The Nats Outfield 2008 Preview

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The 2008 Nats Outfield
The Outfield has a mixed bag with the potential to be awesome in 2008! It is definitely potential though. There are question marks with undeniable top side.

The Players are:Starters only: Wily Mo Pena, Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes, Austin Kearns Possible Players: Justin Maxwell, Willie Harris, Chris Marrero

Wily Mo: I like him. He showed up, and he unleashed his bat. And it caught up with the ball on ocassion. In fact, statistically, his bat caught up with the ball much better than it did in Boston. Trader Jim loves Wily Mo and I love a free swinger. If he hits infront of Belliard in the 6th hole, see the projected lineup in my last post, Wily Mo sees enough strikes to get into the 30 HR club. If the new stadium is friendly (which it just might be), Wily may be a 40 guy. I like his upside, and I don't think we surrendered much for him. He will strike out. And it will cause a hurricane! And they will look ugly too. But the upside may be some great streaks all summer that may carry us to some long string of victories.

Lastings Milledge: He's a player. New York is a tough place to develop. He has the potential to be a 5 tool guy or atleast a 4. I'd take 3. Speed and average would be enough for me and add in some adequate defense and let's say we've finally got a centerfielder for 5 or more years. I like him much more than the Rocco Baldelli idea. With the sure hand of Manny, Lastings could become a great one. Manny knows him from NY. He's got the inside scouting on him. Let's take the ride here because he's a much better chance than Nook was.

Elijah Dukes: Remember all the trouble Julio Lugo was in two years ago. He was destine to the scrap heep of wife beating and lost opportunity / talent. Well Boston took a flier on him and he turned into the starting shortstop for a World Champion. I say we take the diamond in the rough here and maybe we get the great lead off hitter we need. Certainly, Dukes has the speed. http://www.nationalspride.com/ has a great article today how Barry Larkin and Elijah are joined at the hip right now. I say we put Felipe there too! After Dmitri's revival last year, we can become the refuge of lost souls for all I care...The Oakland Raiders of the National League...The Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your weary, your huddle masses, your wretched refuse from your teeming shores..!" Send me another Ichiro!!!! for now, Let's give Elijah a chance. To quote Barry Larkin, "After watching Dukes, 23, work out and hit, Larkin believes that Dukes could be a 30-30 player one day. " I'm rolling the dice.

Austin Kearns: .266, 16 hrs and 74 rbis just ain't cutting it for me anymore. I want new blood or more numbers like .280, 30 hrs, and 90+ rbis.

Justin Maxwell: The potential is there. I don't know with all the offseason moves if the team is committed to him. Although he is young, so are the players that the Nats have brought in. Then again, production is the name of the game. Ask Ryan Church.

Willie Harris: I'm just not seeing it. Langerhans is atleast a defensive whiz with no bat.

I've copied the article below from Federal Baseball. It is excellent on Chris Marrero and our other prospects. Kudos to E!

By e chigliakPosted on Sun Nov 25, 2007 at 06:07:17 PM EDT

When baseballamerica.com's writer Aaron Fitt published the list of the Washington Nationals Top 10 Prospects last January 12th, right-handed starter Collin Balester was ranked no.1 overall in the Nationals system. When Mr. Fitt again produced the list of the top prospects on November 7th of this year, Balester had fallen slightly in Baseball America's assessment, to no.3 overall, replaced by outfielder Chris Marrero and the Nationals #1 overall pick in the '07 Draft, left-handed starter Ross Detwiler.

Collin Balester, Montreal's 4th Round pick in 2004, was coming off a (5-5) season between Class-A Potomac and Double-AA Harrisburg, where he had thrown 137.1 innings with a 5.20 ERA in 22 starts at Potomac, and put up a 1.83 ERA in 8 starts at Harrisburg, as a twenty-year old, in his second full pro season, when he was ranked the number one prospect in the organization by Baseball America.

In 2007, Balester was (2-7) with a 3.74 ERA over 98.2 IP at Harrisburg, and the right-hander finished the season with Triple-AAA Columbus where he went (2-3) and posted a 4.18 ERA in 10 starts and 51.2 innings, allowing 49 hits and 27 runs and striking out 40 while walking 23 for the Clippers.

Chris Marrero had moved ahead of Balester as a result of the Washington Nationals 1st Round pick in '05 having hit .280 with 23 HR's and 104 RBI's in 147 games over two seasons in the Nationals' system. 34 doubles, 3 triples, 156 hits in 558 at bats, for a 6'3'' 210 lb outfielder who won't turn nineteen until July of '08.Ross Detwiler started the 2007 season as a twenty-one year old, third-year, left-handed starter at Southwest Missouri State University where Detwiler went (4-5) with a 2.22 ERA in 14 starts during which he allowed just 22 runs in 89.0 innings while striking out 110 and walking 38.That was enough to convince the Nationals to select Detwiler with the 6th overall pick in the 1st Round of the '07 Amateur draft and what the lefty did at two stops in the Nationals' Minor League system......(0-0) in 4 starts with a 2.25 ERA for the Gulf Coast Nationals in Rookie ball, and (2-2) with a 4.22 ERA in 4 starts with Class-A Potomac, with 28 K's in 33.1 IP...Convinced the Nationals to give the rookie a crash course in the Majors, where Detwiler pitched one inning of relief and recorded his first Major League K, just three months after the Nationals had taken the 6'5'' 185 lefty with their top pick....and in fact...four of Washington's Draft picks after Detwiler in the '07 Draft, 18-year old pitcher Josh Smoker, 18-year old outfielder Michael Burgess, 21-year old pitcher Jordan Zimmerman, and the Nationals' 6th Round pick, 18-year old Jack McGeary, all find themselves listed in the Nationals' Top Ten already, so at least Baseball America agrees with DC's recent drafting decisions.