Kory Casto: Casto was selected back in the third round of the 2003 draft and was brought on as a third baseman.  Well unfortunately for him, the emergence of Ryan Zimmerman has changed all that and now he’s grooming to be an outfielder.  He continues to do fairly well in the minors, hitting 20 HRs, 80 RBIs and a .272 average for Double-A Harrisburg.  But he’s going to have to wait for Ryan Church to falter before he’s given a chance with the major league club.  

Chris Snelling: An Australian 25-year-old with great hands and great coordination.  Snelling was packaged by Seattle along with Emiliano Fruto.  He lit-up the minors with above .300 seasons for his first seven years, making him a much anticipated prospect in their organization.  Unfortunately, his career has been stymied time and time again by injury.  His major issue now is the ligaments in his knee that he tore twice in 2001 and 2005 which he has had seven surgeries to try and repair.  Because of this, his speed and mobility has been severely hampered.  

Alex Escobar: Snelling and Escobar should be great friends in spring training.  Alex too has had his dreams stolen by constant visits to the DL.  Every time he looks like he’s finally going to make a name for himself – he gets some kind of devastating injury to put him back on the bench.  Last year, he was hitting .356 with the Nationals but lo and behold a dislocated shoulder injury after 33 games put a stop to that.  Life isn’t getting any easier for Alex, and as time goes by he’s going to be competing more and more with younger talent that will not have the injury-prone tag that is unfortunately now attached to his name.  

Michael Restovich: Mike Restovich has had 137 career games in the major leagues with a .250 batting average.  Last year, he played 10 games for the Cubs and scored a .167 batting average before being sent down to Triple-A Iowa.  He’s hoping to make an impressive showing in Viera this spring to give him another shot.

 

Jason Bergmann: Also a candidate for a starter position, Jason had a few starts in the latter half of 2006 after doing really well in triple-A but didn’t have a very good showing at the major league level.  I find the possibility of using him in the relief role more plausible at this point.

 

John Patterson: Yeah, he's our ace. He said he's not affected or perturbed by his failed arbitration for a higher salary. Yes, I do think John deserves more money than $850,000 but he's got to put together a solid season and prove that he's not the Washington version of Mark Prior - a fantastic pitcher that is always on the DL and sitting on the bench.

Beltran Perez: We all remember Beltran from last year.  I know it's early, but I'm rooting for him to be in the rotation.  He’s one of the most exciting young arms in spring training this year.  He was able to make two starts at the end of the season last year and he was 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA.  In his 121.2 innings while starting for Harrisburg he maintained a 3.11 ERA.

Shawn Hill: Canadian born Shawn Hill is a familiar face for Nationals fans.  He’s been up and down the farm system and major league level for a few years now.  He missed all of 2005 with Tommy John surgery.  On his return to the majors for the Washington Nationals 2006 season on May 27^th, he racked an impressive seven innings allowing only one earned run.  He was moving along rather well until he was placed on the DL with a sore right elbow on July 1^st and never returned back to the bigs.  He has a solid chance to become a starter if he makes a good showing this Spring.

Joel Hanrahan: Joel was ranked 70^th best prospect in the nation by Baseball America back in 2000 when he was picked up by the Dodgers organization.  But that was seven years ago.  The rest of his career is rather obscure except for a sterling performance back in 2003 for the Jacksonville Suns in which he won the Southern League’s Most Outstanding Pitcher award.  Unfortunately, he has control issues and hasn’t been able to get himself above AA level with any success. 

Colby Lewis: Colby was “all that and a bag of chips” back in 2002.  In his major league debut that year he faced the AL East Champion New York Yankees and retired seven batters in order and shattered two bats.  He was progressing in the Texas farm system when he blew a rotator cuff, putting him out for the 2004 season.  The Tigers grabbed him upon his return but he spent the entire 2005 year in rehab.  He’s a shadow of his former self – rotators can do that to you. 

Mike Hinckley: I watched Mike pitch at Potomac and he was having trouble – the opposing team was teeing off on him like BP.  He’s never been able to recover his velocity after the shoulder surgery he had early last year.  He’s now 24 years old, so the world isn’t over for him – but he’s got to get it in gear so he can start climbing the ladder.  I don’t expect him to make a rotation spot on the major league team.

Josh Hall: Josh is a semi-local prospect out of Lynchburg, VA.  Even though I have an affinity for a fellow Virginian…I have to say that his numbers recently are still rather unspectacular to justify bumping up to the majors.  The Reds gave him a shot back in 2003 and he was torched - 24.2 innings pitched with 4 HRs and 18 earned runs.  His numbers since then have remained average.  He’s a return invitee to Nats Spring Training from 2006 and he’s 26 years old, but I still don’t think he’s MLB quality yet. 

Jason Simontacchi: Another victim of surgery issues,  Simontacchi last pitched in 2004 for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Labral surgery – very bad word in the pitching language.  He could be ready to go and he was on the Italian team for the World Baseball Classic, but I think his only chance is as a middle reliever at best.

“Old School fans of the Washington Senators begged Major League Baseball for decades to give them their team back.  But like the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, or you'll surely get it.”