Washington Nationals Minor Leagues: Players Of The Week (5/11-5/17)
Nov 2, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Washington Nationals outfielder
Brian Goodwinagainst the West during the Fall Stars Game at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
It’s Monday, which means it is time for another edition of Minor League Monday here at District On Deck. Each week, we recap who were some of the best hitters and pitchers at all of the affiliates in the Washington Nationals organization.
This week, the Nationals had one of their relief pitchers continue their rehab assignment. Casey Janssen, who has yet to throw a pitch for the big club, moved up to double-A Harrisburg after pitching at high-A Potomac last week. Janssen threw 1.2 innings in the series against the Trenton Thunder (New York Yankees). He gave up one run and walked batter. Most importantly, Janssen showed the organization that he can pitch on back-to-back days.
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- CJ Abrams: Franchise Shortstop
Another National prospect made his return to the big leagues as A.J. Cole was called back up to the Nats after Doug Fister was put on the 15-day disabled list Friday due to forearm tightness. That night, Cole, normally a starter, got the first save of his career. He went three innings, gave up one hit, and struck out one against the San Diego Padres on Friday.
Speaking of those Padres, let’s talk about the San Diego prospect who will be a part of the Nats organization in a few weeks. This week, with the San Antonio Missions, Trea Turner went 6-for-17 with three runs scored, a home run (in Sunday’s game), and three runs batted in. He is hitting .326 with four home runs and 19 RBI’s in 34 games.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the best performances in the Nats farm system this week:
Next: Triple-A
Syracuse Chiefs (16-21)
Hitter Of The Week: C Steven LeRud (.304, 5 HR, 10 RBI’s)
In January, the Washington Nationals signed the 30-year old catcher to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. With the Chiefs, LeRud has split time with another non-roster invitee, Dan Butler, who used to be in the Red Sox organization. This week, LeRud, the former Phillie, had an excellent week for Syracuse.
In four games, LeRud had seven hits, a home run and six RBI’s. Out of those four games, he had three hits in two of those games. This month, he is hitting .481 with two home runs and eight RBI’s. On May 14, against his former team, the Gwinnett Braves, he went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and four RBI’s.
Last season, with Gwinnett, he hit .250 with four home runs and 19 RBI’s. He hit .444 in eight games with the Nationals this spring and drove in two runs.
Honorable Mention: CF Matt den Dekker (.224, 0 HR, 10 RBI’s)
Before the season began, the Nationals acquired den Dekker from the Mets in exchange for lefty Jerry Blevins. After hitting only .200 with the Chiefs in April, he has raised that average to .250 in the month of May. This week, den Dekker had five hits and drove in a run. He has also recorded at least one hit in five of his last six games.
Last year, down at the Mets triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas, he hit .334 with eight home runs and 46 RBI’s. However, the Pacific Coast League has a reputation of being more favorable for the hitters. However, what den Dekker lacks in average, he does have the ten RBI’s and he is third on the team in stolen bases with five. I’m interested to see what the 27-year old will do the rest of the season in the International League.
Pitcher Of The Week: SP Taylor Hill (3-1, 4.14 ERA)
While Hill has the highest ERA of any starting pitcher on Syracuse’s staff, he had a very good start against the Gwinnett Braves on May 14. The 26-year-old right-hander went eight innings, gave up one run on five hits, struck out four, and walked no one. Out of the 101 pitches he threw, 68 were for strikes. Keep in mind, Hill went eight innings or more in a game three times last season.
This season, opposing hitters have hit .285 against him. Coming into that outing, he had given up six runs in two of his last four starts. In the start prior to the one against Gwinnett, he gave up three homers to the Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays). He is not one to strike out many hitters, but maybe this start is the beginning of a streak that gets that ERA back down.
Honorable Mention: SP Matthew Spann (1-0, 0.00)
The reason that Spann makes the slideshow this week was that he was the starter that made the spot start on Friday when A.J. Cole was supposed to pitch. Spann made the jump from high-A Potomac to make the start in this one. He was 0-4 with a 4.66 ERA in five starts with the Potomac Nats, but he put up great numbers against the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians) on Friday.
He went six innings, gave up no runs on two hits, struck out four, and walked two on 92 pitches in the win. While the 25th round pick of the Rays in the 2010 MLB Draft had a high ERA in high-A, one thing to remember is he did give Potomac innings. Counting Friday, he has gone six innings in his last three starts and at least five innings in all six. His 29 innings at Potomac are third on the team behind Wander Suero and Nick Pivetta.
