{"id":11806,"date":"2016-01-12T08:55:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=11806"},"modified":"2016-01-12T08:55:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T13:55:00","slug":"hagerstownlow-a-pitching-staff-year-in-review-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=11806","title":{"rendered":"Hagerstown\/Low-A Pitching Staff Year in Review; 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_11829\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/WilliamsAusten-hagerstown2015-via-milb.com_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11829\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11829\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/WilliamsAusten-hagerstown2015-via-milb.com_-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Austen Williams went 8-1 for the Suns in the first half. Photo milb.com\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/WilliamsAusten-hagerstown2015-via-milb.com_-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/WilliamsAusten-hagerstown2015-via-milb.com_.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11829\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Austen Williams went 8-1 for the Suns in the first half. Photo milb.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This is the 5th in the 2015 Pitching staff review series, here&#8217;s a review of Hagerstown\/Low-A&#8217;s pitching staff for 2015. \u00a0Other parts of the 2015 series:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=11649\">Washington\/MLB 2015 review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=11235\">Syracuse\/AAA 2015 review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=11737\">Harrisburg\/AA 2015 review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=11747\">Potomac\/High-A 2015 review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For some historical perspective, here&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=8291\">2013&#8217;s version<\/a> (featuring\u00a0<strong>Pedro Encarnaction<\/strong>),\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=4522\">2012&#8217;s version<\/a>\u00a0(<strong>Aaron Barrett<\/strong> was\u00a0the feature pitcher)\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=2429\">2011&#8217;s version<\/a>\u00a0(<strong>Taylor Jordan<\/strong>\u00a0the feature pitcher)\u00a0of this post specifically for Hagerstown\/Low-A.\u00a0 Had I done this post in 2014 I would have &#8220;featured&#8221; <strong>Lucas Giolito<\/strong>, who dominated in 2014 for the suns (10-2, 2.20 ERA).<\/p>\n<p>All stats are courtesy of either milb.com&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.milb.com\/milb\/stats\/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&amp;did=milb&amp;cid=563\">Hagerstown 2015 Stats page<\/a>\u00a0or via\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fangraphs.com\/minorleaders.aspx?pos=all&amp;stats=pit&amp;lg=all&amp;qual=0&amp;type=0&amp;season=2013&amp;team=154&amp;players=0\">Fangraph&#8217;s\u00a0Hagerstown 2015 page<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0Also useful here are the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheet\/ccc?key=0AmkEIm1TLiXQdHExYldZVUZJZk9uckFjeEVCSmR5Umc&amp;hl=en#gid=26\">Big Board<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheet\/ccc?key=0AmkEIm1TLiXQdGhVRjRfNW81SG8xRlROQ1ZxZzNfbUE&amp;hl=en#gid=0\">Nats Draft Tracker<\/a>\u00a0since so many of these lower-minors guys are recent draftees.<\/p>\n<p>Note; while its relatively easy to do reviews for the upper levels of the system, once we get lower we&#8217;re usually talking about a lot of short sample sizes.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll depend on text from my &#8220;draft class&#8221; write-ups where appropriate.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Hagerstown Pitching Staff<\/strong> <\/em>movement throughout the year (* == lefty)<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Opening Day Starters: AWilliams, Bach*, LReyes, Van Orden, Valdez<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">End of Season starters:\u00a0 Amlung, Bach*, Lee, Fedde, JRodriguez, LReyes<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">End of Season spot starts\/swingman:\u00a0 MSanchez<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">End of Season bullpen:\u00a0 Napoli*, Cooper, DWilliams,\u00a0 Glover, Brinley, KPerez, Peterson<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Mid-Season promotions: Mapes, Valdez,\u00a0 Thomas*, Purke*, AWilliams, Orlan*, Walsh*, Rauh, Howell<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">up-and-back: Amlung, AWilliams, Amlung<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">down-and-back: Van Orden, LReyes, Bach*<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Mid-Season demotions:\u00a0 Webb*, Ullman, JRodriguez, Dickey, Baez, Johns, LTorres, DeRosier<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">End of Season DL: Estevez, DRamos, JMorales, Van Orden<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Mid-Season cut\/released\/FAs: Mooneyham* <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Hagerstown starters<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 The rotation started the season with <span style=\"color: #000000;\">AWilliams, Bach*, LReyes, Van Orden, Valdez<\/span>.