Scouting Reports for Washington Nationals Prospects in the 2015 Futures Game

Down on the Washington Nationals' farm, they seem to specialize in pitchers and middle infielders, and the sample the team is sending to the 2015 Futures Game is certainly representative of the population. 

Right-hander Lucas Giolito and shortstop Trea Turner are Washington's respective No. 1 and No. 3 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline, and they'll be the two Nationals' prospects taking part in this year's festivities. 

The Futures Game rosters are a joint effort by the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau, MLB.com, Baseball America and the league's 30 teams. And, at least from a Washington point of view, those powers successfully tabbed the most intriguing prospects possible. 

Along with being the top pitcher in the Nationals' farm system, Giolito is MLB Pipeline's No. 1 pitching prospect in all of baseball. He's also two full seasons removed from a 2012 Tommy John surgery, and it looks like the notoriously cautious Nats are finally comfortable to turn him loose after extending his 2015 spring training. 

Giolito generates headlines with the surgically-repared bazooka hanging off his right shoulder, but Turner's notoriety is a combination of his on-field ability, which he has plenty of, and the uniquely difficult situation he endured from December through mid-June.

The beginning of that window was when Washington executed a three-team trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and the San Diego Padres, a deal that would come to identify Trea Turner as a player to be named later, who couldn't officially move from the Padres' organization to the Nationals' until a full year after he signed his first pro contract in 2014. You can get more details on Turner's time in limbo in this piece by The Washington Post's Barry Svrluga. The end of the window officially came on June 14, the day Turner not only became a Washington minor leaguer, but also an active candidate for the Nationals' starting shortstop job in the not-so-distant future. 

When Turner finally burst through the red tape and joined the Nats' organization, The Washington Post's James Wagner extracted general manager Mike Rizzo's thoughts on the situation. 

"It was a unique strategy we had when we made the trade," Rizzo said via Wagner. "It was really unprecedented and creative by our front office to really identify and get a player that we wanted all along."

With Ian Desmond's days in Washington numbered due to an expiring contract and diminishing returns, Turner could quickly make the transformation from the player Washington wanted to the one it needs. 

The Scouting Reports

Now that you have the necessary background info on the Nationals' two Futures Game delegates, we're free to evaluate through a technical lens, starting with the most explosive pitching prospect in the game. 

RHP Lucas Giolito

Elsa/Getty Images

2015 Stats, Single-A Potomac: 3-4, 3.08 ERA, 52.2 IP, 14 BB, 66 K, 1.23 WHIP

While it hasn't been an unmitigated disaster, Giolito hasn't handled his first stint in Single-A as well as one would expect from a top prospect. 

Most of his numbers, including his ERA and WHIP, are the highest they've been since 2012, the first season of his pro career in which he played just one game. But if you reject this season's findings for their surface value and peel back a few layers, Giolito has shown flashes of the brilliance that has helped him climb up the prospect rankings. 

In his 98 innings of work last season, Giolito struck out 110 batters and walked 28. Through 52.2 innings this year, the righty is on pace to earn almost 123 strikeouts and issue roughly 26 walks in that same 98-inning sample size. 

He's also coming off his most productive outing of the season last week. Entering the game in the second after one frame of rehab work from Aaron Barrett, Giolito turned in seven scoreless, no-hit innings, striking out seven, walking one and beaning two to earn his third win the of the year. 

The Nationals' top prospect hasn't been as polished as anticipated this season. But he's been able to draw some positives from the peaks and valleys of 2015, telling The Washington Post's Chelsea Janes last month that his struggles have served to tighten up the mental side of his game. 

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"The composure aspect of it, I've made huge improvements, but I want to continue to make improvements in that aspect. I want to be that guy that’s out there in that number one position, the guy who's going to go out there and give his team a chance to win every time. You need to be able to go out there with a very positive mindset, brush off cheap hits, the triple in the gap, the home run, whatever, so you can finish your games."

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Giolito has the potential to be a workhorse in the majors. He can turn in a high volume of innings, and his arm can ratchet up to 100 mph. The inclusive format of the Futures Game won't allow him to display the former, but the latter is a possibility. You can expect Giolito to dial up some swing-and-miss stuff when he gets the call on July 12. 

SS Trea Turner

John Locher/Associated Press

2015 Stats, Double-A San Antonio and Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse: .305 AVG, .357 OBP, .452 SLG, 78 G, 93 H, 42 RBI, 6 HR, 26 BB, 15 SB

When the Futures Game participants were released late last month, MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo identified Turner as one of the prospects on the U.S. roster he's most interested to see in this year's contest. 

"This will really be the first look that the country gets at Trea Turner in a Washington Nationals uniform," Mayo said in a video breakdown. "He can really run, he can really play shortstop, but it's that speed that should be a lot of fun to watch." 

Turner was explosive in his 58 games with San Diego's Double-A affiliate, hitting .322 with 35 RBI and five homers. And if there's a more explosive word for explosive, he was that in his 10 Double-A games with Washington. Turner batted .359 in that limited sample size before earning a promotion to Triple-A Syracuse. 

That's where he's hit the first measurable rough patch in a pro career that's just barely a year old. He's played 10 games for the Chiefs, hitting .154 in the exact same number of at-bats that saw him hit .359 one level below. 

I wouldn't qualify 10 games as a reliable sample, positive or negative, but Turner's progression in the Triple-A ranks is something to keep an eye on. 

According to MASN's Byron Kerr, the shortstop's promotion to the highest minor league level is not indicative of an impending major league call-up, at least not this year. But he does suggest the Nationals are positioning Turner for big things down the road. 

"Bottom line, the fact that Turner has moved to Triple-A in late June in his first full season of minor league play indicates the Nationals hold the 21-year-old in high regard," Kerr said. "Now we get to see how his bat will play against heavier competition."