Nationals Farm Authority

It’s nice and all, but I got curious to see who were the “prospects” who helped deliver this championship and found (in order of season ABs):

Michael Martinez – age 26 Dee Brown – (about to be) age 26 Plasencia – age 24 Rogelstad – age 26 Marrero – age 20 (but on DL at end of season) Edgardo Baez – age 23 Marvin Lowrance – age 24 Solano – age 23

:-(

SHHHH.

I suppose it would look that way on a cursory glance, but this was also a team that had 66 different players this season and got progressively younger as the year went on, though not as young as our (on?) “crack” Post reporter would have folks believe.

Besides Marrero, I don’t think anyone thinks any of those are “prospects.” I would think that players like

Detwiler – 22 (2nd pro season) Gunderson – 23 (2nd pro season) Burgess – 19 (2nd pro season) Seuss – 23 (2nd pro season) Lyons – 23 (2nd pro season) Wilkie – 23 when season began (3rd pro season) Leatherman – 22 (3rd pro season) O. Rodriguez – 24 (3rd pro season, ‘tho he missed ’05-07) Atilano – 23 (6th pro season)

are more of the prospects.

And don’t forget that players like

Van Allen – 23 (3rd pro season) Novoa – 23 (6th pro season) Zimmermann – 22 (2nd pro season) Stammen – 24 (4th pro season) Alaniz – 24 (2nd pro season) L. Davis – 24 (5th pro season)

all had a hand in helping this team get to and win the championship.

For a farm system that was rated dead last three years in a row until very recently, things sure look a whole lot better these days. Even with all the nitpicking by some.

Brian,

Could you post the Hagerstown opening day roster? It will prove a point. How did a team that did so poorly at Low-A Hagerstown in the first half, manage to win a High-A championship at Potomac in the second half? I think Randy Knorr needs to win minor league manager of the year. Kudos also to Radny Tomlin and Jerry Browne. Who do we need to contact at Baseball America to make sure he gets fair consideration for this honor..

Wookiee

Wookie – You are so on target! This threesome really worked wonders and deserve every honor there is.

Here is Hagerstown’s opening day roster. Players in bold were on the P-Nats playoff roster.

Pitchers Edulin Abreu (on DL in Potomac) Erik Arnesen Martin Beno (on DL in Potomac) Terry Engles Clint Everts Kyle Gunderson Cole Kimball Jeff Mandel Brad Peacock Hassan Pena (on DL in Potomac) Atahualpa Severino Kai Tuomi Colton Willems

Catchers Sean Rooney Jhonathan Solano

Infielders Stephen King Trevor Lawhorn Dan Lyons Tim Pahuta Bill Rhinehart Jake Smolinski

Outfielders Michael Burgess Stephen Englund Francisco Plasencia Aaron Seuss

Brian,

Thanks for proving my point. You can also add the following players who made appearances with Hagerstown this year.

Luis Atilano Dan Leatherman Osvaldo Rodriguez Pat Nichols Boomer Whiting

Randy Knorr clearly outmanaged Rocket Wheeler (CL Manager of the Year)during the entire championship series. I’d give Wheeler credit for at least 2 of the MB losses based solely on his pitching staff management. How he let his set-up man walk 2 hitters prior to going to his closer in the 9th of Game 3 will always remain a mystery to me. Myrtle Beach had the best record in minor league baseball and went home empty-handed. I also thought it was a classy move to bring Wilkie on in the 9th of the clincher when it wasn’t a save situation. Makes me think even more of the man I already had a lot of respect for. I think I listened to just about every game on the radio this year.

That’s the beauty of the game- every once in a while the moon and the stars are perfectly aligned and magic happens. I’m proud of the P-Nats.

For not having a player on the post-season All-Star team, they did o.k.

This probably part of more in depth organizational analysis, but who on the Potomac Championship roster will be eligble for the Rule V draft and who will be 6 year minor league free agents?

Pilchard – Off the top of my head (i.e. no digging, just what I can recall)

Pitchers: Luis Atilano (Rule 5 …possibly); Clint Everts (6-yr); Alex Morales (6-yr); Osvaldo Rodriguez (unsure what the ruling on him is); Jack Spradlin (R5)

Catchers: none

Infielders: Darryl Lawhorn (6-yr); Trevor Lawhorn (6-yr); Matt Rogelstad (6-yr)

Outfielders: Dee Brown (R5); Francisco Plasencia (6-yr)

Hey Brian

The minor leagues seasons being concluded where are you going on vacation? Will you be following Fall/Winter Ball? This is my first year reading your blog, I’m just curious. I think I’d have withdraw issues dealing with the inactivity of your site…

The P-Nats site has a poll up where you can vote for your favorite postseason moment.

Berndaddy – There’s enough happening to keep it going. It might not be an every day sort of thing, but I try and still post a few times a week.

I’ll watch the AZ Fall League and find whatever winter ball assignments I can.

There should be some review stuff. A post season top 20 (or so) list

Then there’s the Rule 5 draft.

Minor league free agents

And before you know it spring training is right around the corner

nf1a – The 15-inning game was hands down my favorite.

When it comes to minor-league pitching and deciding who comes into games and for how many innings/which innings…

Do you know which pitchers were available to the pitching coach and manager in those games, and for how many innings? Chances are, the answer is no.