\u00a0 18 guys got starts in 2015.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s an overview of the starters used, starting with the original five starters, going all the way to the rehab spot starts.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Austen Williams<\/strong> <\/span>blitzed the Sally league (8-1 with a 2.10 ERA) and forced a promotion to Potomac mid-season, where he continued pitching well.\u00a0 See High-A write-up for more.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A rotation to start with an eye on quick promotion.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Connor Bach<\/span>: <\/strong>Posted a 6-4, 3.85 ERA with 106\/69 K\/BB in 110 ip (20 starts) in Low A as a member of the rotation for much of the season.\u00a0 4.08 fip, .311 babip.\u00a0 Not too shabby for a 21st round senior sign from a relatively unknown baseball school (VMI).\u00a0 Perhaps too many walks, but nearly a K\/inning in full-season ball portends well for his future.\u00a0 At the very least he could move up as a lefty specialist.\u00a0\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A rotation.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Luis Reyes<\/strong> <\/span>went 6-7 with a 4.82 ERA in 24 starts and 117.2 IP, both leading the Hagerstown squad.\u00a0 1.42 whip, 4.87 fip.\u00a0 Reyes signed relatively late for a Dominican player (at age 18) but has steadily progressed out of the DSL and through the short-season leagues.\u00a0 This was his first stint in full-season ball and at age 20 could be excused for getting hit somewhat hard.\u00a0 A 72\/50 K\/BB ratio isn&#8217;t promising; he maintained much better K\/9 rates in the lower levels.\u00a0 I figure he&#8217;ll repeat Low-A looking to improve his numbers and see if he can regain some of his swing and miss stuff.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: repeating Low-A rotation.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Drew Van Orden<\/strong> <\/span>went 5-5, 3.61 ERA for Hagerstown with 47\/34 K\/BB in 92ip (15 starts), 4.33 fip, .254 babip.\u00a0 Not a bad season for the under-slot 2014 5th round senior sign, who&#8217;s clearly sticking around.\u00a0 He was mostly a spot starter for Hagerstown this year, getting a bunch of starts during the turmoil of the rotation.\u00a0 He ended the season on the DL after giving the team 92 decent innings.\u00a0 His FIP is a bit weak thanks to overall lucky BABIP contact but he has given no reason not to put himself into the discussion for that same role in Potomac next year.\u00a0\u00a0<em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A rotation competition.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Philips Valdez<\/strong> <\/span>dominated the Sally league, going 5-2 with a 1.47 ERA and quickly earned a promotion to Potomac.\u00a0\u00a0 See High-A write-up for more. \u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A rotation<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Jefry Rodriguez<\/strong> <\/span>bounced between Short-A and Low-A again this season, starting in Hagerstown, pitching most of the year in Auburn and ending in Hagerstown.\u00a0 See the Short-A write-up for more.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: Low-A rotation.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Mario Sanchez<\/strong> <\/span>was Hagerstown&#8217;s long-man\/spot starter all year, getting 8 starts in 29 appearances and posting a 4.86 ERA along the way.\u00a0 70\/18 K\/BB ratio in 90.2 innings, 1.28 whip, 4.18 whip, .301 babip.\u00a0 Sanchez is even\u00a0 younger than the other DSL grads on this team (he didn&#8217;t turn 21 until after the season was over, so 2016 will be his age-21 season).\u00a0 Good control (nearly 4 strikeouts per walk) but was a bit homer prone (11 homers in 90 innings).\u00a0 He&#8217;s undersized (6&#8217;1&#8243;) and I wonder if he&#8217;s not destined to continue to be this rubber-armed innings eater for the organization.\u00a0 Its the same way he&#8217;s been used all along; few starts but lots of IP per appearance.\u00a0 I also think he needs to improve his numbers before moving up, and he&#8217;s\u00a0 young enough to repeat a level without really stalling his progress.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: Low-A swingman again.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Justin Amlung<\/strong> <\/span>is a bit of an oddity; he&#8217;s was a 24-yr old MLFA after getting cut from the Cubs&#8217; high-A affiliate in May of 2015.\u00a0 The Nats signed him and had him repeating Low-A for his third straight year.\u00a0 He (like Sanchez) served as a swing-man, getting 19 appearances and 8 starts for Hagerstown, posting a 4.22 ERA along the way.