| Rank | Hitters | Pitchers |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Garrett Guzman | Jhonny Nunez |
| 15 | Roger Bernadina | Zech Zinicola |
| 16 | Kory Casto | Marco Estrada |
| 17 | Andrew LeFave | Adrian Alaniz |
| 18 | Leonard Davis | Cory VanAllen |
| 19 | Dani Arias | Martin Beno |
| 20 | Bill Rhinehart | Hassan Pena |
| 21 | Mark Gildea | Yader Peralta |
| 22 | Aaron Seuss | PJ Dean |
| 23 | Edgardo Baez | Federico Tanco |
| 24 | Garrett Bass | Jack Spradlin |
| 25 | Alejandro Hodge | Marcos Frias |
| Francisco Soriano | Juan Jaime | |
| Yeurys Tejeda |
Garrett Guzman was the second Rule 5 selection the Nationals made from the Minnesota Twins in the December draft. A lefthanded corner outfielder, Guzman batted 312/359/453 with 14 home runs for the Double-A New Britain Rock Cats. The 25-year old Guzman was a 10th round draft pick by the Twins in the 2001 draft. He was working his way up through the Minnesota organization when a car accident temporarily derailed his progress. He missed the 2005 season with a broken neck but rebounded with a solid 2006 split between High-A and Double-A. Guzman fits the mold as a 4th or 5th outfielder. He has solid plate discipline, average power and shows the ability to get on base. As a Rule 5 selection, Guzman will have to stick on the 25-man roster or have the Nationals work out some sort of deal with the Twins. With four of the outfield spots seemingly defined (Austin Kearns, Lastings Milldege, Wily Mo Pena, and Elijah Dukes), Guzman will have to excel during spring training in order to hang around. The fact that he is lefthanded (while the previous four are all right handed) is in his favor but he’ll have to compete with Willie Harris, Rob Mackowiak and Ryan Langerhans for that 5th spot (assuming the Nationals decide to carry five outfielders).
Jhonny Nunez was acquired in 2006 from the Los Angeles Dodgers (for Marlon Anderson). The 21-year old righthander pitched for Hagerstown in 2007 where he finished 4-6 with a 4.05 ERA and 1.36 WHIP over 106 2/3 innings of work. He throws a low-90s fastball along with a curve and slider. Reports are his slider is his out pitch, which he uses for strikeouts (86 in 106+IP) and groundballs. His control is still erratic and he’ll need to work on his stamina if he hopes to remain a starter. But his frame is projectable and he still has a chance to develop into a back end of the rotation arm. A start in Potomac in 2008 seems likely.
Positively Half St. (5 more days) | 10-Feb-08 at 12:21 pm | Permalink
We sure seem to have a lot of pitchers that don’t project to be better than back of the rotation starters. I grant that this was about all you can hope for when you are aquiring someone for a few months of Marlon Anderson. I hope some of the guys in the top 13 project higher than that.
Positively Half St. (5 more days) | 10-Feb-08 at 1:46 pm | Permalink
Does Spring Training have much of a bearing on where prospects end up playing to start the year, or is that pretty well settled ahead of time? ST of course matters for high prospects trying to make the big league team, but I wasn’t sure if a kid could play himself up or down a level in February and March.
Bob Lowry | 11-Feb-08 at 6:31 am | Permalink
What is so encouraging about the list of draft prospects is that the Nationals are reaching a point at the major league level that only the best prospects will make the team. The players that were reviewed so far on this site may never see the light of day at the major league level but the remaining top 26 players include names that will make a difference. Time will tell which ones will and which ones won’t. If the Nats continue to pursue the strategy of signing the top prospects each season, I believe the results will be amazing.