The Washington Nationals made one of the biggest moves in the offseason. The signing of Max Scherzer has given them one of the best rotations in baseball and with a stout lineup and a core group of youngsters, the Nationals are amongst the favorites to win the National League in 2015.
More impressively, their farm system is equally as talented. Rated as a top ten system in baseball, the National announced Friday that they will extend invites to spring training to some of their young and exciting prospects.
Headlining the list of first timers in Nationals’ spring training is No. 11 prospect Pedro Severino. Severino is the highly touted catcher who has built his resume on solid defense. He threw our 40 percent of attempt base stealers in 2013 and 36 percent in 2014. At just 21 years of age, the 2011 signee out of the Dominican Republic has shown an uncanny knack for handling a pitching staff and calling a great game.
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His offense leaves a little to be desired, however he should vast improvement at his highest level to date in 2014. He slugged a career high 9 home runs at High-A ball (7 higher than any of his previous seasons) last year while slashing a career best .247/.306/.399. As he plays more games each season, it will be interesting to see how his bat develops.
Cutter Dykstra, son of former Mets and Phillies star Len Dykstra, will also be making his debut at spring training this year. Dykstra, who was a second round draft pick for the Brewers in 2008, has been nothing but solid since coming over to the Nationals for Nyjer Morgan in 2011. He was an Organizational All Star in 2012 and 2013 and was Double-A Eastern League Mid-Season All Star in 2014. He slashed his way to a .274/.349/.391 line with six home runs.
23-year old catcher Spencer Kieboom rounds out the list of Nationals first timers. The 2012 fifth round draft pick is coming off a season that earned him South Atlantic League Mid-Season All Start honors as well as being named a Nationals’ Organizational All Star. His best full season of his young professional career saw Kieboom hit .309 with nine home runs and 62 RBI.
Despite losing their 2014 Minor League Player of the Year (Steven Souza) in a trade this offseason, the Nationals system is still very deep with names likeLucas Giolito on the horizon. It is even more exciting when prospects out of their vaunted top 10 get an invite to spring training to show off what they can do.
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