\u00a0 He had a great 42\/7 K\/BB ratio in 64 low-A innings, 1.14 whip, 3.70 fip.\u00a0 He was promoted towards the end of the season and had a nice stretch for Potomac before the seasons&#8217; end.\u00a0 He was immediately declared a MLFA but has re-signed for 2016.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: high-A bullpen\/swingman.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Matt Purke<\/strong> <\/span>had 8 starts and 32 IP for Hagerstown during his tour of the Nats farm system in 2015: see AA write-up for more.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Erick Fedde<\/span> <\/strong>evenly split his season between Short-A and Hagerstown.\u00a0 He was 4-1, 2.57 ERA in Short-A Auburn with 36\/8 in 35ip (8 starts), 2.60 fip, .346 babip.\u00a0 He then got bumped up to Hagerstown where he threw another 29 innings across 6 starts with lesser stats (1-2, 4.34 ERA).\u00a0 A good\u00a0 post-Tommy\u00a0 John debut season for\u00a0 our 2014 1st rounder Fedde, despite the rather restrictive innings limits put on him; he was limited to just 5ip per start for a total of 64ip on the season between two levels.\u00a0 Given his mediocre stats in Hagerstown and the Nats historical promotion schedule, he could start 2016 in the Hagerstown rotation with a quick move up to the Potomac rotation.\u00a0 I could be wrong though; looking at the state of my projected High-A rotation I could also easily see him starting the year in Potomac.\u00a0 There&#8217;s just so many arms competing for the Low-A rotation he may be forced up.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A rotation.<span style=\"color: #339966;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Andrew Lee<\/strong> <\/span>posted a 5-1, 1.63 ERA across 3 levels, ending up in Hagerstown where he spent most of his first pro season.\u00a0 47\/10 K\/BB in 38.2 innings (16\/5 starts), 2.19 fip, .250 babip specifically in lowA where he spent most of his time.\u00a0 An intriguing arm for sure and more than held his own in 5 Low-A starts.\u00a0 He&#8217;s the fastest riser so far of the 2015 draft class and he&#8217;s easily in the mix for the Hagerstown 2016 rotation.\u00a0\u00a0<em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: Low-A rotation to start; could be a fast riser.<span style=\"color: #339966;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Jose Morales<\/strong> <\/span>got blasted in two Low-A starts after three quick relief appearances in Auburn, then spent the rest of the year on the D\/L.\u00a0 Not much to glean from his year; is he a starter or a reliever?\u00a0 He only threw 30-some odd relief innings in 2014; I think he&#8217;s being used as a long-man\/spot starter arm for now.\u00a0 I would guess he&#8217;ll start 2016 in XST with an eye of hooking on with Short-A again.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: Short-A bullpen.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Ryan Ullmann<\/strong> <\/span>got stuck in XST to start the season, hooked up with Hagerstown 5 weeks into the season, got hit hard, was dumped to Auburn, had one appearance and then was summarily released.\u00a0 Quite a quick downturn of events for Ullmann, who was always going to be a long shot (30th rounder out of a small school).\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: out of baseball.<\/li>\n<li>Other Guys who got starts for Hagerstown:\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Joan Baez<\/strong> <\/span>got 3 starts for Hagerstown in June, got hammered, and spent the rest of the year in short-season ball.\u00a0 See GCL write-up for more.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Jeff Howell<\/strong> <\/span>had two starts for Hagerstown before getting a few more in Potomac as he converted to the mound.\u00a0 See High-A write-up for more.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Brian Rauh<\/strong> <\/span>had two &#8220;rehab&#8221; starts for Hagerstown and spent most of the year in Harrisburg.\u00a0 See AA write-up for more.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Robbie Dickey<\/strong> <\/span>had two starts in Hagerstown before getting dumped back to Auburn.\u00a0 See Short-A write-up for more.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Robert Orlan<\/span> <\/strong>had one spot-start for Hagerstown; see the reliever section.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Wirkin Estevez<\/strong> <\/span>spent the entire season on the D\/L: he&#8217;ll compete for a Low-A rotation spot in 2016.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Hagerstown Relievers<\/strong><\/em>: taking a look at the relief corps. \u00a0We&#8217;ll organize relievers by going by IP from most to least.\u00a0 Anyone with less than 10 IP will get cursory analysis at the end.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Andrew Cooper<\/span>: <\/strong>2-2, 3.53 ERA with 35\/16 K\/BB in 63.2 relief IP for Low-A Hagerstown, 3.63 fip, .283 babip.\u00a0 Improved his numbers across the board while repeating Low-A.\u00a0 Still isn&#8217;t getting the K\/9 we&#8217;d like to see though.