Next: Double-A
Harrisburg Senators (15-21)
Hitter Of The Week: RF Kevin Keyes (.230, 4 HR’s, 19 RBI’s)
This week, the 26-year old right fielder brought the power to the ballpark for the Senators. He had seven hits in six games, which included two of his four home runs on the season. On May 13 vs. Reading (Philadelphia Phillies), he went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, a home run, and two RBI’s. Then, on May 16 vs. Trenton, he went 1-for-4 with a grand slam in the sixth inning. However, the Senators would lose that game on a walk-off home run.
With the seven RBI’s Keyes had this week, he now is the team leader in RBI’s as he is now two ahead of Matt Skole. Plus, he is now tied with Rick Hague for third on the team in hits with 26. While he is second on the team in strikeouts (27), this is a player that can hit for power. He had 20 home runs in 114 games last year for Harrisburg.
Honorable Mention: CF Brian Goodwin (.267, 1 HR, 13 RBI’s)
The theme of the top hitters in Harrisburg this week are in the outfield We shift over to center field as Goodwin, who is the number 14 prospect in the Nats organization (according to MLB Pipeline). This weekend, in Harrisburg’s series against Trenton, Goodwin went 5-for-16 with five RBI’s. He has driven in at least one run in four of his last six games.
Last season, the 24-year old hit .219 with triple-A Syracuse in 80 games. While he hasn’t stolen as many bases (3) as he did with Harrisburg in 2013 (19 games). He is fourth on the team in RBI’s, but one thing to keep an eye on for Goodwin is in the field. He has made five errors, which is the most of any player on the roster right now. That being said, Goodwin is still a player with a lot of potential that is starting to get on a hot streak.
Pitcher Of The Week: SP Richard Bleier (2-0, 3.43)
This is the second time that Bleier has made this slideshow, but the first time he ha been picked as a member of the Senators. As part of Harrisburg’s sweep against Reading this past week, Bleier went seven innings on May 11, gave up two runs on four hits, struck out three, and did not walk one batter on 72 pitches. Out of those 72 pitches, 51 of them were strikes.
Bleier would make a second start against the Thunder on Sunday and was just as good. In six innings, he gave up three runs (one earned run) on seven hits, struck out two, and did not walk one batter on 82 pitches (60 strikes). Bleier has shown great control in his time with the Senators as he has only walked one batter in 18 innings with the Senators. With the Chiefs, he was 1-1 with a 2.93 ERA in four games.
Honorable Mention: SP Joe Ross (2-1, 2.54)
Every week, Joe Ross seems to find his way on the slideshow. By the way, the Washington Nationals did face his older brother, Tyson, at PETCO Park on Thursday. That was the only game the Nationals lost in San Diego. As for the younger Ross, he has another great outing against Reading on May 12. He went seven innings, gave up one run on seven hits, struck out five, and walked one in the victory.
The 21-year old right-hander has not lost in a start since April 15 against Bowie. In his last four starts, he has thrown a combined 26 innings. Plus, he is keeping the opponents off the scoreboard. He has given up one earned run or fewer in three of his last four starts.
Next: High-A
Potomac Nationals (15-22)
Hitter Of The Week: RF Brandon Miller (.215, 4 HR, 11 RBI’s)
The Nationals fourth round pick in the 2012 MLB Draft got his week started on the right note. On May 12, against the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Kansas City Royals), Miller hit two home runs and had three RBI’s. This week, Miller had six hits and drove in four runs. After hitting .191 in April, Miller is hitting .250 in 11 games this month.
Last season, he hit .178 with Potomac, but he did have 13 home runs. He is fourth on the team in RBI’s and leads the team in slugging percentage (.418). Miller is one of three right fielders that have played 20+ games for Tripp Keister’s squad in the Carlina League, but Miller’s advantage over Estarlin Martinez and Narciso Mesa is his ability to hit the long ball. Neither Martinez nor Mesa has hit a home run while Miller leads the team in that category.
Honorable Mention: SS Stephen Perez (.222, 1 HR, 7 RBI’s)
The 24-year old shortstop started the season with double-A Harrisburg, but was sent down to high-A because of a .130 average in 19 games and to make room for Wilmer Difo. It was a rough week for Potomac offensively as they scored only 17 runs in seven games. Miller had four RBI’s while Perez drove in three of those runs. In addition to the three RBI’s this week, Perez had five hits and had one hit in each game this weekend against the Frederick Keys (Baltimore Orioles).
