This week’s installment of BBA’s minor league transactions listed one move by the Nats.
Signed: OF Steve Doetsch
Doetsch is a 24-year old righthanded hitting outfielder who played four years in the Braves organization, maxing out at High-A Myrtle Beach in 2005-06. He played the 2007 season in the Independent Atlantic League as a member of the Road Warriors, a team out of Pennsylvania that were on a season long road trip with no official home. They no longer exist as the franchise has been relocated to Maryland for the 2008 season as the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. After hitting only 22 home runs in his Braves minor league career (over four seasons and over 1500AB), he hit 22 home runs for the Road Warriors over 405AB.
My off-the-cuff guess? Minor league roster filler if he sticks.
Louis J. | 05-Feb-08 at 8:40 am | Permalink
Brian
Why Doetsch? The Nats appear to be well stocked with AAAA outfielders who can hit minor league pitching but have no chance of making the “big team”. The better AAAA players for the Nats to signed would have been Bobby Scales who is a 30 year old switch-hitter with speed who has played all positions except SS and Andy Cannizaro who is a 27-ish year old middle infielder who can also play 3B. I know the Nats already have backups for the infield and outfield postions but Scales and Cannizaro would have been better insurance policies than Doetsch. If they were looking for AAAA power hitters, why not sign someone like Val Pascucci (a former Expo) who led the PCL in HR’s or Scott Seabol who was right behind Pascucci in power production?
Brian Oliver | 05-Feb-08 at 9:51 am | Permalink
I doubt we’ll see many former Expos returning to the minor leagues. The new player development folks with the Nationals appear to have a differing POV on what they are looking for in a player, and they have done alot to get rid of many of the organizational type guys on board when the team moved to DC.
I don’t see Doetsch as a four-A type of guy. He maxed out in the Carolina League so my guess is if he’s anywhere it’s in a role similar to what they did with someone like Robin Jennings who started the season in Harrisburg.
Nate | 05-Feb-08 at 9:53 am | Permalink
Louis J,
I know this is the place to come for all things Nats minor leagues, but honestly at some point, who cares? So it’ll be two Indy-leaguers competing for the 5th OF slot in Columbus or Harrisburg instead of Pascucci or Seabol. None of them will ever amount to a more than Mike Vento-like blip on the Nats radar, and that’s assuming catastrophic injury to everyone from Austin Kearns to Garrett Guzman.
There’s no reason not to put a competitive team on the field in Columbus, but the organization is still better served by having quasi-prospects like Kory Casto and Frank Diaz get those everyday at-bats. If they survive Spring Training these most recent guys are going to spend most of the season sitting on an upturned bucket next to the end of the bench anyway.
pahou | 05-Feb-08 at 3:46 pm | Permalink
or playing in Harrisburg
pahou | 05-Feb-08 at 3:47 pm | Permalink
sorry, but it is so hard to be enthused after the last couple of years
Wooden U. Lykteneau | 05-Feb-08 at 5:55 pm | Permalink
Having followed the indys for several years before moving to VA in ‘06, I can tell you that the prototypical pattern for a non-pitcher is as a stopgap. But in all cases, it’s usually a gamble that the player has turned a corner, and a jump in power while playing 100+ games on the road certainly qualifies.
The Atlantic League is generally viewed as having AA/AAA talent, so it’s not that farfetched to predict Doetsch competing for a slot at Harrisburg, with Potomac being the fallback if a “true” prospect (e.g. Baez) is more viable. The advantage for the Nats — getting back to the stopgap — is that they can keep someone at a lower level just a little bit longer.
If I’m reading Brian’s BBA list correctly, with only six true OF prospects in the organization, it’s also a little wakeup call to the other ten guys in the top four OF slots for the long-season clubs. To me, there’s nothing wrong with reminding those marginal roster-fillers that there are dozens of players busting their [patooties] to prove the folks that cut them or never drafted them wrong.
dd | 05-Feb-08 at 7:02 pm | Permalink
good post by wooden!
pahou | 06-Feb-08 at 5:42 am | Permalink
We did have Sheldon Fulse last year, he was a Road Warrier and he was fun to watch, lots of energy which is one thing that has been missing from the Senators lately. I dont mean to imply that from top to bottome the Senators rosters have been filled with a bunch of bums, because that is not true. It seems that some of them just went through the motions,that they just could care less. Then we had players that were real class acts but were never prospects, which is a real shame. Other players just went through the motions, but were considered prospects, some players had such bad attitudes that you found it impossible to root for them.
but the new season is right around the corner and my butt will be in my seat on opening night and stay there for around 95% of all Senators home games. The best part of a new season is that it gives you new reasons to cheer and come out to the ballpark.