\u00a0 He&#8217;ll be 24 in High-A next year in what probably is a make or break season.\u00a0 <em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A bullpen.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">David Napoli<\/span> w<\/strong>ent 7-5, 4.01 ERA with 62\/36 K\/BB in 60 relief IP mostly for LowA Hagerstown.\u00a0 3.57 fip, .289 babip.\u00a0 He started with Potomac but spent most of the year in Hagerstown, despite turning 25 during the season.\u00a0 If anything,\u00a0 his numbers took a step back from his 2014 Hagerstown campaign, and given his age and the glut of arms in the system, time may be running out.\u00a0 Or maybe not: i mean, he signed for $15k and basically cost the team nothing and eats innings; that kind of guy is useful to have around.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A bullpen.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Robert Orlan<\/strong> <\/span>went 3-1, 3.00 ERA with 85\/28 K\/BB ratio in 72 relief IP between LowA and HighA.\u00a0 Orlan bounced between Potomac and Hagerstown all season, ending up in HighA with pretty good numbers in a &#8220;more than a loogy&#8221; role.\u00a0 Especially impressive is 85 Ks in just 72 ip.\u00a0 He&#8217;s older for these levels, inarguably, but could put himself in a good position by continuing to succeed in 2016.\u00a0 I see him in the Potomac bullpen again with an eye towards a June promotion to AA when the short-season promotions come due.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A bullpen.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Samuel Johns<\/strong> <\/span>went 3-4, 4.31 ERA between LowA and ShortA with 39\/17 k\/bb in 62.2 relief innings, 4.63 fip, .290 babip in lowA.\u00a0 He struggled in LowA, but then dropped back to ShortA and was dominant.\u00a0 Not great, but certainly not bad for a 31st round 5th year senior as compared to what has happened to other 5th year senior signs on this list.\u00a0 Maybe not the best stuff, but has been effective.\u00a0 My guess is that he either makes the Hagerstown team next spring or is cut loose, but the fact that he hung around this long gives him some more room to work with.\u00a0\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: Low-A bullpen.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Kevin Perez<\/strong> <\/span>threw 36 relatively effective innings for Hagerstown after throwing 18 relatively ineffective innings for Potomac to start the year.\u00a0 The team signed him as a MLFA early in 2015 after he was dumped out of the Low-A Royals affiliate but I doubt he showed the team enough to stick with him given the number of arms rising out of the short-season rosters.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: out of the organization.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Deion Williams<\/strong><\/span>, went 1-2, 5.46 ERA with 22\/18 K\/BB in 29.2 relief innings with Hagerstown.\u00a0 Williams was drafted as a SS but converted to the mound after a year or so.\u00a0 Since then, he&#8217;s struggled, somehow making it onto the full-season Hagerstown roster in June after sitting in XST for two months.\u00a0 There, he continued not to impress; his career ERA is now 6.12 across 103IP and the three lower levels of the minors.\u00a0 I could see 2016 being a &#8220;make it or break it&#8221; year for him; he either makes the full season bullpen or he&#8217;s cut.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: Low-A bullpen competition.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Koda Glover<\/strong> <\/span>went 1-1, 1.80 ERA across 2 levels, getting promoted to Low-A after just 6 IP in Short-A.\u00a0 Of course, in those 6ip he gave up just one hit and struck out 11, so it was pretty clear he was over-qualified for the league.\u00a0 For the season: 38\/2 K\/BB in 30 ip (19app), 2.44 fip, .288 babips in LowA where he spent most of the year.\u00a0 38 to 2 (!!)\u00a0 K\/BB ratio in 30 innings.\u00a0 No wonder he was an over-slot deal; the 2015 draftee is one of the highest rising guys in the class so far.\u00a0 Glover profiled very well and should be in the mix for a High-A bullpen slot in 2016 already.<span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A bullpen.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Brett Mooneyham<\/span> <\/strong>was 0-2 with a 6.41 ERA in 19 ineffective innings for Low-A Hagerstown before the Nats finally cut the cord a<span style=\"color: #000000;\">nd released him on 6\/3\/15.\u00a0<\/span> Mooneyham was in Low-A for the third successive season, having failed to make the cut in Potomac in each of 2013 and 2014.\u00a0 You&#8217;d have to say that he&#8217;s one of the more higher-profile drafting failures of the <strong>Mike Rizzo<\/strong> era.\u00a0 Or maybe not; the team had to go over-slot to sign Giolito and may have skimped for the rest of the draft.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: out of the organization.