Last season, Perez, who was the eighth round pick of the Nationals in the 2012 MLB Draft, hit .258 with two home runs and 50 RBI’s. He does have speed as well when you consider he was 27-for-33 in stolen bases last season. So far, in 16 games for Potomac, he is 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts.
Pitcher Of The Week: SP Lucas Giolito (0-2, 5.23)
It was a tough luck loss for the Nationals top prospect this week, but the 22-year-old right-hander showed that he could make the adjustments from a rough Potomac debut. On May 14 against the Rock Claws, Giolito went six innings, gave up one run on five hits, struck out 11 batters, and walked one.
One of the things Giolito did well in that start against Wilmington was he pounded the strike zone, throwing 63 of his 84 pitches for strikes. So far, Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez have been everything as advertised for the Potomac rotation. The 20-year-old Lopez has a 0.53 ERA in three starts and gave up one run over 12 innings in two starts this week to go with his ten strikeouts.
Honorable Mention: SP Dakota Bacus (2-0, 2.33)
We talk a lot about Giolito and Lopez when mentioning the Potomac rotation, but a name that has gone under the radar is Dakota Bacus. The 24-year old made two starts this week for Potomac and struck out seven batters in both outings. In two wins against Frederick, he went 11 combined innings and gave up one earned run on six hits. These performances earned him Pitcher Of The Week in the Carolina League.
When you talk about Bacus, you have to speak about his versatility. In addition to having a 2.14 ERA as a starter in five starts, he is 3-for-3 in save opportunities this year. He has made three appearances this month and only given up two earned runs in 13 innings. That being said, he has five walks in three games this month. He had five walks in five games during the month of April.
Next: Low-A
Hagerstown Suns (17-19)
Hitter Of The Week: Jeff Gardner (.213, 1 HR, 14 RBI’s)
The eighth round pick of the Nationals in last year’s draft had a great week for the Hagerstown Suns when they went up against the West Virginia Power (Pittsburgh Pirates). In the final three games of that series, Gardner went 6-for-12 and drove in five runs. He had two hits in three straight games.
Gardner has 23 hits, but nine of them have gone for extra bases. This includes seven doubles, which is tied with Grant DeBruin and Osvaldo Abreu for second on the team in that category. Last season, Gardner hit .206 at short-season Auburn with four home runs and 11 RBI’s. The problem for the left fielder is that he is third on the team in strikeouts with 29.
Honorable Mention: CF Dale Carey (.264, 2 HR, 12 RBI’S)
Against the Power this week, Carey had six hits, but three of them occurred in one ball game for Hagerstown. That game came on May 16, when he went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI’s. That home run came in the bottom of the eighth inning and tied the game at three. Hagerstown would eventually lose the game 7-6 in 12 innings.
The 23-year-old center fielder has recorded a hit in four of his last five games and his .717 OPS is third on the team behind Grant DeBruin and Jose Marmolejos-Diaz. Carey is tied for third on the team in walks with ten, which is one behind DeBruin and David Masters for the team lead.
Pitcher Of The Week: SP Connor Bach (1-0, 3.72)
In Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Power on May 14, the 22-year old left-hander nearly went the distance in a seven-inning game. He went 5.1 innings, gave up no runs on three hits, striking out six batters and walking two. That start was the first one Bach made since May 4 against Greenville. He pitched out of the bullpen for the Suns on May 10.
While Bach is second on the team in strikeouts (31), behind only Austen Williams, he did walk two more batters on Thursday, bringing his team high total to 16. That being said, walking two is an improvement when you consider he had walked three batters in the three outings prior to Thursday. If Bach can command his arsenal of pitches, he does have the stuff to rack up the strikeout totals.
Honorable Mention: RP Robert Orlan (1-0, 5.21)
A.J. Cole wasn’t the only young Nationals player to record a three inning save in the organization this week. The other pitcher who accomplished that feat was Robert Orlan, who is the only reliever to make the slideshow this week. Orlan has given up 11 earned runs in 19 innings this season, but he kept the other team off the scoreboard this week in two appearances.
During those outings, the 24-year-old left-hander threw four scoreless innings, gave up four hits, struck out six, and walked two. Orlan has struck out three batters or more in seven of his nine appearances this season. He has the team lead in saves with four and he has yet to blow a save for the team this year. Last season, Orlan played the bulk of the year at Auburn, where he went 1-0 with a 4.19 ERA in 17 games.