Nationals Prospect Profile: Brady Lindsly
Brady Lindsly is a good fielding catcher in the Nationals minor league system but his hitting needs work. This one dimensional type of player is a theme in the Nats' organization.
When a team has a lot of talent at a certain position, there are often guys that get overlooked, particularly in the minor leagues. We saw this with Yadier Molina, Derek Jeter, and others. The team had a franchise player at a position so there was almost no hope for the minor leaguers coming up through the ranks who were always going to be second to the franchise cornerstone.
The Washington Nationals don't have a Derek Jeter or a Yadier Molina but they do have some solid players, especially at the catching position.
Keibert Ruiz hasn't been at his best this year, especially defensively. However, his offense has improved tremendously since the All-Star Break and backup catcher Riley Adams has been quietly having himself a great season with a .903 OPS in his limited playing time. The backup to these two would probably be Triple-A catcher Israel Pineda or Kevin Plawecki, although Pineda has been injured for most of the season.
A player who intrigues me is catcher Brady Lindsly, who is currently batting a measly .204 for Double-A Harrisburg with a .618 OPS. It is not Lindsly's bat that I'm interested in but his defense. Brady has thrown out 20 of 40 runners in 35 games this season.. Keibert Ruiz has only thrown out 12 of 77 and Riley Adams has thrown out 5 of 23. A good hitting catcher is a valuable asset but one that can call a good game and throw out would-be base stealers is a necessity.
The bottom line for Lindsly is that he needs to be a better hitter. Batting under .200 in the Minor Leagues won't earn you a call up anytime soon. In four years at the University of Oklahoma, Lindsly batted .275. If he can start putting it together with the bat then he will certainly be on the radar of fans and coaches. With Pineda still somewhat injured and Plawecki not being a prospect, a good second half from Brady could earn him some brownie points with the front office if not a callup due to an injury.
It is no secret that the Nationals' minor league development is not the best. Teams like the Braves and Astros can turn a mid to late round draft pick into a quality major league player. If the Nationals could develop young talent, I think guys like Brady Lindsly would thrive and improve in the areas that they need to work on. Players like Brady intrigue me because one aspect of their game is solid while another part is pretty bad. I feel like the Nationals have quite a few players like this in their Minor League system. Guys who are either good in the field or at the plate but are horrendous at the other part. Hopefully the developments they have made within their player development staff lead to improvements for all of the prospects.