by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Stan4Nats
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Andrew Lang
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Stan4Nats
Originally published on… wait for it…. NationalsProspects.com
Thanks to a lot of thoughtful comments last month—and more time spent following the GCL last summer—this was easier to put together than last year.
One thing I did do this time around vs. previous years is let the “Notables” be a larger contingent than usual instead of agonizing over whether to put a guy into a positional column (sounds dirtier than what it really means). Continue reading
As we turn the calendar to a new year, there is new hope. As a tradition, we also have some New Year’s resolutions. Continue reading
Some say the numbers never lie. We often say you should dig further into the statistics, and sometimes you find hidden value beyond what you see in the box scores. Don’t get me wrong — J.T. Realmuto‘s stats on the surface were very good including that fWAR of +3.6 in 2017 — but when you dig deeper, his buried numbers jump off of the page. Continue reading
As some of you may have heard, Bryce Harper is entering the last year with the Nationals before he has the ability to test free agency. And one can infer that his decision will have a great impact on how the Nationals decide to shape their roster in 2019 and beyond. Continue reading
Newly minted Nationals’ manager Dave Martinez made it clear that he is already considering his line-up construction. Martinez wants to take advantage of Adam Eaton’s prowess for getting on-base followed by the speedy and pesky Trea Turner who can be a dynamic duo like they were to begin the 2017 season when Eaton’s OBP was a healthy .393 and that does not even include the 3 errors that Eaton forced on the opposing defense. Continue reading
Baseball, like all of the 4 major sports, is dominated by men — from the players on the field to the coaches in the dugout and the lifers in the front office. There are also all of those independent companies that provide the players with their equipment from batting gloves to cleats to gloves and bats, and those companies have been a good ole boys club until recently when Nell Kucich of SSK Baseball USA broke some of those boundaries. A fashion model a few years back, she traded in the glitz and glamour of designers, photo-shoots, and New York Fashion Week for the grit of the baseball diamond and the grind of traveling to clubhouses all over the map from the obscure Minor League parks like AT&T Field in Chattanooga to Major League stadiums like AT&T Park in San Francisco.
SSK Baseball USA is the US branch of a Japanese company that has existed since 1946 and has been the staple of fungo bats for decades in the United States. Continue reading
Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo refers to his analytics department as “The Pentagon”. They are a key to the Sabermetrics and the math of WAR (Wins Above Replacement) which keeps Rizzo’s analytics department on their toes as each player added to the final roster will be a integral part to the team’s success. Continue reading
Screenshot from the Nationals Instagram
John Sickels released his Top 20 Prospects for the Washington Nationals over the weekend, roughly 30 hours after posting a preliminary post. Here’s the breakdown by letter grade:
| A-/A | Victor Robles |
| B+ | Juan Soto, Carter Kieboom |
| B/B+ | Erick Fedde |
| B | Seth Romero |
| B/B- | Wil Crowe, Daniel Johnson |
| B- | Yasel Antuna, Luis Garcia |
| B-/C+ | Raudy Read |
| C+ | Andrew Stevenson, Blake Perkins, Austin Adams, Pedro Severino, Taylor Gushue, Jefry Rodriguez, Kelvin Gutierrez, Nick Raquet, Jackson Tetrault, Wander Suero |
Red = 2017 Top 20 player, higher grade
Bold = 2017 Top 20 player, same grade
Blue = 2017 Top 20 player, lower grade
Italics = Not on the 2017 list
Magenta = 2017 Draft pick
Thank you, John for posting before I had to finalize the 2018 Watchlist 😉 Continue reading
The off-season continues although the six days between Christmas and New Year’s day is usually slow. There has not been one Top-10 free agent signed to this point. As a matter of fact, only 22 of the top 80 free agents have been signed. The Washington Nationals compared to other teams have been relatively busy in contrast as Mike Rizzo signed #23 rated Brandon Kintzler and Matt Adams who was not initially rated as he was on the Braves roster. Adams certainly would have been in the Top-80 if he was eligible at the time Heyman compiled his report.
Nats’ general manager Mike Rizzo has brought back several minor league free agents including starting pitcher Tommy Milone, reliever David Goforth, utility-man Ryan Raburn, 3B Michael Almanzar, and former Nats’ draftee SS Jason Martinson. Continue reading
Photo by Joe Marks
Here is a list of what the Nationals should find in their Christmas stockings:
Max Scherzer: a set of those baby noise-cancelling earmuffs. Not to protect Brooklyn’s ears in the stadiums—they’re to keep her from picking up daddy’s pitching vocabulary. Continue reading
