letting them walk away, the Nats could gain a load of picks in this scenario.”

Let me just say, this is a terrible idea. This team is trying to be respectable next season, with the new stadium, and trying to be good in 2009, when the crowds from having a new stadium have died down. This idea of trading for draft picks is a pretty good way to build for 2012, not 2009. And unlike other major American sports, draft picks in baseball usually don’t even make it to the major leagues.

Right now, they need to take their mediocre players that are playing pretty well, sell high, and try to get minor leaguers. Guys who will be major league ready by the end of next season or the beginning of 2009. Are they going to get top prospects? No, of course not, nobody trades their top prospect anymore. But the #4 or #5 ranked guy in a farm system is probably going to make a good major leaguer, and is much easier to get. For example, while the Yankees can’t trade Phil Hughes if they don’t want the fans to burn down Yankee Stadium, but they can easily trade Ian Kennedy (if you say “who?” that is my point). If this team wants to be the Braves or Marlins, building up a champion from nothing, they can’t only plan for the distant future. 2 years ahead and 3 years ahead are important, too, otherwise you become the Pirates. If they can’t get something of value for one of the NL’s leading hitter, and for a closer who at the very least will be a quality setup man for a team on a stretch run, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything of value out there, it means that there is something wrong with this team’s front office.

Ronnie Belliard is Here to Stay (Probably)

Washington extended Ronnie Belliard’s contract this week. He’ll be making $3.5 m total over the next two years, which isn’t at all an expensive deal for a veteran of over 10 years. Remembering that the Nats’ are trying to up their payroll with players that may actually help them win, this seems to be a great deal for them. A veteran presence who plays well, is hitting and fielding well, and isn’t quite yet old (he won’t be 35 when the contract ends). Additionally, he may be the only stable presence in the middle infield going into next season. Felipe Lopez has hit so poorly since he’s come to DC that his value for the future is questionable. Lopez’s glove was never his strongest asset, so if he isn’t getting on base and stealing (let’s forget about the power, 23 HR in 2005 were park assisted, 12 is more likely and perfectly acceptable for a speedy middle infielder), he isn’t valuable as a starter. Regardless, if Guzman and Lopez both end up being incredible in 2008, it is still important for a team to have a versatile backup infielder who can hit, especially in the National League, and Belliard has played all 4 infield positions this year.

Belliard’s bat this season has been very good, .304/.351/.426, but he doesn’t need to be that good in order for this to be a very good signing for this team. His career numbers show him being a .275/.340/.410 hitter, give or take a few thousandths of a point. He doesn’t steal much and doesn’t hit many home runs, although a dozen dingers a year isn’t out of the question. Either way, for a guy who can start at 2B, 3B, 1B, and in a pinch, SS, it sure beats most other players in the league. If either Guzman or Lopez doesn’t perform well next season (doesn’t seem too far-fetched) he can play 2B while the other plays short. Unfortunately, if they both stink, he can’t play both positions. Belliard is known as an excellent presence in the clubhouse, a veteran with a great work ethic, and is a great influence on the young players that this team has and will have over the next few seasons. He even says he envisions himself as a utility man after this signing, although what he meant by that can be questioned, it can be assumed that he isn’t going to complain about a bench role. Also presumably, his presence won’t block the team from making other deals to acquire a potential middle infielder of the future. Despite my preference for this team making trades, I do believe a player like Belliard is not easily replaceable, and without great trade offers (which they weren’t getting) this was probably the best move for the Nats.

Over the last few weeks, the focus of The Nationals Review has been the draft, in addition to some historical Washington baseball. We haven’t spent much time looking at the time over this span, and it’s time to take a look at what they’ve been doing. Right now the team is 29-40, on pace to win 68 games.

Once you get to double digits…

On May 11, the Nationals played their 35th game of the season and finally won their 10th game. Since then, including that date, Washington is 20-14, an impressive run for a team that was picked to be relegated out of the Premier League at the end of the season. Over the course of this streak, the Nationals haven’t pitched great, they have an average number of runs allowed of 4.6. If they had done this all year, this would put them tied for 8th place in the NL, right in the middle of the pack, in terms of pitching. This isn’t bad, and since 153% of their starting rotation is on the DL, it’s even better than we should expect from this group.

