Washington Nationals Winter League Update: Jose Lozada

Currently, the Washington Nationals have eight position players taking part in winter ball across the world. Today, I want to talk about one of the players who has put up great results in a short period of time. It is a small sample size of 11 games, but Jose Lozada’s performance down in the Puetro Rican League is worth mentioning.

Lozada, who spent time with double-A Harrisburg and triple-A Syracuse, is playing for Cangrejeros de Santurce in the Puerto Rican League. In the 11 games he has played, he has put up a slash line of .487/.553/.590 with eight RBI’s. Those eight runs batted in are the most of any Nats’ player in winter ball.

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If you take a look at the last five games in particular for Lozada, he is 8-for-18 at the plate with five RBI’s and five runs scored. Out of those five games, four of them have been multi-hit games, including a 3-for-4 game on November 8. Last night, he hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth as his team defeated Gigantes de Carolina. Plus, he is 8-for-11 with seven runs scored when he comes to bat with men in scoring position.

Out of the 56 games Lozada played in last season, 44 of them took place with Harrisburg. In his fourth season with the Senators, the 29-year-old had a slash line of .299/.381/.333 with eight RBI’s and seven stolen bases. He had two three-hit games during the entire Eastern League season (June 26 and August 2).

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Lozada has been in the Washington Nationals’ farm system since 2008. While he hasn’t been a great prospect in terms of the stats, he is a versatile defender. This past season, he played at least one game at seven of the nine positions on the baseball field (pitcher and catcher excluded).

Last year, I wrote about how Lozada took part in winter ball action in Puerto Rico and played in one game where he took the field at every position during the game, including coming in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth.

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So, while you won’t be seeing Lozada on any top 30 Nats’ prospects lists anytime soon, the journeyman minor leaguer is still an individual that deserves credit for being able to play any spot at any time. Plus, it is good to see the shortstop find some success at the plate. At this point in the season, Lozada’s team is 4-7 an tied for third in the Puerto Rican League.