Baseball Prospectus - Chat with Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat

Chat: Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat

Welcome to Baseball Prospectus' Monday December 09, 2019 1:00 PM ET chat session with Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat.

This chat will be to discuss the Washington Nationals Top 10 Prospects List, released today.

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: Seems like this will be a short one, but we will keep the queue open for a bit

Vengaboy (In My Room): With Howie Kendrick's return, is Carter Kieboom more or less likely to replace Rendon at 3B this coming season? Also, what can we expect from young Boom in 2020?

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: I'd expect Kendrick will move around as needed rather than take up a regular everyday spot. I wouldn't read much into Kieboom's struggles in 39 PA and would expect something like .280 with medium power if given an everyday job.

Mark (Maryland): Where will a likely Rule 5 draft selection fall in this Org top 20?

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: So if it's just a hard-throwing reliever dude that's mostly ready probably in the back of the Top 20, if they took like best prospect available and grabbed like Shervyen Newton or Esteury Ruiz, they might slot around Antuna and Romero,

Kyle (Hagerstown): I saw a lot of former big bonus signee Gilbert Lara after he was traded from Milwaukee. He definitely looks the part and has power, but a lot of K's, do you have similar concerns?

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: Gilbert Lara is a good argument for not ranking any J2 bonus guys until they are stateside. My concern is he's just never really hit and Ben's notes from this year include the sentence "There’s a bit of a bat wrap, and his uphill swing causes him to work under balls and leads to an all-or-nothing profile. He still has a lot of work ahead of him to clean up his mechanics and approach"

Juan2332Juan (LIDOM): I have it in my head that Jackson Rutledge and Alek Manoah are basically the same guy, so just wondering if you have a preference and why?

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: I get the comp. I prefer Manoah's amateur track record and polish, and there's maybe a touch more fastball, but we are talking 50 or spots on the 101 and not at a part of the list where it's a huge gap.

Max Power (PA): How much should we take the MLB ball in high altitude parks affecting AAA pitchers (like Crowe)?

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: We should take it into account if there is a perceived gap between the prospect projection and performance (although Fresno is one of the pitcher's parks in the PCL, so far as that goes), but I saw Crowe in Double-A and the profile was pretty average.

Beckett (Baltimore): Knowing how risky it was at the time, and how it has panned out now, what will the Nationals do with Seth Romero?

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: Send him back to Potomac or Hagerstown to log innings and see where you are.

Screech (NC): Because they won a title, I can't imagine the Lerners or Rizzo are disappointed with the Eaton or Doolittle trades. That being said, given the Nats player dev, uh, mediocrity, how do they get anything out of the guys in this system? Could we see a franchise-altering trade this spring/summer to give the farm a jolt?

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: I guess who is the guy heading out to get a big return. Turner fits best on service time, you'd be getting 2.5-3 seasons of control, and he's a nice player, but you'd like him to be a little better or a little healthier before you got an Adam Eaton level return or something. Past him, you can't trade Soto, so it's like Sean Doolittle who is a one year reliever rental.

brad (NJ): Tell me more about Tim Cate, can he fill out a little more and add a few MPH to his velo and increase his ceiling a little? Or is he "maxed out". Seems like a sneaky good spect.

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: His velocity is already down a tick or two from where it was at UCONN, and between the arm issues and a frame that is more narrow than projectable, I'd guess he's settled in about where he's going to as a pro starter.

Nick (Fort Lauderdale): What are the chances Reid Schaller blows up next season? Had a high pedigree out of HS, then goes to Vanderbilt and was a 3rd rounder out of there. I know he has had injury concerns but can he be a breakout guy?

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: Sure, that's why the Nats target this profile in the draft, trying to hit on one given where they tend to end up picking due to major league team success and free agent strategy, like with Cate, they have yet to really get a big win out of the Erik Fedde types, probably because drafting oft-injured pitchers isn't the best strategy for getting future healthy pitchers, but you only need to hit once I suppose.

Jason (New York): No Onix Vega mention??? How can you pass up on that guy? He is already half a pokemon!

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: That's one for the younger millennials on the prospect team.

Ava (Annapolis): Without Strasburg and Rendon and only one significant prospect ready to contribute in 2020, will they compete for another flag?

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: They are going to need to make a significant signing probably, given the strength of the NL last generally, but boy there looks like a Wild Card spot or two out there, given the rest of the NL's offseason plans so far.

Washington Nationals Top 10 Chat: As Central Jersey's finest once sang, "were halfway there," AL West is next.