Despite this average pitching, it has been their hitting that has taken them through this stretch as winners. They are scoring at an amazing clip for this team, 4.8 runs per game, a number that would put them in third place in the NL at this point during the season if it was over the whole season. That’s right, over the last month of the season, the Nats have the third best offense in the NL. Alright so that is a bit of an untruth. Over that same period of time, the Nationals offense is actually ranked 5th, behind the Cardinals, Phillies, Rockies, and Pirates.

Who are the individuals responsible?

Well the offense is driven by the players, so who are the players that have been powering this offensive explosion? Well the most visible one is Dmitri Young, and that’s not just because of his numbers. Since May 11, Young has been playing unbelievably well. Splits of .443/.473/.632 are very impressive, an OPS of 1.105 is something that even Nick Johnson couldn’t pull off. The biggest issue with Young right now is that a dropoff is expected at some point. The Nats just have to hope he holds on to this hot streak a few weeks longer so they can trade him away. Regardless, this full month of torrid hitting shows that he is a valuable commodity to teams looking for a 1B, and barring injury his trade value will be much higher than it was at the beginning of the season (when it was nil). Much credit should be given to management for taking a chance on Young, much blame will be given to them if they don’t end up trading him away.

The other big name is Christian Guzman. Hoping he would be above replacement level seemed wishful thinking, but so far he has done that and much more. Hitting .333/.389/.467 since May 11 is more than impressive, and these are incredible numbers for a SS. Before this weekend, when Guzman hit 1 for 12, he was putting up better numbers than what Jeter hit last season, when he was robbed of the MVP by a guy who wasn’t even the MVTwin. The only thing worrisome about this streak is Guzman’s lack of speed - only 2 SBs over this period - which bodes poorly for when he comes back to earth. But if Guzman continues to hit 5 triples a month, who needs stolen bases? Of course, Sister Christian (couldn’t resist) will come back down to earth and when he does, the question will be whether he hits .250 or closer to .300. His walks have been higher than in the past, if he keeps that up he could be a much more valuable player.

What to expect from Guzman

So let’s be nice and say he hits .280 for the season. He has only hit that high once (when he hit.302), but he has hit .273 and .274 before, so it is possible. If he has added taking a few walks to his repertoire, with a .280 AVG he could realistically walk enough to keep his OBP closer to .330. This would be above what his other years would suggest, but perhaps he really has improved his pitch selection. In terms of isolated power (ISO), looking only at his best years (’01-’04) his average ISO is .124, but he had an ISO of .175 in his ‘01 All Star season. Since his All Star season is included in that average, it’s skewed higher, but let’s again give him the benefit of the doubt and say he manages an ISO of .150. This would put his SLG at .420 and his OPS at .750, and considering he’s only has an OPS over .700 that one great season, it aint bad. It’s just below league average, but it’s enough for a middle infielder. It would put Guzman on par with players like Marco Scutaro, Jason Bartlett, Orlando Cabrera, and Khalil Greene, all of 2006. He would be better than Scutaro and Bartlett and worse than O-Cab and Greene, in terms of power. This isn’t great, but it’s admittedly much better than what most, including me, envisioned Guzman doing. Remember, though, this is the best-case scenario. OK best-case scenario is that Guzman will continue to hit like he has, and finish the season with a Jeter-esque .900 OPS. If anyone wants to take that bet with me, let me know.

The rest of the team isn’t looking as impressive, but there are both bright spots and disappointments. Church is hitting a little worse than expected, .250/.317/.438 over this stretch is a bit below what’s good for him. Belliard has hit a spectacular .339/.350/.424, which means if he is trade bait he needs to play more. Schneider’s hitting .248, not bad for a such a great catcher. Zimmerman has 11 HRs since May 11, and ISO of .300, and his average is up around .250. Kearns isn’t too impressive, although he continues to draw walks. And finally, Lopez continues his terrible hitting, at .205/.248/.318 the Nationals have to start wondering if he is a future starting middle infielder for this team. The team has it’s role players, but if they are going to rely on Christian Guzman and two dangling trades in Ron Belliard and Dmitri Young to power their offense, they are in trouble.

