At blogger day (hey, I’m going to ride this as long as I can), Kasten made reference to the Arizona Fall League. For those of you that don’t know, the AFL is operated by MLB and many top prospects go there to tune up for next year. It keeps them competing against high-level pros, important for young guys, and often is a preview of who might do well in the majors next year. Kasten said the Nats were gonna send one of the best groups of prospects ever, and he wasn’t kidding. The rosters were just announced, check it out:
Stephen Strasburg – Heard of him? Yeah, ESPN’s gonna be pumping AFL starts, or at least highlights, into your football-filled brains this October. They’ll be his first professional outings, so you better believe they are significant.
Drew Storen – The Nats #10 pick this year, and ready to dominate yet another league on his way to the bigs, I guess. His ERA trends going from low-A to high-A to AA suggest by the time he gets to the majors, he’ll actually take runs away from the other team when he goes in.
Derek Norris – Considered the Nats other catcher of the future. And if he can’t catch, his bat suggest they find somewhere else in the field for him to play. If he can catch, he has a chance to be a real star in the majors.
Danny Espinosa – A SS prospect, he made the All Star Team this year, finishing the season hitting .261/.375/.438. One of the best middle infielders the Nats have in the system.
Chris Marrero – May enter next year behind Strasburg as the team’s #2 prospect, although now that Storen is headed to the AFL, he may be third. He hit so well in high-A ball (.287/.360/.464) that they moved him up to AA. He’s hit .346 in 7 games. Nats’ Assistant Farm Director Mark Scialabba mentioned on Sunday that he could see Marrero playing with the big league team at the end of 2010, but he didn’t want to rush him. After all, he’ll only turn 22 next July