Capitol Punishment

Needham despairs at the state of the Nats’ farm system:

Last season, just about anything that could go wrong, did. Ross Detwiler, the top pitching prospect, threw batting practice at single-A. Chris Marrero, the top hitting prospect, didn’t excel, and his season ended halfway through thanks to a bone-shredding slide into home plate.

Many other Nats prospects struggled, with only Jordan Zimmermann developing to a point where he’s MLB ready.

And those farm system rankings from last year? Well, let’s just say that the Nats won’t be trumpeting them quite as loudly this year.

Baseball America dropped them back down to 21. Baseball Prospectus sees only three impact players in the minors. John Sickels sees only a few guys with much potential. ESPN’s Keith Law — who clearly had Jim Bowden do something nasty to a family member — dropped them all the way to 29th.

Ouch.

The next time you catch me complaining about the Braves’ mediocre and uninspiring play, just punch me in the mouth, because at least my team has had a really good farm system for the past, oh, 20 years, and a good farm system = hope.


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Timmy
15 years ago

Exactly.  Being born into a Braves household, from a DC-born father, who became a Nationals fan the day they left Montreal, I can only look at the Nats situation, shrug and be glad I wasn’t raised to be a gNats fan.

Drafting two relief pitchers in back to back years in the first round definitely looks like a mistake now.  Not that Cordero was bad choice, but the other Chad drafted a few picks later would’ve been a lot better (Billingsley).  And Bill Bray, well yeah… I think Billy Butler and Stephen Drew went immediately after him…

The Braves may stink it up again this year even, and who knows maybe Willie Harris and Ryan Langerhans will bash our brains in everytime we play the Nats again.  But at least we’ve got Hanson, Heyward, Freeman, and Schafer on the way up, and the assurance that our system is producing more talent than anyone else’s right now; even if half of it is in Texas.

Wooden U Lykteneau
15 years ago

This looks exactly like something written by someone who has never actually been to a Nationals minor-league game. Marrero, for example, was hitting .412 in his last 10 games before the injury. Detwiler struggled with his mechanics, but did have flashes of brilliance, eventually lowering his ERA from 5.87 to 4.86 over his last 10 starts.

Timmy
15 years ago

Good to see a Nats fan is finding something to be optimistic about… That’s the great thing about baseball, with the minor leagues, if you dig deep enough you can find some positive to hang your hat on.  Now if you’re a Washington Wizards fan, not so much.

John Henning
15 years ago

I hope Jordan Zimmermann makes it to the big club. A Zimmerman and a Zimmermann. That alone will make the Nats worth watching.

Basil
15 years ago

This looks exactly like something written by someone who has never actually been to a Nationals minor-league game. Marrero, for example, was hitting .412 in his last 10 games before the injury.

Not that one would need to go to a Nationals minor-league game to know that Marrero had hit .412 in his last 10 games . . .

Wooden_U_Lykteneau
15 years ago

Perhaps, but I only went to 68 Nats minor-league games last year…