Chico is the man (and I’m probably the 851st to write that)

It would be a shame to discuss this run without mentioning the lone surviving pitcher from the original starting five, Matt Chico. Chico has been impressive, and while not every outing has been spectacular, he seems to have solidified himself as a solid #3 type pitcher. While you may worry that the Nats have too many #3 in the rotation pitchers, you can never have too many. It is nice to have an ace, but if you can pull together 4 guys that would make any rotation, you can go out and buy your ace. Regardless, since May 11, Chico has made 7 starts and thanks to a few factors including no help from the bullpen he is 1-0. Only 3 of his starts have been QS, but he has made it into at least the 6th inning in 5 of them, only surrendered 4 ER once, the rest have been lower, and has a 3.46 ERA over that stretch.

The Nats did good with their first pick of the draft this season, picking up Ross Detwiler in the first round. An analysis of this pick can be found in last week’s column.

Supplemental Round Picks

Josh Smoker was their next pick at 31. He was basically taken at the end of the first round/beginning of the supplemental round, and he is a first round talent. He was listed as the #16 prospect by Baseball America, one slot for each pitch he uses. Seriously though, he uses 6 pitches effectively, and his numbers last year included 100 Ks to 17 BBs (you are allowed no additional time to figure out that ratio) and an ERA below 1.00. Last week they were still projecting him to go as high as the #14 pick. Smoker is a lefty high schooler who may not come up as fast as Detwiler, but is projected to be great starting pitcher.

With their second Soriano selection, Washington picked up the kind of the player they could use right now, although he won’t be ready for a few years. At pick #49 overall, they selected Michael Burgess, a power hitting OF. Another high schooler, he had a disappointing first half of his senior season after an incredible junior season. He had some issues with focus but found his stroke again towards the end of the year. He’ll need some time to develop, but his inconsistency can be worked on by the farm system. He is probably riskier than some other guys the Nationals picked, but if he pans out the way scouts think he can, he will be a 40-HR guy in RF for the Nats. Other teams will be scared if his game develops like other players who went to his high school - Gary Sheffield, Dwight Gooden, and Elijah Dukes. The Nats will be scared if his attitude develops like them.

Second Round Picks

Jordan Zimmerman was DC’s next pick, at #67 overall. He is a pitcher, but this time he’s a righty out of college. He can throw in the mid-90s, but his performance was hard to judge. He broke his jaw after being hit while throwing batting practice, and wasn’t able to pitch early on in the season. He did show he had recovered, but there was not a consistent senior season to judge him on. In the end the Nats staff probably thought “eh, his name is Zimmerman, let’s give him a shot”.

The Nationals final pick in the first 2 rounds, their 5th pick of the draft at #71, was an interesting one. Jake Smolinski is a high school star, but he is a shortstop that many project to be moved to 3B or OF. He is a power hitter and is a multi-sport athlete in high school, but his signability is an issue. If he decides to go to college in the fall, the pick will be wasted, but if not he could be very good for Washington. He is considered to be extremely smart with great leadership ability, leading some teams to want to move him to catcher. If the Nats do that, I certainly wouldn’t complain about a backstop named Jake. If he moves there and is effective, his lack of speed won’t be an issue, and his bat wouldn’t have to develop much more.

Overall, the draft was very successful for the Nats. Keith Law of former scouting and current ESPN fame (someday he will be the Mel Kiper of baseball) gave them the third best draft of the day, and one of the teams ahead of them was SF, who had 3 first round picks. Signing everyone up at the top of the draft will be tough, but certainly not impossible. Also nice to see, the Nationals, unlike other teams, used all 50 rounds they were given to make picks. This signifies how deep their scouting department was able to look this season. Regardless, they were able to grab some real talent in hopes of bolstering a farm system depleted by years of non-ownership.

And thanks again to Baseball America for their great reviews and resources, in case you hadn’t guessed, I didn’t actually scout these players myself…