99 percent of the time, it is the decision of people who aren’t even at the ballpark, and it’s decided upon far in advance of the game. That goes for starting pitchers and relievers. Usually it’s the call of the farm director, pitching coordinator, etc. I think it’s completely unfair to criticize a manager on “managing his pitching staff” when he may have had no say in who he was allowed to pitch or who he may have been REQUIRED to pitch in certain situations.

Thanks Brian. Thanks for teaching a lot about Baseball here. That’s what I enjoy must about your blog. I’ve learned so much. It truly enhances your baseball experience…

thanks again !!

Wookiee – I’m not sure how that “proves” your point, since the Hagerstown callups were in stages and not all at once like last summer. Furthermore, these guys had much stronger teammates in Potomac than in Hagerstown.

What the PNats had all year long, which the Suns did not, was strong pitching. There were only 2-3 unreliable guys on the staff at any given time and Knorr managed them accordingly.

As you and others said, Randy was the true Manager of the Year, but the voting was undoubtedly done much the way folks vote on Cy Young Awards — they saw his team had the most wins and looked no deeper.

Bangzoom – Would you care to give us some evidence to support your delusion?

Sue,

I’m not trying to be disrespectful… just trying to help people understand. For example, closers don’t usually throw three days in a row, even if they have very low pitch counts and tell everybody they’re good to throw again on the third day. This happens at all levels, even the big leagues, although the people involved in the decision-making at the big-league level are different.

Managers have lineup cards, pitching coaches have a “pitcher availability card.” Ask a manager or pitching coach, watch the dugout, etc. It’s far from a delusion.

bangzoom,

Generally that is true during the regular season, but this team played 7 games over a 10 day period in the playoffs (which was preceded by a 2 day break). So, for most playoff games, it was the manager’s discretion to pitch who and when he wanted. Kudos to Randy Knorr and his staff for a job well-done.

Bangzoom- I don’t believe the player development staff makes the “tactical” calls about who pitches during a game. I do agree that they make the “strategic” calls over the course of a season. Also, I’m not sure how your Post 21 supports Post 17?

And I also believe that both the manager and pitching coach know who is available and for how long. How could you manage the game otherwise?

Anyway, I appreciate your opinion but feel Sue is correct, you are delusional.

Maybe I wasn’t clear enough in my comments. It’s not like someone is sitting next to the phone, waiting for someone from Washington to tell the manager to take a pitcher out.

The manager and pitching coach both know which relievers they can and can’t use during a game. But it is usually decided upon, in advance, by the organization’s pitching coordinator, with input from the pitching coach and manager.

Just like there is a starting pitching rotation, the relievers are used in rotation. A minor-league pitching coach knows before the game who will be pitching that night out of the bullpen. He may not know the order in which they will pitch, but it’s not like a coaching staff is winging it on who they call in from the bullpen.

All this keeps everyone on the same page when it comes to keeping arms fresh, making sure pitchers get enough innings, etc.

More pitchers may have been available during the playoffs due to the lighter workload, as Pilchard noted. But you can bet both organizations were keeping a close eye on their pitchers and restricting innings when necessary.

The most amzing thing about the Potomace season is the way Randy Knorr and his coaching staff were able to keep the “chemistry” of the team intact, in spite of all the personnel changes throughout the season. As I listened to the comments of the players, and listened to the games on the radio, it seemed that everyone played hard, and enjoyed playing the game with each other. There was a great level of enthusiasm and a “never say die” attitude. If there were any problems, Knorr and his coaches managed to keep them in the clubhouse, where they belong. He should be the Coach of the Year! Great Job!

Hagerstown had a record of 34-35 in the first half, 27-43 in the second. If I recall, in the first half they were 1st or 2nd in the SAL in batting but last in ERA which obviously hurt their record. They were continually moving players up to Potomac — first several pitchers and then the onslaught of position players like Plasencia, Rhinehart, Solana, Lyons, Suess, Whiting, etc. I think the Suns coaching staff of Coles, Tarasco, and Menhart deserve great credit for developing so many of the players that were keys in the 2nd half and the playoff run. Randy Knorr has mentioned this several times. But Knorr, Tomlin, and Browne did a masterful job of blending 67 players over 6 months into a championship club.

Here, here…Let’s all raise our glasses high for Knorr and his staff and let’s pray most of these kids do even better at Harrisburg next year. I feel that next year is going to be a good year in Hagerstown, too. We’ll see. Whether or not Spin Williams pulls trigger or Knorr and the other coaches do, i think we’ve got good coaching all through the minors. Things are looking up.

Brian, There are always changes in the coaching staffs. Have you heard anything?

I agree with Hardball 100%! The Hagerstown staff was outstanding in getting the guys ready to move up, and in keeping their team competitve throughout the year in spite of many changes. Congrats to that staff as well!

The longstanding rumor is that Randy Knorr would be moving up to Harrisburg, but Anthony Oppermann repeated what I have read elsewhere, which is that Randy likes this level (A+) because it has the most opportunity to teach. If that’s true — and I tend to believe it is because Knorr returned to Potomac after spending the 2nd half of 2006 as a bullpen coach with the parent club — it’s a refreshing change of pace. But it would also not surprise me if the parent club insisted he go a la Stearns this year.