Nationals Arm Race

Hagerstown's newest Starter. Photo the Washington Nationals

Here are the daily links from NationalsProspects, for reference below:

• Sunday 6/26 game reviews (Detwiler, Martis, Selik, Ray, Bates, Chico).
• Monday 6/27 game reviews (Milone, Roark, Rosenbaum, Wang & Cole, Demmin, GCL off)
• Tuesday 6/28 game reviews (Stammen, Davis, Olbrychowski, Grace, Estevez, Mieses & Meza)
• Wednesday 6/29 game reviews (Maya, Peacock, Bronson, Jordan, Encarnation, King)
• Thursday 6/30 game reviews (Detwiler & Meyers, Arneson, Demny, Solis, MRodriguez & Lopez, Karns)

Good

• Shairon Martis continues to prove what we already should know, that a former MLB starter can dominate in AA, by striking out 10 over 8+ innings on 6/26.  His performance was featured on milb.com.
• Matt Chico pitched 5 solid innings in the GCL on 6/26: 5IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 3K.  Why??  If he’s re-habbing in the GCL that’s fine, but this team has TOO many starters in the AA/AAA level right now and i’m not entirely sure where Chico is going to go.  Perhaps he’s getting stretched out to feature as a trade candidate.
• Wirkin Estevez bounced back (as noted by Byron Kerr here) and pitched 5 nearly no-hit innings on 6/26.
• Tom Milone continues his outstanding run in AAA on 6/27: 8IP, 3H, 0ER, 0BB, 6K.  He continues to be the minor leaguer most likely to make the next spot start in the Majors despite his lack of 40-man status.
• Danny Rosenbaum fulfilled his “ace” status in Potomac on 6/28: 6IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 6K.
• AJ Cole got the “relief start” coming in after the rehabbing Wang on 6/27 and was sparkling: 5IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 6K.
• Another nice quality start plus outing from Ryan Demmin for short-A on 6/27: 6IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K.    That’s three starts, three good outings and 3 wins in a row for the Potomac washout.  Perhaps he’s refound his mojo.
• Adam Olbrychowski continues to show pitching capabilities in the starter role that he never really showed in relief, going for 6⅔ IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 4K on 6/28 for Potomac.
• Wirkin Estevez put in his second strong start in a row for Auburn on 6/28: 5IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 5K.
• Adalaberto Mieses continues the strong pitching in the GCL, going for 5IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 2K on 6/28.  A bit wild perhaps but he scattered 6 runners effectively enough.
• Christian Meza got the “second start” in the GCL on 6/28, pitching 4 strong innings for the “save.”  4IP, 3H, 0R, 1BB, 3K.
• Another ho-hum dominant performance in AA for Brad Peacock: 5⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 3BB, 6K, WP.
• Evan Bronson‘s (apparent) return to the rotation in High-A was pretty solid: 7IP, 7H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 4K, HR.
• An ugly defensive outing cost Taylor Jordan during a pretty good 6/29 outing: 5⅔ IP, 4H, 3R, 0ER, 3BB, 8K.
• Brandon King threw 5 perfect innings in the GCL on 6/29 before making way for his bullpen.  5IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 4K.  You can’t ask for much more than 5 perfect innings after his inauspicious start.
• Another excellent start for Erik Arneson for Harrisburg on 6/30: 6IP, 4H, 0ER, BB, 5K.
• Excellent start by Paul Demny for Potomac on 6/30: 7IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 8K.
• Wow, Nathan Karns looks like he may be healthy and good.  6/30 line: 4IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 7K.

Bad

• Robbie Ray seems to be coming back down to earth after a scorching start to his pro season.  On 6/26 he got touched up for 4⅔ IP, 5H, 6R, 5ER, 2BB, 6K, 2HR.  Perhaps he’s getting a big of arm fatigue, going every 5 days for the first time.
• Tanner Roark continues his up and down season, never recovering from a 4-run first and losing on 6/27.  Line: 5IP, 8H, 5ER, 0BB, 5K.
• Manny Rodriguez didn’t get out of the first inning on 6/30: ⅓ 3H, 6R, 5ER, 1BB, 0K, HBP.
• Rodriguez’s relief Kelvin Lopez didn’t fare much better: 3⅔ IP, 5H, 5R, 4ER, 2BB, 4K, 2-2 IR-S.

