Washington Nationals Minor Leagues: Getting To Know Zack Cox and Michael Brady
We introduce you to two of the minor leaguers that the Nats acquired yesterday via the Escobar trade and the Rule V Draft
Yesterday, the Washington Nationals made two new additions to their minor league system. During the triple-A round of the annual Rule V draft, the Nats selected 26-year-old third baseman Zack Cox from the Miami Marlins’ organization. Then, later in the day, Washington acquired 28-year-old right-handed pitcher Michael Brady from the Los Angeles Angels in the Yunel Escobar–Trevor Gott trade.
First, let’s talk about Cox, who was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 25th pick in the 2010 MLB Draft out of Arkansas. In his sophomore season with the Razorbacks, he had a slash line of .429/.507/.609 with nine home runs and 48 RBI’s. Cox got to the triple-A level in 2012 with St. Louis before he was dealt to the Miami Marlins in July when St. Louis acquired reliever Edward Mujica. Over the final 84 games of that season with double-A Jacksonville, he hit .253 with one home run and 13 RBI’s.
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Over the last three seasons, the left-handed hitter has spent one full season in triple-A. That was in 2014 when he had a slash line of .282/.344/.436 with eight home runs and 35 RBI’s in 104 games for triple-A New Orleans. This year, he hit .321 in double-A Jacksonville with four home runs, 27 RBI’s, 19 doubles, and had a .393 on-base percentage. His good numbers led him to being named an MILB organizational All-Star and a Southern League All-Star.
As for Brady, he was drafted by the then Florida Marlins in the 24th round of the 2009 MLB Draft out of California, where he was playing shortstop. At Cal, his best season in terms of batting average came in his sophomore season back in 2007 (.271). In his first professional season (2010) with the short-season Jamestown Jammers of the New-York Penn League, he went 1-1 in 26 appearances with three saves and a 1.59 ERA.
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Three years later, the right-hander would shine for double-A Jacksonville. He went 2-2 with a 1.53 ERA in 49 appearances, including going 23-for-25 in save chances. He struck out 55 batters and walked nine over 53 innings of work as he was named a Southern League All-Star for the season.
After the 2013 season, Brady joined the Angels organization. After having a 4.50 ERA in 2014 between double-A and triple-A, Brady played the entire 2015 season with double-A Arkansas and spent some time in the rotation. He went 7-7 with a 3.77 ERA in 32 games (19 starts) and had 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Brady joined the rotation in mid-May, but he had an ERA of 5.02 in his final 13 starts (2.84 ERA in 13 relief appearances). He struck out nine batters in a six-inning, four-hit shutout back on July 12 against the Frisco Roughriders (Texas Rangers).
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When you look at these two players, while they may not be at the top of the Nats’ system, Cox has the ability to get on-base and provide some offense at the triple-A level while Brady has the capabilities of being a good reliever in the organization and is still learning as a pitcher.