Washington Nationals Minor Leagues: Players Of The Week (6/8-6/14)

It’s Monday, which means It is time for another edition of Minor League Monday, where we take a look back at some of the best players in the Washington Nationals farm system over the past week.

In this week’s edition, we will start by looking at some of the prospects that made All-Star teams in their respective league. In the South Atlantic League (low-A), three Hagerstown Suns were selected to the game that will be played on June 23. Those three players are right-handed pitchers Austen Williams and Drew Van Orden as well as third baseman Grant DeBruin

More from Nationals Prospects

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• Washington Nationals Tuesday Q&A
• Washington Nationals find Success in First Draft Lottery
• Washington Nationals: Non-Tendering Erick Fedde Highlights Nats’ Draft Misses
• CJ Abrams: Franchise Shortstop

Down in the Carolina League, the Potomac squad had two players picked to play against the California League in that All-Star game that will also be played on June 23. Those two representatives will be catcher Spencer Kieboom and right-handed pitcher Nick Pivetta.

Of course, the big story around the Nationals farm system is who is now in the organization. Yesterday, Trea Turner officially became a member of the Nats and will be playing in double-A Harrisburg tomorrow when they host the Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco Giants). In 58 games down in the Texas League, Turner hit .322 with five home runs, 35 RBI’s, had a .385 on-base percentage, and stole 11 bases.

The other big news coming up this week is the start of the New York-Penn League this Friday. The Auburn Doubledays will be in action against the Bataiva Muckdogs (Miami Marlins) as some of the Nats draft picks will be making their professional debuts. The Nationals did lose one of their second baseman in the organization this week as Tony Renda was traded to the New York Yankees in order to acquire David Carpenter.

Before those events happen, let’s reveal who makes the list of the top hitters and pitchers this past week. Stats and records are as of June 13:

Next: Triple-A

(Photo Credit: MILB.com)

Syracuse Chiefs (20-44)

 Hitter Of The Week: SS Jason Martinson (.239, 9 HR, 23 RBI’s)

This season, Martinson has been one of the best players on this Chiefs team. This weekend, against the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians), he went 6-for-17 at the plate. Out of those six hits, two of them were home runs.

Both solo home runs came on Sunday In Syracuse’s 7-4 win. Keep in mind this was during a doubleheader, so he hit two home runs during a seven-inning game. The 26-year-old shortstop has three home runs in 14 games, tying the most he has hit in a given month this season. His nine home runs and 23 RBI’s lead the Chiefs in both categories.

Honorable Mention: RF Caleb Ramsey (.289, 2 HR, 20 RBI’s)

This season, Ramsay has had playing time in both triple-A and double-A Harrisburg. This week, the 26-year-old right fielder went 7-for-21 at the plate with five RBI’s. His best game of the week came on June 9 against the Toledo Mudhens. In a makeup of a June 8 rainout, Ramsay went 2-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI’s during Syracuse’s 7-4 win.

One thing that is unique about Ramsay is that he has one home run and ten RBI’s at each affiliate, but he accomplished that at Syracuse in ten fewer games (23) than Harrisburg (33). He is hitting .300 in the month of June. With Ramsay playing on an everday basis, it will be interesting to see if he continues that success he had this past week.

Pitcher Of The Week: SP Paolo Espino (1-0, 1.63 ERA)

Every week, Paolo Espino continues to be a constant for pitcher of the week in triple-A and it’s for good reason. On June 11, against the Clippers, Espino took a no-decision because he did not get the run support for his great outing. In seven innings, the right-hander gave up one run on five hits, struck out six, and walked one. The Chiefs would lose that game, 2-1 in ten innings.

Espino has now pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last four starts. He has had six straight starts of giving up six hits or fewer and four straight starts of giving up two runs or less. In four starts with the Chiefs, he has thrown 27.2 innings and opponents are only hitting .196 against them.

Honorable Mention: RP Rafael Martin (2-3, 6.97)

It’s been a rough season for Rafael Martin in triple-A. Of course, everyone remembers his major league debut on April 13 when he struck out five straight Red Sox at Fenway Park. Since then, Martin has had trouble getting hitters out down in the minors. However, he is starting to show improvement in his last three relief appearances.

This past week, Martin made two appearances and gave up no earned runs in four innings while striking out five batters and walked one. In his last three outings, Martin has struck a combined eight hitters. On June 9, Martin threw two scoreless innings in relief of Bruce Billings to record his first win of the season. While he has blown three saves in five opportunities, it looks like Martin has gotten back on track.

Next: Double-A

(Photo Credit: MILB.com)

Harrisburg Senators (27-35)

Hitter Of The Week: 3B Matt Skole (.212, 10 HR, 35 RBI’s)

When Matt Skole is doing well at the plate, there is a correlation with the Senators picking up wins. This week, Skole had a great three game stretch. From June 10-June 12, Skole went 7-for-13 at the plate with two home runs and ten RBI’s against New Hampshire and Trenton (on the 12^th). The 25-year-old has a hit in five of his last six games.

