Nationals Farm Authority

Games in both Short Season and Rookie ball get underway today as the New York/Penn League Vermont Lake Monsters and Gulf Coast Nationals take the field for their first games of 2007.

The GCL Nationals will kick things off at 12:05PM with a home game against the GCL Dodgers at the Carl Barger Complex. There has been no official roster announcement, but by cobbling together reports from Todd Jacobson as well as process of elimination, you can get a rough idea of what players are going to take the field in Viera. On the surface, it appears the GCL Nationals will have some interesting hitters to watch. Venezuelan CA Sandy Leon, 2B Stephen King, SS Esmailyn Gonzalez, and OF Stephen Englund are some of the certainties for the GCL Nats. Additionally, SS Jake Smolinski and 3B Steve Souza, a pair of 2007 high school draft picks, should also join the team at some point in late June/early July. From a prospect standpoint, the aforementioned six are certainly names to watch. Other names to look for are 2007 16th round CF Chris Blackwood and 2007 24th round CA Ricky Nolan.

The pitching might not offer the high ceilings of day one draft picks but there are likely a handful of arms that the Nationals are hoping develop into solid prospects. From the 2007 draft, 7th round RHP PJ Dean, 10th round LHP Pat McCoy, 13th round RHP Steve Shepard, and 15th round RHP Patrick Arnold, could all be part of the rotation in the GCL. The other arms are likely to be returning players such as RHP Edulin Abreu, LHP Wuillys Bravo, RHP Brad Clark, RHP Bartolo Francisco, and RHP Desmond Jones.

While pitching questions may exist in the GCL, Vermont should have no such issues as they take the field in Burlington against Tri-City at 7:05PM tonight. The front four in the Lake Monsters rotation are hard-throwing RHP Hassan Pena, LHP Glenn Gibson (owner of arguably the best curveball in the organization, 2006 1st rounder RHP Colton Willems, and 2006 12th rounder Cole Kimball. Also slated to join the Vermont pitching staff are 2007 2nd rounder, RHP Jordan Zimmermann, who should arrive in Vermont some time today and 2007 8th rounder RHP Adrian Alaniz, a control pitcher who started the season 10-0 for the University of Texas. Pitching is certainly going to be the area to keep an eye on in Vermont.

Offensively, the Lake Monsters are going to be chock full of college seniors from the 2007 draft including:

• 11th round 1B/OF Bill Rhinehart from the University of Arizona
• 12th round CA Craig Stinson from Texas A&M
• 14th round SS Dan Lyons from the University of Minnesota
• 22nd round SS Jake Rogers from South Dakota St
• 27th round RF Aaron Seuss from California Baptist
• 42nd round LF Garrett Bass from Jacksonville St
• 49th round CF Jake Dugger from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville

One name to potentially watch is 2007 9th rounder Mark Gildea, a redshirt sophomore from Florida State. Gildea has the talent to develop into a top of the order bat with both line-drive gap power and above average speed. His issue has been similar to that of currently disabled P-Nats OF Justin Maxwell … staying healthy. If he can, his is a bat to watch.