Mediocre/Inconclusive

• Ross Detwiler put in an oddly short 6/26 start: 5IP, 4H, 2R, ER, 2BB, 4K.   I wouldn’t call it great, but at least it wasn’t bad.
• Cameron Selik put in a similar line to Detwilers on 6/26: 5IP, 4H, 5R, 1ER, 2BB, 1K.  Not bad, but not great.  You can’t fault the pitcher when he gives up four earned runs in 5 innings.  Selik was rather wild on the day, with a HBP and two wild pitches.
• Colin Bates had a near-quality start on 6/26 in Auburn: 5IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 3K.   That’s three effective starts in a row for Bates in Short-A.
• Chien-Ming Wang made his first rehab start, and his first professional appearance for this team after two contracts and several million dollars, in Hagerstown on 6/27.    Adam Kilgore reported on the important appearance at the NatsJournal blog here, saying that he showed decent speed (86-88, topping at 90), with good movement and his sinker working (6/1 go/ao ratio).  Hmm.  This actually sounds pretty promising.  Final line: 3IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 3K, HBP.  It is good to finally see him pitching in a Nats uniform.
• An up and down outing for Craig Stammen on 6/28: 5.1IP, 9H, 5ER, BB, 9K.  I like the K/9 rate, but don’t like the whip on the game (around 2.0).  He gets a win for his efforts though, as Syracuse’s hitters are pounding the ball right now.
• Erik Davis‘s 6/28 start in Harrisburg was suspended in the top of the 1st; I’m guessing he works out of the bullpen the next few days so as to stay sharp.
• Another decent start for Matt Grace for Hagerstown on 6/28: 5IP, 5H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB, 5K.  Not quite enough for the QS but good enough.
• Not the best outing for Yuniesky Maya (6IP, 7H, 4ER, BB, 6K, HR, HBP) on 6/29.    It wasn’t that awful, turning 9 baserunners into 4 runs, but continues the theme for 2011 for Maya.
• Pedro Encarnation continues his mediocre start to the season with another unimpressive performance on 6/29: 4IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 2K.
• Ross Detwiler pitched 2 shutout innings on 6/30, in an abbreviated “start” that probably is a precursor to his coming up and pitching sometime over the weekend to help offset the doubleheader on 7/2.
• Brad Meyers gave up a ton of baserunners through 6 innings of a relief start on 6/30: 6IP, 10H, 3R, 3ER, BB, 3K.
• Sammy Solis gave up a ton of hits but scattred them well enough on 6/30: 6IP, 11H, 3ER, 0BB, 6K.  A rather similar line to Meyers honestly.

Relievers of Note and other Thoughts

• Masn.com’s Byron Kerr continues his excellent coverage of the Nats farm hands with an overview of 2011 10th rounder Manny Rodriguez, pitching in Auburn.
• Byron Kerr posted on 6/29 with a look at Peacock’s mechanics adjustments, which have allowed him to make great advances in his quality as a starter.  The adjustment he’s made has been to do a better job of concealing the baseball prior to its release.  Peacock has hit 97 this year, sits 93-94, and has really good change-up separation (83-85mph on the change).  His secondary pitches have always been the criticism from scouts; he’s been working on his curveball command and its not clear if he has a 4th pitch right now.  I think to be successful at the upper levels he needs a 4th pitch; a cutter, a slider or a 2-seam sinking fastball are the logical candidates.
• Baseball America featured Sammy Solis on 6/29 (possibly insider only).  Per the report, Solis’s injuries slowed his first pro season (as we all know) and that he’s been slowly building up to 100-pitch limits per night.  He has added a cut-fastball to his existing 3-pitch repertoire (4-seamer, changeup and curve).
• Brad Peacock‘s year of accolades continues with his naming (along with Erik Arneson) to the Eastern League All-star team. The Harrisburg team placed 5 guys to the all star roster all told.
• Trevor Holder finally seems to have been removed from the Potomac rotation after a first half of forgettable numbers (Bronson started in his place on 6/29).  We’ll see if it was a one-off occurrence.

Top 3 starters deserving promotion not named Peacock: Milone, Arneson, Karns
Top 3 starters whose jobs are in jeopardy: Roark, Encarnation, Kopez