Stock Up, Stock Down for the Washington Nationals' Top 10 Prospects for Week 6
At this rate, the Washington Nationals could probably surround Bryce Harper with eight traffic cones and he'd still lead them to a wild-card berth, but the Nats are fortunate enough to have capable prospects to call upon when injuries thin out the roster.
Top prospects A.J. Cole and Michael Taylor are back in the majors with veterans Doug Fister and Reed Johnson on the disabled list.
Some of Washington's other top-10 prospects, as listed on MLB.com, are moving up the ladder as well. Righties Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez joined Single-A Potomac after an extended spring, and infielder Wilmer Difo was recently promoted to Double-A Harrisburg.
The Nationals' transaction wire is hot these days, so now is an appropriate time to gauge whose stock is up and whose is down within Washington's farm system.
Bonus: SS Trea Turner
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2015 Stats (Double-A San Antonio): 34 G, .326 AVG, 42 H, 4 HR, 19 RBI, .909 OPS
Report: Trea Turner, the player to be named later and consensus victim from an offseason trade with San Diego, is doing unspeakable things to baseballs in the Padres' minor league system.
At Double-A San Antonio, Turner is second on the team in batting average, hits and RBI and leads the Missions with four home runs and a .909 OPS.
He can't officially become a part of the Nationals organization until late June, but he's obviously not suffering too much as a lame-duck Padre.
Stock: Up
10. RHP Austin Voth
2 of 112015 Stats (Double-A Harrisburg): 2-2, 41.2 IP, 3.89 ERA, 36 SO, 1.27 WHIP
Report: Austin Voth is somewhat Doug Fister-like in his tendency to keep his walks at a minimum, which is why his recent streak of four multiwalk games was surprising. In his last outing, a 3.2-inning contribution in relief of a rehabbing Casey Janssen, he managed not to issue any walks but did give up a free base in the form of a hit batter.
The extra baserunners are having an inflammatory effect on his ERA. The number hasn't been below 3.70 since his third appearance of the season.
However, he does lead Double-A Harrisburg in innings pitched and is second on the team in strikeouts.
Stock: Even
9. 3B Drew Ward
3 of 112015 Stats (Single-A Advanced Potomac): 35 G, .241 AVG, 28 H, 2 HR, 19 RBI, .698 OPS
Report: Through the first 15 games of the season, Drew Ward hit .333, but it's been a slippery slope since then.
Ward's average has plummeted to .241, and he's gone hitless in five of his last six games. He still leads the Potomac Nationals in RBI, but he hasn't plated a run since May 8.
He's a power hitter with an imposing 6'4", 210-pound frame, which doesn't exactly scream "defensive mastermind," but he's making errors at an alarming rate and leads the team with seven.
Stock: Down
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8. SS/2B Wilmer Difo
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2015 Stats (Single-A Advanced Potomac/Double-A Harrisburg): 33 G, .315 AVG, 40 H, 3 HR, 18 RBI, .887 OPS
Report: Wilmer Difo's .320 average through 19 games at Single-A Potomac earned him a promotion to Double-A Harrisburg. The 23-year-old doesn't seem to have noticed the increase in the level of competition.
Difo has played 14 games with the Harrisburg Senators, amassing a .308 average with 16 hits and four RBI. He's also swiping bases at his usual clip with three steals for Harrisburg, putting him at seven total for the season.
He sustained a lower-body injury last week that didn't turn out to be serious, but questions about his availability prompted Senators manager Brian Daubach to address Difo's transition from Single to Double-A.
"He's been playing great. He's having fun. He brings a lot of energy to the ballclub," Daubach said via PennLive.com's Mick Reinhard. "He's been a big lift for us."
Stock: Up
7. C Jakson Reetz
5 of 112014 Stats (Rookie Gulf Coast League Nationals): 43 G, .274 AVG, 32 H, 1 HR, 15 RBI, .796 OPS
Report: Still in the Gulf Coast League, Jakson Reetz doesn't start his season until June.
But Washington's No. 7 prospect drew rave reviews from within the organization this spring, as detailed in March and April articles by MASN's Byron Kerr.
Single-A Hagerstown manager Patrick Anderson called Reetz "a sponge for any information he can get" in the former piece. And Nationals catching coordinator Michael Barrett said "the stuff that he's doing is shocking" in the latter.
