Preston Williams of Washington Post has a very good review of the Nationals farm system and the challenges faced by Stan Kasten, Jim Bowden, Dana Brown, and the rest of the Nationals’ organization.
Below is a view of how the players selected by the Washington Nationals (i.e. players brought into the organization in 2005-06) have performed so far this season. (Ages and statistics through July 15)
First, the hitters:
2004 Draft-and-Follow signing …
| Player | Age | POS | Tm | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB/Att | BA/OBP/SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peacock | 21 | CA | SAV | 71 | 252 | 41 | 65 | 13 | 2 | 10 | 35 | 22 | 77 | 1/1 | 258/330/444 |
Brian Peacock was signed in 2005 as a draft-and-follow. He has had an up and down season for the Sand Gnats in 2006. He began the season hitting strong in April and May (18/23 of his extra-base hits including 7/10 HR in those months). Despite his struggles, Peacock is one of the stronger catching options in the Nationals’ farm system (which further emphasizes the organizational depth problem).
2005 draft picks …
| Player | Age | POS | Tm | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB/Att | BA/OBP/SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zimmerman | 21 | 3B | WAS | 92 | 356 | 52 | 104 | 29 | 1 | 12 | 60 | 35 | 75 | 7/13 | 292/356/480 |
| Maxwell | 22 | OF | VER | 27 | 96 | 11 | 25 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 23 | 3/5 | 260/324/354 |
| SAV | 17 | 58 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 23 | 1/1 | 172/294/328 | |||
| Delaughter | 19 | OF | VER | 22 | 73 | 7 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 26 | 0/1 | 178/218/247 |
| Daniel | 21 | OF | VER | 26 | 89 | 16 | 29 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 19 | 9/12 | 326/412/517 |
| SAV | 52 | 181 | 20 | 35 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 26 | 52 | 8/12 | 193/301/298 | |||
| Howell | 23 | 1B | SAV | 28 | 105 | 8 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 28 | 0/0 | 190/252/257 |
| Brown | 23 | OF | SAV | 91 | 339 | 45 | 91 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 43 | 14 | 82 | 11/15 | 268/312/392 |
| Johnson | 23 | OF | DNP | ||||||||||||
| Pahuta | 23 | 1B | SAV | 39 | 130 | 12 | 24 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 41 | 0/0 | 185/243/292 |
| Lane | 24 | IF | DNP |
Zimmerman’s performance speaks for itself. An organization should consider itself lucky to receive such immediate dividends. The rest of the selections provide more detail into this point
But drafting older players, who can reach the major leagues faster but are less likely to make the marked improvements that high school players can make, did nothing to restock the farm system.
With the exception of Ryan Delaughter and perhaps Justin Maxwell & Mike Daniel, most of the Nationals draft picks on offense are at an age where their ceilings are clearly defined and in most cases, they have reached. 23-year old players in Short Season Vermont do not provide the foundation that Kasten is emphasizing. Justin Maxwell has been hyped as a potential first rounder who slid to the fourth round due to injury. Unfortunately for the Nationals, injuries have continued to plague Maxwell in his professional debut. A broken toe sidelined him early for A-Ball Savannah and he has been non-descript in his performance in Vermont thus far. On the other hand, Mike Daniel has excelled in his short time in Vermont, displaying solid plate patience as well as some solid baserunning. The only question mark is that it took a demotion from Savannah to Vermont to spark his improvement. Only time will tell if he can carry those numbers forward. The lone foundation piece for offense would be Ryan Delaughter, and his performance thus far in 2006 is not as encouraging as one would hope. Delaughter is precisely the type of person who would benefit from playing with the premium level high schoolers the Nationals selected in 2006. Those guys would likely push Delaughter and ideally drive him further than he may be able to do so on his own.
2006 draft picks …
| Player | Age | POS | Tm | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB/Att | BA/OBP/SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marrero | 18 | 3B | GCL | 8 | 30 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0/0 | 400/400/567 |
| Englund | 18 | OF | GCL | 8 | 21 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 1/2 | 333/417/333 |
| Rooney | 20 | OF | GCL | 18 | 67 | 10 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 0/1 | 299/365/507 |
| McMillan | 22 | 1B | VER | 22 | 79 | 2 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 15 | 0/2 | 165/224/203 |
| Nichols | 21 | CA | VER | 12 | 36 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 0/0 | 139/184/167 |
| French | 22 | OF | GCL | 16 | 48 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 2/2 | 146/250/146 |
| Jacobsen | 21 | 1B | GCL | 24 | 90 | 10 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 27 | 4/4 | 244/281/278 |
| Caputo | 21 | 3B | VER | 20 | 56 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 0/0 | 107/194/196 |
| Logan | 23 | CA | GCL | 9 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0/0 | 333/412/400 |
| Goldschmeding | 22 | SS | VER | 22 | 72 | 10 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 1/2 | 208/278/264 |
It’s far too early to derive anything from these results, and hoepfully the names Stephen King and Dustin Dickerson (a long shot, I know) will be added to this draft class. The Nationals have begun the rebuilding process with the selections of Marrero and Englund. It’s these types of players that will allow the foundation of the organization to be truly set. I would expect that the Nationals are likely to follow a similar path drafting high ceiling high schoolers in the 2007 draft and perhaps even in 2008. As Dana Brown said, “You have to think long term … it takes time.”
Pitchers to follow.
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