| Rank | Hitters | Pitchers |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Derek Norris | Garrett Mock |
| 12 | Josh Whitesell | Brad Peacock |
| 13 | Matt Whitney | Brad Meyers |
| 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 |
Derek Norris was drafted out of high school in the fourth round of last year’s draft. He plays a position where the Nationals have a definite lack of depth, catcher. Scouts rave about his defense: a strong arm, above average mobility, and leadership. He also has well above average power potential. As he was drafted out of high school, it’s going to take some time for him to develop. It seems likely he’ll begin 2008 in short season Vermont as the Nationals will be unlikely to rush him unnecessarily.
Garrett Mock was acquired in 2006 from the Arizona Diamondbacks along with Matt Chico in exchange for Livan Hernandez. The 24-year old righthander had his 2007 season delayed as he recovered from knee surgery performed in late 2006. He divided he is 2007 between the Gulf Coast League Nationals, Potomac Nationals, and Harrisburg Senators where he 2-7 over 65 innings of work. He was selected by the Nats to pitch in the Arizona Fall League where he was 1-2 with a 4.78 ERA and 1.41 WHIP over 26 1/3 innings of work. He has a low-90s fastball, above average slider, a solid curve and changeup. Mock’s challenge has been that he has been far too hittable, hitters getting solid contact on his pitches. If he can improve that, he has the shot of being a middle of the rotation starting pitcher. Mock was added to the 40-man after the 2007 season and will get every opportunity to earn a spot in the 2008 rotation. He’s my sleeper pick for the 2008 season.
Nats fan in NJ | 14-Feb-08 at 8:25 am | Permalink
What position is Norris?
Brian Oliver | 14-Feb-08 at 8:32 am | Permalink
Sorry about that, he’s a catcher. I’ve added a sentence to the paragraph
dd | 14-Feb-08 at 9:38 am | Permalink
Mock has been highly rated for several years now, by both organizations (Arizona and Washington).
Is it not rather “wishful thinking” that he can become a dependable big league talent when he has failed to show any success (dare I say even mediocrity!) in the minors?
Brian Oliver | 14-Feb-08 at 10:07 am | Permalink
All “prospect”ing to some degree involves wishful thinking entering a given year. With only a few exceptions, there are no sure things. Mock’s results on the field are not on par to what scouts believe his abilities should dictate. There is little debate there. Would it surprise me if Mock never developed any further? Absolutely not. But there are many cases of a a guy “finding it” that allow teams (and their fans) to wishfully think that [insert year] is going to be the year for [insert prospect].
Eliot | 14-Feb-08 at 10:45 am | Permalink
When Mock came over with Chico he was thought to be the better prospect. The claim is now that he hurt his left knee first in college and has never been healthy as a pro until now. If that is true and he is healthy (over a year after knee surgery) Brian’s optimism could prove true. Link to Ladsen feaure on Mock below.
http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080208&content_id=2368344&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was
Nats fan in NJ | 14-Feb-08 at 11:06 am | Permalink
Brian - Thanks. I’ve said it b/f and i’ll say it again: I love your site.
bdrube | 14-Feb-08 at 3:38 pm | Permalink
Eliot: Eh, Ladsen is about as objective in these matters as a White House correspondant covering the Pres. I think he thinks that if he strays too far off message that Kasten/Bowden will stop speaking to him.
I will be shocked if Chico gets anything more than a September callup-ala Beltran Perez. Speaking of which, whatever happened to THAT guy?
dd | 14-Feb-08 at 6:26 pm | Permalink
hey bdrube,
Did you mean Mock or Chico in your closing paragraph (reply)?
Eliot | 14-Feb-08 at 6:31 pm | Permalink
bd-
I understand that. This is the first claim I have heard that Mock has had a problem the whole time although I think I remember that there was discussion of past knee problems at the time of the trade. In any case we won’t need him as Patterson and Hill fight it out for the Cy Young this year, each pitching 230 innings.
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Shawn Krebs | 14-Feb-08 at 9:28 pm | Permalink
The Beltran Perez question stumped me so I checked out the minor league transaction log on Baseball America. Still couldd’nt find anything on Perez - frustrating because I thought he had signed elsewhere.
Here are a couple minor leaguers/cast offs from the Nationals Organization:
Henry Blanco - Rockies
Chris Michalak - Red
Billy Traber - Yankees
Melvin D’oh Dorta - Pirates
Bernie Castro - Yankees
Micah Bowie - Rockies
Brandon Watson - Phillies
Interesting to see some one time, former Expo guys still bouncing around the minors as well…Wilkin Ruan, Ron Chiavacci, Roy Corcoran, Darrell Rasner, Zach Day. I’m sure there is more - this was just the guys I recognized