Washington Nationals Minors: Hagerstown Suns Offense Off To Fast Start

Early in the season, the Washington Nationals low-A affiliate in Hagerstown has had great performances on offense

Down in the minor leagues, the Washington Nationals low-A affiliate, the Hagerstown Suns, have been scoring runs on a tremendous pace. In their first 11 games, the Suns have scored 70 runs to lead the South Atlantic League and have scored ten or more runs in four games. They are now 7-4 and tied for first place in the Northern Division.

When you look at where the Suns offense stacks up in the SAL in the early stages of the season, they lead the league in batting average (.287), slugging percentage (.456), hits (112), and home runs (15). In addition, they are third in on-base percentage (.350) and fourth in walks (37).

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Suns offense is off to a good start. They do have three of the top six prospects in the entire farm system according to MLB Pipeline on their team.

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Outfielder Juan Soto is hitting .400 with two home runs and eight RBI’s. He is tied for the league lead in hits (18) and has hit safely in nine of 11 games with five multi-hit games.

The 18-year-old is a tough out for opposing pitchers since he has struck out only three times, which is fewer than his walk total (four).

Last week, Suns manager Patrick Anderson talked about Soto in an interview with MILB.com and some of the poise he has shown in the early stages of the SAL season:

"“The confidence level that this man has is just pretty good. He’s very even-keeled for everything,” Anderson said. “It’s just impressive that we get to sit back and watch this young man play and mature.” (h/t Gerard Gliberto, MILB.com)"

Soto is part of an outfield that has put up some impressive numbers early. Blake Perkins has a .490 on-base percentage at the top of the order and has walked nine times (tied for third in the league).

The biggest surprise in that outfield is Daniel Johnson. Last year’s fifth round pick out of New Mexico State has five home runs in his first 11 games after hitting only one at short-season Auburn last year.

This is what Johnson Jr. (the team’s number nine hitter) told MILB.com Sunday about the changes he’s made to his approach this year:

"“I’ve been working on staying disciplined. This season, I’m working on hitting my pitch and not going after the pitcher’s pitches. Instead of just trying to focus on making contact, I’m more interested in making good contact and hitting line drives this season.” (h/t Michael Leboff, MILB.com)"

Moving over into the infield, the team’s RBI leader is third baseman Sheldon Neuse with 12. Last year’s second round pick out of Oklahoma already has more RBI’s this year than he did in 36 games at Auburn a season ago. Out of his nine hits, five of them have gone for extra bases (including two home runs).

Other players that deserve mention on the Hagerstown offense are second baseman Jake Noll (three home runs) and outfielder Nick Banks (11 hits on the season and nine hits in his last five games).

It may only be a small sample size, but the Washington Nationals organization has to be impressed with the way the Suns have been scoring runs and how their top prospects are starting off their first year of full season ball (for some of them).

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It’s a long season, but the Hagerstown Suns are on fire on offense right now. If you are in the area, you should go watch this team play and see some of the players that could play a part in the future of the Washington Nationals down the road.

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