Nationals Farm Authority

Last week I promised a look at the Nationals Top 50 prospects. Rather than mix together the pitchers and hitters, I’ll present a top 25 for both pitching and hitting.

I’m going to cheat a little bit with my #25. First, the #25 hitter.

Or, more accurately, hitters.

Alejandro Hodge (right), Yeurys Tejeda (right), and Francisco Soriano (switch). All three guys played the 2007 in the Dominican Summer League. Hodge opened the 2007 season as a 17-year old while Tejeda was 19, and Soriano 20.

Hodge batted 264/430/296 in 60 games for the DSL Nats with 22 stolen bases. A promising sign for the 17-year old center fielder was his 35BB/38K ratio over 159AB. I’d imagine he’ll see another season in the DSL in 2008 but Hodge appears to be an intriguing CF option for the future. A position that the Nationals lack depth in their higher levels of the minor leagues.

Tejeda hit 257/347/377 for the DSL Nats in 2007 with four home runs, a noticeable number for a league short on big power numbers. Nationals Director of Player Development Bobby Williams had this scouting report for Tejeda, “He is an aggressive hitter that shows some pull power.  He has nice actions at SS and has an average arm.  He runs well.” Tejeda might make his start for the GCL Nats in 2008.

Soriano played only 35 games for the DSL Nats, but managed to hit 324/516/441 with an impressive 44/22 BB/K ratio over 111AB. Williams on Soriano “He [had] good actions at SS and an above average arm.  He [swang] the bat well, getting on base.  He also [ran] well.” Soriano should be a part of the Nats extended spring training with a 2008 GCL debut, ideally as their SS.

Now the # 25 pitchers

RHPs Juan Jamie & Marcos Frias. Jamie was 19-years old while Frias was 18 for the DSL Nationals in 2007.

Frias was one of the guys signed from the Dominican Republic as part of the Nationals 2007 publicized efforts to make their presence known internationally. He was 6-3 with 64 strikeouts over 66 innings of work. Frias has a fastball in the low-90s with a developing breaking pitch. Expect a second year in the DSL in 2008 with a chance of promotion based upon his early results.

While less hyped than some of the sigings out of the D.R., Jamie immediately made his presence known with his 93-96 mph fastball as a reliever for the DSL Nats. Over 14 appearances (26 2/3IP), Jamie struck out 34 while walking 14. His performance was noticeable enough to earn him a spot in the Nationals 2008 Advanced Development Program. I’d envision Jamie will be part of the GCL Nats after his time in extended spring training.

To recap …

Release from the Nationals

The Washington Nationals today announced the roster for their 2008 Accelerated Development Program. Nationals Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden, Assistant General Manager and Vice President, Player Development Bob Boone and Director of Player Development Bobby Williams made the joint announcement.

The club’s second annual Accelerated Development Program (ADP) will include 37 players, including 17 pitchers, and is intended to provide the best and brightest prospects in the Nationals’ system—not participating in big league camp—with high-intensity instruction and attention ratios provided by Washington’s top minor-league coordinators, managers, coaches and instructors.

Those invited to the ADP will report to the Nationals Spring Training Complex in Viera, FL on February 21 (pitchers and catchers) or February 23 (position players).

Over half of the 37 players participating in the ADP are ranked among the Nationals’ top 30 prospects according to Baseball America.

And now the roster:

PITCHERS (17)

• RHP Adrian Alaniz
• RHP Martin Beno
• RHP Adam Carr
• RHP Marco Estrada
• RHP Juan Jaime
• RHP Cole Kimball
• RHP Jeff Mandel
• RHP Shairon Martis
• RHP Brad Meyers
• RHP Jhonny Nunez
• RHP Brad Peacock
• RHP Hassan Pena
• RHP Beltran Perez
• LHP Cory VanAllen
• RHP Colton Willems
• RHP Jordan Zimmermann
• RHP Zech Zinicola  

CATCHERS (4)

• Devin Ivany
• Derek Norris
• Brian Peacock
• Jhonatan Solano

INFIELDERS (9)

• 1B Chris Marrero 
• 1B Andrew Lefave
• 2B Stephen King
• 2B Brandon Powell
• SS Ian Desmond
• SS Esmailyn Gonzalez
• 3B Leonard Davis
• 3B Steven Souza
• 3B Ofilio Castro

OUTFIELDERS (7)

• Edgardo Baez
• Michael Burgess
• Mike Daniel
• Stephen Englund
• Marvin Lowrance
• Aaron Seuss
• Jacob Smolinski

The Nationals announced their current list of non-roster invitations to spring training

PITCHERS

• Ray King LHP
• Mike Bacsik LHP
• Collin Balester RHP
• Mike O’Connor LHP
• Arnie Munoz LHP
• Dennis Tankersley RHP
• Jason Stanford LHP
• Bobby Brownlie RHP
• Tristan Crawford RHP
• Steven Shell RHP
• Jim Ed Warden RHP
• Mike Hinckley LHP
• Rob Bell RHP
• Charlie Manning LHP
• Ismael Ramirez RHP
• Brian Sanches RHP
• Eude Brito LHP
• Josh Smoker LHP

 CATCHERS

• Humberto Cota
• Chad Moeller
• Javier Herrera

INFIELDERS

• William Bergolla MIF
• Yurendell de Caster IF
• Luis Jimenez 1B
• Pete Orr MIF
• Antonio Perez MIF
• Eddie Rogers MIF

OUTFIELDERS

• Frank Diaz
• Jason Dubois
• Alex Escobar
• Tommy Murphy
• Jorge Padilla

Happy 2008 to everyone. I’m back from vacation and nothing of note happened in the time between Christmas and New Year’s. There should be some new content going up shortly. Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to get my Nationals top 50 up, a guesstimate of minor league roster composition, as well as a couple of other things I’m working on.

The plan is to get the top 50 list started on Monday January 7.