Stock: Even
6. RHP Erick Fedde
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No stats available. Fedde has yet to make his professional debut while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Report: Erick Fedde began throwing bullpen sessions back in mid-March, and no setbacks have been reported two months later.
In an article detailing Fedde's return to the mound, the Washington Post's James Wagner predicts the 22-year-old will suit up for short-season Auburn later this summer.
Stock: Even
5. RHP Joe Ross
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2015 Stats (Double-A Harrisburg): 2-1, 39.0 IP, 2.54 ERA, 41 SO, 1.28 WHIP
Report: Joe Ross's 41 strikeouts are third best in the Eastern League, and his ERA has shrunk in each of his last six starts. But it's not just his arm his coaches are impressed with.
According to an article from PennLive.com's Mick Reinhard, Ross's ability to dissect each of his pitches has endeared him to a Nationals organization he joined via a December trade.
"That's what pitching is all about. Throwing a pitch and knowing what you liked about it, what you didn't like about it, and how to correct it," Harrisburg pitching coach Chris Michalak said via Reinhard. "And being able to do that on the very next pitch, not a hitter later."
Stock: Up
4. RHP Reynaldo Lopez
8 of 112015 Stats (Single-A Advanced Potomac): 2-0, 17.0 IP, 0.53 ERA, 13 SO, 0.88 WHIP
Report: Washington's No. 4 prospect, Reynaldo Lopez, and No. 1 prospect, Lucas Giolito, both joined the Potomac Nationals several weeks into the season after an extended spring.
But despite Giolito's top ranking, no one has looked better than Lopez through three starts.
The 21-year-old Dominican Republic native is an unbeaten 2-0 with a sub-1.00 ERA and WHIP.
After Lopez's first start with Potomac, manager Tripp Keister said the righty's command was the most encouraging takeaway. And that will be the benchmark for Lopez going forward.
"My expectations are for him to throw strikes, pound the strike zone, use all his pitches and compete," Keister said via MiLB.com's Robert Emrich. "That's one of the things he does so well is compete. He loves being out on the mound. I don't have any expectations for him other than those."
Stock: Up
3. RHP A.J. Cole
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2015 Stats (MLB): 0-0, 5.0 IP, 7.20 ERA, 2 SO, 2.20 WHIP
2015 Stats (Triple-A Syracuse): 0-1, 27.0 IP, 2.67 ERA, 16 SO, 1.11 WHIP
Report: A.J. Cole's major league debut was atrocious. He left his first start after two innings with a horrific 18.00 ERA. But his outing did set the table for the Nationals' biggest comeback ever, so we have Cole to thank for that.
Following that debacle, he returned to the minors and started two games for Syracuse. That apparently gave him the necessary perspective to succeed when he was recalled following Doug Fister's trip to the DL.
In Cole's second major league appearance, he came out of the bullpen and turned in three shutout innings, allowing just one hit and earning a save.
Stock: Even
2. CF Michael Taylor
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2015 Stats (MLB): 26 G, .250 AVG, 20 H, 3 HR, 13 RBI, .740 OPS
Report: Watch this video, then watch it 1,000 more times and maybe after that you'll almost be ready to stop watching it.
That's Michael Taylor's ninth-inning go-ahead grand slam against the Arizona Diamondbacks that kept Washington's current six-series winning streak alive.
That's the most exciting, but it's certainly not the only, evidence of Taylor's value to this team when Washington's other outfielders are incapacitated.
The rookie's grand slam came in Bryce Harper's spot in the lineup after Harper was ejected from the game for arguing a strike call. And with Denard Span and Jayson Werth both missing small chunks of time recently, Taylor has played in all but three of Washington's 16 games this month.
Stock: Up
1. RHP Lucas Giolito
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2015 Stats (Single-A Advanced Potomac): 0-2, 10.1 IP, 5.23 ERA, 16 SO, 1.55 WHIP
Report: Lucas Giolito was a different person in his first two starts of the season.
In his debut with the Potomac Nationals, Giolito went 4.1 innings, giving up eight hits and five earned runs to set his ERA at 10.38. Those numbers are far beneath those of a No. 1 prospect.
"My arm felt great, which is a good thing. It's a positive takeaway," Giolito told the media after his first start. "But obviously, I wish the results were a little bit better. Fastball command was, in my opinion, awful. Offspeed command wasn't there either."
The results got better.
In his second outing, Giolito struck out a career-high 11 batters and allowed one run on five hits in six innings of work.
Stock: Even
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