Nationals Farm Authority

Minor League Baseball announced their Players/Pitchers of the week.  Honored were two Nationals prospects:

In Harrisburg

The Eastern League announced today that Senators’ third baseman, Kory Casto has been named the League’s Player of the Week for the week ending June 18^th. The 24-year old had an outstanding week for the Senators, hitting .500 (11-for-22) with two doubles, four home runs, nine RBI, nine runs scored, seven walks, one stolen base and a 1.136 slugging percentage in six games.  Casto, a native of Auorora, Oregon, had at least one hit in each game he played in last week, including a 3-for-5 performance with a double and two homers in an 11-9 win over Altoona on Monday. The 6’1”, 190 lb. slugger currently leads the league in RBI (49) and is ranked second in on-base percentage (.420) and runs scored (43).  Kory, who was ranked by Baseball America as the fifth best prospect in the Nationals organization entering the season, was selected by the Montreal Expos in the third round of the June 2003 draft out of the University of Portland.

In Potomac

The Carolina League announced today that Potomac starting pitcher Mike Hinckley was named the league’s pitcher of the week for the week ending June 18. Hinckley earned the award by throwing 8 2/3 innings last Friday in Potomac’s 1-0 win over Frederick.  Hinckley did not get the win as he left with the score tied at zero. The Keys were held off the board all night by Stellar pitching as Hinckley issued one walk and allowed two hits in the contest, one of those a leadoff double to Jarod Rine.  The next hit came in the form of a leadoff single in the third to Travis Brown.  The Oklahoma City, Okla. native then sat down the next 20 batters before being lifted for reliever Alex Morales.  The Nationals won the game on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth. The 8 2/3 is the longest outing of the season by any P-Nats pitcher and the award is the first to be bestowed upon any Potomac player this year.   The left-handed pitcher lowered his ERA to 3.98 in his third straight start allowing two or fewer runs and has a 4-3 record with 36 strikeouts in 14 starts.  He was originally selected in the third round of the 2001 draft and is one of baseball’s top pitching prospects.