Washington Nationals: 2017 Minor League Opening Day Preview

Today, four of the Washington Nationals minor league affiliates begin their season. We get you set with some prospects to watch on those teams

The Washington Nationals are two games into their 2017 schedule, but today is a different opening day. Starting this afternoon, the four full season minor league affiliates will get their respective seasons underway.

Each team has their fair share of the top prospects in the organization. While only two affiliates are on MILB.TV (triple-A Syracuse and double-A Harrisburg), you can always listen to the Potomac and Hagerstown radio broadcasts to catch all of the A-level ball action.

Of course, the minor leagues are more about the development of talent, it’s always exciting to see which teams can have the most success. Last year, Potomac and Hagerstown both made the playoffs in their respective leagues, but both teams lost in the first round.

One of the things to watch this minor league is how the decision to bring back all four managers and keep the same coaching staffs will affect how the players play on the field. While the Nats farm system is not what it was before this winter, there still is a lot of top talent whether its Victor Robles, Andrew Stevenson, Drew Ward, or Erick Fedde just to name a few.

Throughout the season, we are going to bring you some good minor league coverage in addition to our coverage of the Washington Nationals. Plus, you go to our YouTube channel and find some of our interviews with prospects or managers in the system from earlier this winter.

So without further adieu, let’s first take a look at the Syracuse Chiefs, who kick off the day for the Nats minor league teams today at 2:05 p.m ET at home against the Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota Twins).

Syracuse Chiefs

The Chiefs are led by Billy Gardner Jr., who is in his fourth season as the manager at Syracuse. When you look at this roster, it is filled with players that have Major League experience or were in Major League camp this winter as non-roster invitees.

First, this rotation has a strong top three in Joe Ross, Austin Voth, and A.J. Cole. Ross won’t be there for long and is only in the minors since the Washington Nationals don’t need a fifth starter. Taylor Hill is going to start for the Chiefs today against Jose Berrios.

As far as the battery mate for the pitchers goes, the starter is Pedro Severino. The 23-year-old will get another full season in the International League to develop behind the plate as he tries to become the Major League catcher of the future after 2017.

In the bullpen, the Chiefs have some depth in terms of Major League experience with Matt Albers, Trevor Gott, Matt Grace, Neal Cotts, and Michael Broadway. Another name to watch is Austin Adams, who was acquired in the Danny Espinosa trade form the Angels. We had the chance to talk to Adams earlier this winter.

If you look at the Syracuse infield, they have depth at first base with Clint Robinson and Matt Skole, who could also play some third base with Brandon Snyder. Skole was added to the 40-man roster during the winter.

Finally, in the outfield, you will see Brian Goodwin and Rafael Bautista. Bautista has some speed on the bases as evident by his 56 stolen bases at double-A Harrisburg in 2016. Also, Goodwin got some time in the Major Leagues last year and will get a chance to play everyday with the Chiefs.

While Syracuse doesn’t have the best prospects in the Nats system, it’s a group of players that can provide depth to the Major League roster should an injury happen.

You can listen to all Chiefs game on the Score 1260 in Syracuse with Kevin Brown and Eric Gallanty on the call and watch the video on MILB.TV (paid subscription required).

Update: Today and tomorrow’s Syracuse games have been postponed due to rain. They will play their first game on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 p.m ET and then play a doubleheader on Sunday:

Harrisburg Senators

Matt LeCroy is back as manager of the Senators for the second consecutive season after the team went 76-66 in the Eastern League a year ago. The Senators have two of the top five prospects in the Nats farm system starting with them this season (according to MLB Pipeline).

Those two prospects are outfielder Andrew Stevenson and starting pitcher Erick Fedde. Stevenson made a good first impression on Dusty Baker in Major League camp. Last year, he hit .246 with 16 RBI’s and 12 stolen bases in 65 games at double-A.

Staying in the outfield, the other three outfielders with Stevenson will be Alec Keller, Zach Collier, and Yadier Hernandez. Hernandez, who is from Cuba, was signed as an international free agent last year. At age 29, Hernandez will be interesting to watch as the season begins.

Moving in to the infield, Osvaldo Abreu will be at shortstop and Drew Ward is back at third base. Ward played 53 games at Harrisburg in 2016 and hit .219 with three home runs and 24 RBI’s.

Fedde will be the name that highlights this starting rotation. The 24-year-old right-hander had a 3.99 ERA in five Eastern League starts in 2016, including striking out 12 batters in his final start of the season.

If you look at the rest of the rotation, other names are to watch are Phillips Valdez and Austen Williams. Valdez threw 60.2 innings in the second half last season, but he did not get many strikeouts (30). Still, he gave up just eight runs in his final four starts of the year.

In the bullpen, some of the names to watch are right-hander Jimmy Cordero (traded from the Phillies this winter) as well as left-hander Ryan Brinley and right-hander Jake Johansen. Brinley and Johansen represented the Nats at last year’s Arizona Fall League.

Tonight, the Senators will take on the Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates) at 7:05 p.m ET. You can watch all Senators games on MILB.TV or listen online on the Senators broadcast with Terry Byrom on the call.

Update: Today’s game has been postponed and the opener will be tomorrow night at 7 p.m ET. They will play a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at 6 p.m ET and Erick Fedde will pitch Game 1:

Potomac Nationals

2017 will be Tripp Keister’s fourth season as the manager in Potomac and the team has made the Carolina League playoffs two of the last three years (won the championship in 2014).

Down in Virginia, you can watch the top prospect in the Nats system, outfielder Victor Robles. The 19-year-old hit .262 and stole 18 bases in 41 games at high-A last season, but missed a good portion of the year with a wrist injury.

Joining Robles in the outfield will be Telmito Agustin and Rhett Wiseman. Wiseman was selected in the third round of the 2015 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt and led Hagerstown last year in home runs (13) and RBI’s (75). As for Agustin, the 20-year-old hit 12 doubles and stole 14 bases in 72 games with the Suns in 2016.

In the infield, the name to watch here is third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez. He has been in the All-Star Game in his respective league each of the last two seasons. He was promoted to Potomac in August last year after hitting .300 with a .349 on-base percentage in 96 games with Hagerstown

For tonight’s game against the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Kansas City Royals), the start will go to right-hander Luis Reyes. The 22-year-old had a 5.60 ERA last year and had identical totals in walks and strikeouts (46). You can listen to the game at 6:35 p.m ET.

As for the rest of the rotation, Joan Baez is one of the pitchers to keep an eye on. The 22-year-old right-hander, who is projected to start Sunday afternoon after spent all of last season in Hagerstown and led the staff in innings (125.2) and strikeouts (119). His manager last year, Patrick Anderson, told me last winter about how he matured as a pitcher:

“This year, he matured right in front of us. [He had a] electric fastball and worked on his breaking ball. At the end of the year, he got so much better.”

In the bullpen, Mariano Rivera III will start the season at high-A. The fourth round draft pick from 2015 had eight saves at Hagerstown last year and hitters hit .235 against him over his last 19 appearances. Another bullpen name to watch is R.C. Orlan (nine saves in Potomac in 2016).

You can listen to all Potomac games via the P-Nats website with Mike Weisman as the play-by-play voice for those games.

Update: Potomac’s season opener was postponed due to rain and will be made up Friday night at 7:05 p.m: