In today’s Prospect Blog, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy breaks out how each member of each MLB’s top 30 was acquired. For the Nationals, it was the following:
- College = 9
- JuCo = 1
- High School = 12
- Draft/Follow = 1
- International = 2
- Trade = 4
- Rule 5 = 1
We know the Nationals top 10 already …
- 1B Chris Marrero
- LHP Ross Detwiler
- RHP Collin Balester
- OF Michael Burgess
- LHP Jack McGeary
- LHP Josh Smoker
- RHP Jordan Zimmermann
- LHP Glenn Gibson (I’m going to leave him here for the time being)
- OF Justin Maxwell
- RHP Colton Willems
The next step is trying to figure out BBA’s top 30 using the break out above and educated guessing
College (9)
- Detwiler (new to the organization in 2007)
- Maxwell (ranked #18 by BBA in last year’s prospect book)
- Zimmermann (new to the organization in 2007)
- IF/OF Kory Casto (#4 last year; I cannot see him completely dropping out of the top 30)
- RHP Zech Zinicola (#6 last year)
- RHP Adam Carr (#19 last year)
- LHP John Lannan (#20 last year)
- For the last two spots, they could be arms like RHPs Brad Meyers or Adrian Alaniz (both new to the organization in 2007) or repeating arms like RHP Marco Estrada (#22 last year) or LHP Cory VanAllen (#28 last year); or it could an OF like Mike Daniel (unranked in 2007)
- see above
Junior College (1)
- There are not many JuCo guys to choose from here. I’d guess it could be RHP Hassan Pena (unranked in 2007)
High School (12)
- Marrero (#2 last year)
- Balester (#1 last year)
- Burgess (new to the organization in 2007)
- McGeary (new to the organization in 2007)
- Smoker (new to the organization in 2007)
- Gibson (#7 last year)
- Willems (#3 last year)
- 2B Stephen King (#9 last year)
- SS Ian Desmond (#10 last year)
- OF Jake Smolinski (new to the organization in 2007)
- The last two could be any of the following guys, from 2006: OF Stephen Englund or from 2007 IF Steve Souza or CA Derek Norris
- see above
Draft/Follow
- RHP Brad Peacock is one of only a handful of draft and follow guys still in the organization (CA Brian Peacock and LHP Ryan Buchter are the other recent ones) [Peacock was unranked in 2007].
International (2)
- IF Esmailyn Gonzalez seems like a pretty safe bet (#5 last year)
- OF Rog Bernadina would be my guess, but I could also see them tabbing one of the arms from the Nationals Dominican academy like RHP Juan Jamie or RHP Marcos Frias or LHP Randy Almonte [none were ranked last year]
Trade (4)
- RHP Garrett Mock is a safe bet. Mock was acquired from Arizona in the Livan Hernandez deal (#12 last year) [LHP Matt Chico is no longer eligible]
- RHP Jhonny Nunez was acquired from the Dodgers in the Marlon Anderson deal (#14 last year)
- As is RHP Shairon Martis who was acquired from San Francisco in the second Mike Stanton deal (#15 last year)
- My money here is on 1B Andrew LeFave who was acquired from Milwaukee in exchange for Ray King
Rule 5 (1)
- 1B Matt Whitney is my guess here. The only other choice is OF Garrett Guzman. CA Jesus Flores does not meet rookie eligibility (>130AB in 2007).
Any guesses?
Dick | 22-Jan-08 at 2:58 pm | Permalink
Too many draft and follow Peacocks. I assume you meant the pitcher in your parenthetical comment although the statement is true of both.
VladiHondo | 22-Jan-08 at 3:21 pm | Permalink
Great guesses here, can’t really go against any.
For the last 2 college, just since its BA, I’ll go with the more toolsy, Meyers and Daniels. For same reason, Bernadina, scouts love speed.
HSers, just guessing its Englund (huge dude) and Souza, no real reason for Souza over Norris.
Ric | 22-Jan-08 at 3:36 pm | Permalink
re: by trade — is Clippard no longer eligible?
Re: college — your guesses are good, I’d throw in Beno (BA did a breakout on him in a recent issue) and maybe Whitesell for consideration.
I expect that Englund and Meyers will be on the list.
VladiHondo | 22-Jan-08 at 5:02 pm | Permalink
Deadline for book was before Clippard trade, so he may appear with Yankee list, just as Gibson will appear with our list.
Jesse | 22-Jan-08 at 8:16 pm | Permalink
Who are the other Juco players to choose from? David Trahan is a juco, but i’m sure he’s too old for the prospect list.
VladiHondo | 22-Jan-08 at 11:11 pm | Permalink
From my lil’ database, JuCo guys from 2k4 were: Marvin Lowrance, Leonard Davis, Trahan, Matt Perks, Brian Peacock (also a D&F).
Nobody of note in 2k5, in 2k6 we had Sean Rooney, Hassan Pena.
2k7 had Chris Blackwood, Anthony Benner
Bob Lowry | 23-Jan-08 at 5:33 am | Permalink
Would someone explain the category draft and follow. Thanks for the update.
Brian Oliver | 23-Jan-08 at 7:59 am | Permalink
Bob - The easy answer is you do not have to worry about it anymore. The CBA agreed to in 2006 eliminated the practice.
This what the DFE (draft-follow-evaluate) process was (thanks to Baseball America for the explanation):
Put in plainer terms, a player drafted in 2006 and not signed in 2006 could attend a junior (or community) college in 2007 and still have the ability to sign with their drafting organization up to one week prior to the 2007 draft.
Hawaiianstyle | 23-Jan-08 at 2:07 pm | Permalink
The comment of Norris over Souza was rather interesting. I’ve recently seen Souza, and he has gotten bigger and stronger. His dedication this fall has been completely focused on preparing himself for spring training. He is currently 6′4″ and 211 lbs. He works out everday and hits everyday. I think Souza will surprise a lot of people when he shows up Feb 23rd.
WaNats | 23-Jan-08 at 6:41 pm | Permalink
You tell ‘em Big Steeeve!!