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Ryan Brinley<\/strong> <\/span>went 1-4 1.44 ERA\u00a0 across 3 levels this year with a 16\/1 K\/BB in 31.1 ip, 3.85 fip, .292 babip in low-A (where he ended up).\u00a0 Great 27th round find so far in Brinley, who may not have a ton of swing and miss but certainly seems to have some command (1 BB in 31 innings??).\u00a0 Could be a nice little middle relief option going forward, someone who can keep his team in games.\u00a0 I could see him in the High-A bullpen next year based on his command of Low-A. \u00a0 <span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: High-A bullpen.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Jake Walsh<\/strong> <\/span>threw 17 scoreless innings in Hagerstown before getting bumped up to High-A.\u00a0 See High-A write-up for more.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>David Ramos<\/strong> <\/span>threw 13 innings of middle relief for Hagerstown before getting hurt; he spent most of the summer going &#8220;rehab&#8221; assignments all throughout short-season ball before being &#8220;activated&#8221; once the full-season was done.\u00a0 Not much to glean from his season; his ERAs were not pretty anywhere he went.\u00a0 He&#8217;s now 24, in his fourth pro season outside of the DSL and has yet to post an ERA below 6.46 in any of his multiple stops.\u00a0 Honestly, I&#8217;m surprised he made the full-season bullpen in 2015.\u00a0 I&#8217;d guess he&#8217;ll take another shot at Hagerstown&#8217;s bullpen in 2016 and if he doesn&#8217;t make it, he could be facing an April 1 release.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Outlook for Next season<\/strong><\/em>: Low-A bullpen competition.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Other Relievers who got less than 10 IP for Hagerstown this year:\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Tommy Peterson<\/strong><\/span>: threw 6ip in the last week of the season: see Short-A write-up.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Tyler Mapes<\/strong> <\/span>threw 6 shutout IP before getting bumped to Potomac: see High-A write-up.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Joey Webb<\/strong> <\/span>threw 5 innings early in the season before ending up in Auburn.\u00a0 See Short-A write-up.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Luis Torres<\/strong> <\/span>threw 3 innings to cover in mid July: See Short-A write-up.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Diomedes Eusebio<\/strong> <\/span>is normally a 1B and threw one inning at some point.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It was a successful season for Hagerstown hurlers; I count 6-7 guys who earned promotions by pitching well in Hagerstown.\u00a0 A good number of them should feature in 2016 for either Potomac or Harrisburg.\u00a0 This didn&#8217;t help the Suns much, as they finished both halves right around .500, not quite good enough for a playoff spot.\u00a0 2016&#8217;s staff will have some familiarity to it; I think a good portion of the 2016 opening day rotation will look just like the 2015 end-of-season rotation, mirroring the Nats recent habit of having players repeat levels in overlapping seasons and doing mid-season promotions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the 5th in the 2015 Pitching staff review series, here&#8217;s a review of Hagerstown\/Low-A&#8217;s pitching staff for 2015. \u00a0Other parts of the 2015 series: Washington\/MLB 2015 review Syracuse\/AAA 2015 review Harrisburg\/AA 2015 review Potomac\/High-A 2015 review For some historical perspective, here&#8217;s 2013&#8217;s version (featuring\u00a0Pedro Encarnaction),\u00a0 2012&#8217;s version\u00a0(Aaron Barrett was\u00a0the feature pitcher)\u00a0and\u00a02011&#8217;s version\u00a0(Taylor Jordan\u00a0the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13],"tags":[916,2393,1968,2859,2469,856,921,3025,2137,1874,3030,2468,2425,1991,2999,1876,3028,1985,3027,3023,3022,2827,852,2138,3029,3026,1677,1823,2136,2569,1290,2884,1987,2937,24,2860,2936],"class_list":["post-11806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-minorspitching","category-minorleaguerotationreviews","tag-aaron-barrett","tag-adalberto-mejia","tag-andrew-cooper","tag-andrew-lee","tag-austen-williams","tag-brett-mooneyham","tag-brian-rauh","tag-connor-bach","tag-david-ramos","tag-deion-williams","tag-diomedes-eusebio","tag-drew-van-orden","tag-erick-fedde","tag-jake-walsh","tag-jeff-howell","tag-jefry-rodriguez","tag-joan-baez","tag-joey-webb","tag-jose-morales","tag-justin-amlung","tag-kevin-perez","tag-koda-glover","tag-lucas-giolito","tag-luis-reyes","tag-luis-torres","tag-mario-sanchez","tag-matt-purke","tag-pedro-encarnacion","tag-philips-valdez","tag-robbie-dickey","tag-robert-orlan","tag-ryan-brinley","tag-ryan-ullmann","tag-samuel-johns","tag-taylor-jordan","tag-tommy-peterson","tag-tyler-mapes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11806"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11855,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11806\/revisions\/11855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}