Nationals Farm Authority

Barry Svrluga has quite a bit of minor league news in his latest blog entry.

• RHP Garrett Mock will begin the year on the minor league disabled list, according to Bowden and player development guru Bob Boone, because of a knee problem. He had a weird surgery early in the offseason, and he basically came back a bit too quickly. At the time of the trade with Arizona last August, Mock — who is big and sturdy — was a bit ahead of Matt Chico, who’s now in the rotation. When Mock gets healthy, Boone said he’d almost certainly begin the year at Class AA
• SS Stephen King was dealing with some tendinitis issues, but seems to be better
• RHP Colton Willems, one of the first-rounders last year, is over a bit of a back problem that had him shut down for a while, and he’s throwing again
• LHP Mike Hinckley, once the top prospect in the organization, has started throwing well. … Boone’s philosophy on these guys that they like: Put them at a level where they can succeed, and then if they dominate, move them up. “I don’t want to move guys back,” he said. So that could mean that a guy like Hinckley would start at high Class A Potomac and then get bumped up to Harrisburg if he succeeds.