The month of June has bee great to Skole. In 11 games, he is hitting .286 with three home runs and 13 RBI’s and has a slugging percentage of .524. How does it relate on the field? Well, the Senators will head into Tuesdays’ game on a five-game winning streak, a streak that started on June 10. When Skole hits the long ball, good things happen.

Honorable Mention: C Pedro Severino (.252, 3 HR, 20 RBI’s)

For the second straight week, Skole and Severino get the honor for players of the week. This past week, the Harrisburg catcher went 8-for-23 at the plate with one home run and five RBI’s. On June 8, against the New Britain Rock Cats (Colorado Rockies), he went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, a solo home run, and two RBI’s in Harrisburg’s 6-4 loss.

Out of those eight hits, he had three doubles in addition to the home run. In nine games in the month of June, he is hitting .333 with one home run and five RBI’s and has a .545 slugging percentage. He may only have ten walks, but the 21-year-old is bringing the power to the catching position.

Pitcher Of The Week: SP Austin Voth (3-4, 3.56 ERA)

It’s been a while since Austin Voth was on this slideshow, but in his only start this week, Voth put up a quality start against a New Britain squad that is on top of the Eastern division in the Eastern League. On June 10, Voth went six innings, gave up three runs on four hits, struck out eight, and did not walk a batter in the victory.

The 22-year-old right-hander has gone into the sixth inning or later in each of his last three starts. Plus, he has not given up more than three runs in an outing in his last eight starts. Right now, he leads the team in innings pitched at 65.2. Joe Ross is already making his presence known in the majors. How long until Voth ends up joining him?

Honorable Mention: RP Richard Bleier (4-2, 3.46)

Even though Bleier lost one of his two outings this week, he makes the slideshow for the solid outing that he had against the Trenton Thunder (New York Yankees), a team that is third in the league in runs scored and is tied for third in home runs. On June 13, Bleier went seven innings, gave up one run on seven hits, struck out three, and did not walk a batter en route to a win.

In his last three starts, Bleier has averaged seven innings per outing. The left-hander had a tough time against New Britain when he gave up four runs over six innings in a loss, but he continues to show good consistency in the Senators rotation. Even with Ross in the majors, Harrisburg has a good trio of Voth, Bleier, and Dakota Bacus, who picked up a win and a RBI sacrifice fly during his two outings this week.

Next: High-A

(Photo Credit: MILB.com)

Potomac Nationals (28-35)

Hitter Of The Week: 2B Christopher Bostick (.274, 4 HR, 18 RBI’s)

Chris Bostick has been one of the regulars on this slideshow during the early stages of this season. This past week, the 22-year-old second baseman went 12-for-29 at the plate with five RBI’s. He had four multi-hit games, including three three-hit performances. All three of those games came within a five-game period.

This month, Bostick is hitting .412 with two home runs and seven RBI’s. One thing that is interesting about Bostick’s month so far is the amount of walks he has. He has five walks in 13 games. Keep in mind that in the first two months of the season, he did not walk more than eight times. After hitting .203 in the month of April, Bostick has been starting to tear up Carolina League pitching.

Honorable Mention: RF Narciso Mesa (.275, 1 HR, 17 RBI’s)

Coming into Monday night’s game, the 23-year-old right fielder has a six game hitting streak. This past week, Mesa went 11-for-27 at the plate with four RBI’s. While he only had one extra base hit in those 11 hits, Mesa showed that he can rack up the hits. During the six game streak, he has a multi-hit game in four of those six, including a 3-for-4 day on Sunday with two runs scored and a RBI.

This month, Mesa is hitting .391 in 12 games with one home run and nine RBI’s. He has a .423 on-base percentage and a .478 slugging percentage as well. He leads the team in batting average and is top five in the team in hits with 42.

Pitcher Of The Week: SP Lucas Giolito (2-4, 4.08 ERA)

Giolito made one start this week on June 12 against the Frederick Keys (Baltimore Orioles). In that outing, he went 6.1 innings, gave up one run on eight hits, struck out five, and walked one to record his second win of the season. Out of those eight hits, only two of those went for extra bases. Plus, out of the 27 batters he faced, nine of those were retired on groundball outs.

The 20-year-old right-hander has pitched into the sixth inning in each of his last two starts and has given up three runs or fewer in five of his last six outings. The other reason Giolito is pitcher of the week because of where he stands among prospect. With all the prospect promotions in baseball, MLB Pipeline now has Giolito as the top prospect in baseball.

Honorable Mention: SP Nick Pivetta (5-4, 2.58)

As I mentioned before, Pivetta was named to the Carolina League All-Star team this past week. It is the second straight year that he has made the All-Star team in the league that he plays in (last year, he made the team playing for Hagerstown). On June 11, Pivetta went six innings, gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out four batters in a win over the Carolina Mudcats (Atlanta Braves).

While the 22-year-old right-hander has won four of his last five starts with Potomac, he did have some issues with his control this week. In that win over Carolina, he did walk five batters. It is the third time this season that Pivetta has walked four or more batters in an outing. Right now, his total of 25 walks is in the top ten among all pitchers in the Carolina League.

Next: Low-A