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Washington Nationals 2018 minor league awards

By Benjamin Chase

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 20: Juan Soto #22 of the Washington Nationals celebrates a double during a baseball game against the New York Mets at Nationals Park on September 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 20: Juan Soto #22 of the Washington Nationals celebrates a double during a baseball game against the New York Mets at Nationals Park on September 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Washington Nationals
WASHINGTON, D.C. – JULY 15: Carter Kiebboom #5 of Team USA bats during the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Nationals Park on Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

Washington Nationals Minor League Hitter of the Year: Carter Kieboom

Level(s): high-A Potomac, AA Harrisburg
Stats: .280/.357/.444/.801, 123 G, 558 PA, 31 2B, 16 HR, 9 SB, 58/109 BB/K

The top prospect that won’t open 2019 with the major league club (most likely), Carter Kieboom has exploded up the system, even though he had to work through injuries in 2017 that caused him to play only 61 games in his first full season. In 2018, he finished the season having played over half his season in AA at just 20 years old.

Kieboom has shown himself more than adept at shortstop, but he has the arm to move to third and the instincts around the bag to move to second if he ever has to move off short. The Nationals most likely will have him open in AA again in 2019 with a quick move to AAA and likely a September promotion.

Runners-up

The “next big thing” in the Nationals system is 18-year-old Luis Garcia. Garcia was originally born in New York, but he established residency in the Dominican in order to be signed at 16. Garcia had a tremendous first full season, hitting .298/.336/.406 between both A-ball levels with 21 doubles, 6 triples, 7 home runs, and 12 steals. Garcia’s plus arm could allow him to be an elite third baseman, but he is able to handle shortstop, so he’ll likely be there until he’s pushed off of the position.

While he wasn’t in any one position for long in 2018, Austin Davidson‘s bat was solid regardless of what position he played or what level he was at, as he played in high-A and AA in 2018, and he played at least one game at C, 1B, 2B, 3B, and LF in 2018. At the plate, he put up a .292/.374/.482 slash line with 21 doubles, 5 triples, and 11 home runs, posting a very solid 43/53 BB/K over 385 plate appearances.

Hunter Jones was picked up in the offseason after spending four seasons in the White Sox organization. He didn’t do anything necessarily spectacular in 2018, but he did a lot of things well. He slashed .301/.374/.407 with 14 doubles, 6 triples, 5 home runs, and 13 steals over 107 games between AA and AAA.

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