The Nationals have finalized deals with a pair of Dominican prospects, according to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. Outfielder Randy Novas and catcher Raudy Read will receive $150K and $130K, respectively.
Johnny DiPuglia, the Nats' head of international scouting, said that the 17-year-old Read will "easily be an everyday catcher." As for Novas, DiPuglia compared the 16-year-old's body to that of former big leaguer Devon White.
The club remains hesitant to hand out massive signing bonuses like the one they gave 16-year-old Esmailyn Gonzalez, who really turned out to be 20-year-old Carlos Alvarez, in 2006. Excluding the Yunesky Maya major league deal, the Nationals spent about $1MM on signing bonuses for prospects in Latin America last year, one of the smallest budgets in the majors. Now, DiPuglia tells Kilgore, the club is starting to spend more on international players.
Does anyone know of a website that deals exclusively with the DSL and their prospects? I’m looking for info on player ratings, scouting reports and what their ETAs are for debuting in the US. Thanks.
I’ve had the same problem finding that information, so I’m going to set up a spot on my site dedicated to exactly that – tracking the international signings, scouting reports, progress, etc. I hope to have it up by the start of the season, and there will be a link to it on my homepage.
Great, I’ll check it out. Yanks have a prospect named Yeicok Calderon and I’ve actually seen him ranked on a few lists and was wondering if he would come stateside soon. I’ll check out your site. Thanks.
Once the Nats start winning players are going to want to go there. Washington has A LOT of money to spend.
Having Strasburg and Harper in the fold makes the Nationals a more attractive team to sign with.
Problem is one is just a prospect and the other is currently injured. It’s going to come down to they need to really start winning before people pay real attention to them. Or they could always just overpay guys like Werth.
I really like the Nats future though. I think they have a good shot to pull together a winning season as early as 2012.
It would be a real shame if Bryce Harper doesn’t pan out. I really hope he does and I hope Strausburg battles back and has a long, healthy and dominate career. Too many of these “can’t miss prospects”, ineed do miss.
Harper kinda reminds me of Alex Gordon, not playing-wise but the perception around him. After Gordon was drafted a lot of Royals fans starting thinking of him as the franchise’s savior and comparing him to George Brett, of course any Royals prospect that can hit is compared to Brett by Kansas City writers and fans. I think a lot of Nats fans are seeing Harper in a similar way. Hopefully the Nats will learn from the Royals mistakes and not rush the kid through the minors.
As for Strausburg, I hope last year was a freak occurrence. I’ve only seen clips of him pitching, but he already looks masterful. If he’s half of what people hope he could still be a top pitcher in the NL East.
I agree. I don’t think they’ll rush Harper though. Then again he could tear up minor league pitching and just fail to hit ML pitching for some reason. I agree with Stausburg too. He was dominating then gets hurt. He is well advanced as a pitching for his age.
When I think Harper and the possibility of him failing I always think Greg Jeffries. I think Harper will be a surefire mlb’er with at least a good, solid career and a couple of all-star years. Problem is, so much more is expected of him. The same stood for GJ way back in the late 80’s and 90’s. He was suppose to be a cross somewhere between Mickey Mantle and Pete Rose and instead was just a good mlb ballplayer that came with tons of hype, had a lot of clashes with the vets who thought he was spoiled and didn’t handle the early media glare. How many players can have a career where they finished with 1,500 career hits and a .289/.344/.421 line, retire at age 32 and be thought of as somehwat of a bust?
I think one of the BEST things the Nats could do for theselves and Harper is to acquire a major bat, with a major name that might shoulder the offensive burden of the team and take some of the spotlight……can anyone think of a guy like that? I’ll give you a hint…….his name sounds like “Pal” and he’s know for his ability to Pull Hoes.
I loved Jefferies when I was a kid, I had 5 baseball cards of him, one of my favorite non-Red Sox player.
I get what you’re saying. It was the same with Gordon, I remember there was a posting on this site asking if people would trade Gordon straight up for ARod. Harper could very well be an elite talent but the perception bar really needs to be lowered to “solid.”
I’d be very happy to see this mysterious “Pull Hoes” in a Nats uni, but it’s unlikely. I think, if he can duplicate his 2010 season, Jose Bautista would make a great target for them. Stick him in left and then he, Zimmerman, and Werth would give the Nats a formidable 3-4-5 knockout.
Wow…you make me feel old. I use to work in a baseball store in Manhattan when I was a teenager and I know I must have sold 100’s of his 88 Donruss rated rookie and Fleer top prospect cards @ $8 or more, easy.
Bautista wouldn’t serve the purpose of what i was referring to. It’s my suggestion that the Nats need to sign a player so good that his offense and his name value will take as much pressure off of Harper on the field and in the locker room. Sort of like how Shaq allowed Kobe to develop into a star at his own pace.
I think the deciding factor will be how well they draft select when they don’t have the #1 overall and there isn’t the clear and obvious choices like a Stras or Harper. Once they start becoming a 80 win team it will be a little more of a challenge for them selecting when they have a #15-#18 pick and not a #1.