After yet another series win, the Nationals return home for a quick stay against the Marlins and the Pirates. Washington sits one game under .500, but they have won three of their last four series, and seem to be doing all of the little things right.
Down on the farm, Bryce Harper is really starting to gain some major attention. The 18-year-old phenom is making Low-A Hagerstown look like a child’s game, as he is currently hitting .395/.473/.702 with 80 total bases through 32 games. With numbers like that, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs asked the question, is Harper the best player ever? Interestingly enough, the only prospect he ever found to have better numbers in Harpers situation was a guy they called The Kid, Ken Griffey Jr.
There are beginning to be some moans and groans from the fan base, with the Nationals faithful wondering when he will be promoted. Stephen Strasburg's plan to the majors was so much more scheduled than Harper's, at least publically, which gave fans an idea of the road map to follow. There is no doubt that Harper has a similar plan established by Rizzo and the front-office brass, but they're keeping it very close to the chest.
At this point it seems foolish to keep him around Hagerstown much longer. I know they want him to struggle in the minors so he can learn to hit out of it, they want his weaknesses exposed down there, so he can learn how to fix them...but there are three more levels for him to go.
Looking towards the future, Adam Kilgore spoke to the Nats director of amateur scouting Kris Kline about a potential direction for Washington in this summer's draft. A great quote here:
“We always just take best player available,” Kline said. “We’re going to really focus on pitching, though. That’s one thing we’re going to focus on, to be honest. That’s something we’re lacking in our system. You can never have enough of that. And this is a very good year to focus on that. This is a very good draft. There’s a lot of arm strength out there, a lot of big velocity.”
In general scouts of said that this years top ten will be very hard to predict because the talent level is so even. The man many expected to go number one, slugger Anthony Rendon, has struggled early on and would be a steal for the Nationals at six. There is also athletic shortstop Francisco Lindor who has peeped his head into the top 10, who is one position player they may look at.
Other potential top 10 pitchers are UCLA's Gerrit Cole, UVA's Danny Ultzen, High Schooler Sonny Gray, and UCLA's Trevor Bauer.
Down on the farm, Bryce Harper is really starting to gain some major attention. The 18-year-old phenom is making Low-A Hagerstown look like a child’s game, as he is currently hitting .395/.473/.702 with 80 total bases through 32 games. With numbers like that, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs asked the question, is Harper the best player ever? Interestingly enough, the only prospect he ever found to have better numbers in Harpers situation was a guy they called The Kid, Ken Griffey Jr.
There are beginning to be some moans and groans from the fan base, with the Nationals faithful wondering when he will be promoted. Stephen Strasburg's plan to the majors was so much more scheduled than Harper's, at least publically, which gave fans an idea of the road map to follow. There is no doubt that Harper has a similar plan established by Rizzo and the front-office brass, but they're keeping it very close to the chest.
At this point it seems foolish to keep him around Hagerstown much longer. I know they want him to struggle in the minors so he can learn to hit out of it, they want his weaknesses exposed down there, so he can learn how to fix them...but there are three more levels for him to go.
Looking towards the future, Adam Kilgore spoke to the Nats director of amateur scouting Kris Kline about a potential direction for Washington in this summer's draft. A great quote here:
“We always just take best player available,” Kline said. “We’re going to really focus on pitching, though. That’s one thing we’re going to focus on, to be honest. That’s something we’re lacking in our system. You can never have enough of that. And this is a very good year to focus on that. This is a very good draft. There’s a lot of arm strength out there, a lot of big velocity.”
In general scouts of said that this years top ten will be very hard to predict because the talent level is so even. The man many expected to go number one, slugger Anthony Rendon, has struggled early on and would be a steal for the Nationals at six. There is also athletic shortstop Francisco Lindor who has peeped his head into the top 10, who is one position player they may look at.
