The Suns were not a prospect-laden team in 2015 as the parent Washington Nationals begin to pay the price in the draft for their improvement in the standings in Washington.As has also been the more the rule than the exception,the Nationals provided little in power hitting potential as only one Sun reached double digits in homers (11).
Some of that does have to do with beloved Municipal Stadium as the left to left center power alleys have to rank among the hardest in the game to get a ball out of.
I'd wager that if you charted such things,I bet there aren't anymore than 20 homers between home and away teams hit to left and left center all season.
It's damaging to the power numbers of righthanded hitters for sure,so keep that in mind as some righthanded players will suddenly seem to develop power at High A Potomac and AA Harrisburg that simply have struggled at a power challenged park such as the Muni.
There were four players who intrigued me at various points in the season,so I'll discuss them first and then move along to smaller bullet points for other Suns that I might have questions or opinions about their 2015 season and prospects as a (well) prospect.
The conventional prospect that was a Sun all season was first baseman Jose Marmolejos,who put together a season that was worthy of prospect status with a .310 (avg),11 (HR) and 87 (RBI) line with a ops of 848.
Marmolejos turns 23 over the winter,so this wasn't a case of a totally overage player doing so well and if you want to look at the stat the interests me the most-39 doubles. I bet that the Muni alone cost him a few homers,although not as many as others as Marmolejos hit from the left side.
His 89 strikeouts are a little above average,but nothing to raise a huge red flag about and his fielding could be improved as he had his share of clunkers.
Far from a sure bet,I'm interested to see Marmolejos next season at High A Potomac.
Catcher Raudy Read came to Hagerstown rated pretty highly by some,but injury issues limited him to 82 games.
Reid reminded me some of former Sun and current National Pedro Severino,but I'd rate his arm a level less than the strong-armed Severino,although Read's is quite strong,but I think he has the potential to be a better bat than Severino,certainly with more power.
Read hit just .244,but he kept his strikeouts reasonable (50 in 82 games) and turns 22 over the winter.
If it were me,Read (at 22 for next season) would start the season back in Hagerstown and get a promotion after a month or so,but Washington has another catching prospect at Auburn in Jackson Reetz that will start with the Suns next year.
Read looks to be just good enough as a prospect to perhaps be a consideration for other teams in trades over the winter-he may be blocked in this one.
2015 second rounder Andrew Stevenson arrived in Hagerstown for the final 35 games of the season and quickly became a Muni fan favorite.
The former LSU Tiger has above average speed (16 steals in 20 attempts) and his hustle resulted in many spectacular catches as a plus defender.
Stevenson also started really hot at the plate before cooling off to .285/1/16 line.
Stevenson specialized as a lefty in going the other way and hitting soft liners over the head of the third baseman,so his .285 was a very soft average as his .695 OPs will attest.
Stevenson will have show a little more than that to progress beyond a potential fourth outfielder type,but he is lots of fun to watch and won't turn 22 until next June,so he has a little time to develop.
The most surprising on this list is Bryan Mejia,who arrived on June 30th as an unheralded prospect and then proceeded to hit everything in sight for two months.
Mejia hit a blistering 345/5/46 in Hagerstown with NINE triples and an OPS over .924!
His previous history didn't indicate anything close to a breakout like this,so one could think this was a player old for the SAL level,but that's not true either as Mejia played the entire season at 21.
I just cannot find anything to pick at Mejia about other than an iffy glove (13 errors),which could just as easily be attributed to the bizarre Nationals fetish of playing infielders at 2b,ss,and 3b on a whim instead of allowing a prospect to settle in somewhere.
I'd just park him at second next year and watch his development,but I'd bet that doesn't happen.
This could be a blip on the screen of a career or a breakout season,but Bryan Mejia has made my list of players to watch in 2016.
Here are some quick thoughts on the rest of the 2015 Suns position players
The Suns ran through three catchers that hardly played (18 games combined),so I'm skipping them for this article.
Matt Reistetter was the main backup mitt and played during Raudy Read's injury.
Reisetter hit surprisingly well (.308),but had lots of defensive issues and doesn't seem to be a threat against the running game.
The former Hofstra Flying Dutchman might be headed for that organizational soldier in the reserve catcher mold.
At first,Jose Marmolejos dominated the position as only multiple time Sun Carlos Lopez (who was then released) and a short 13 game stint from Diomedes Eusebio that was most memorable for Eusebio taking the mound in a blowout got even a cameo appearance.
In such a short sample,I wouldn't feel right about rating Eusebio's talents.
I referred earlier to the Nationals liking to move players around the infield,so I will just roll along here with the infield rather than by specific position.
Unless noted,assume they played the middle infield and third base,
Osvaldo Abreu was the standout among this group as he played the most (123 games),hit the best (274/6/47) and was the youngest (21).
Some like Abreu more than I and compare him to Wilmer Difo.
I still consider the jury out on Difo himself,let alone his successor and 30 errors really give me pause.
Abreu is interesting and next year at High A will give me a better feel for him.
Like Bryan Mejia,I'd give him a position defensively and let him play....
Grant DeBruin hit .327 in 69 games at first and third in Hagerstown before a promotion to High A Potomac,but he hit just two homers and he should have hit that well here.
DeBruin is 25 and a former independent player,very old for the level and I don't consider him a prospect.
All of the next few players fit the same mold-light hitting,can play multiple positions and only will receive regular playing time,if there is not a real prospect to play somewhere.
Former Pepperdine Wave Austin Davidson hit six homers,which for this team made him a reasonable power threat,but hit only .202 doing it.
Cody Dent hit just .226 here before a promotion to Potomac (which must have been a need somewhere) and his season ended due to unknown reasons after just nine games there.
My memory of Dent this season was seeing him walk smiling into the Harrisburg clubhouse after a drive from Hagerstown after a promotion and then five minutes later leaving being told he wasn't promoted.
His bags must have never left his hands!
David Masters hit a punchless .230 and committed over twenty errors before a promotion that left regulars at the Muni stunned.
Masters will be an organizational soldier at best or his fate will resemble that of Brennan Middleton,who hit .198 in his second year in Hagerstown before being released.
Former Wake Forest product Conor Keniry struggled in his month in the Hub City and being 24 by the start of next season,may not even get a chance here next season,although he could be given another shot off a small sample size.
The outfielders didn't really produce a prospect although a few show enough to hope for.
Former Princeton Tiger Alec Keller hit well in hitting .294 in a year split almost equally between Hagerstown and Potomac,bur he didn't hit a homer in either place and his skills might be redundant with Andrew Stevenson moving through the system.
I look for Keller to have a chance to start in AA Harrisburg,if the Nationals want to keep Keller and Stevenson separated for a while.
Dale Carey looks the part as far as tools go and is one of my favorite Suns in a long time.
That makes it sad to say that the numbers didn't add up (234/8/52) for prospect status.
Carey is a plus defender with an excellent arm,so I'm not ready to push him aside,but playing next year at 24 makes 2016 a make or break year for the Miami Hurricane.
Jeff Gardner hit just .226 in being in Hagerstown all season and showed the Nationals issues with picking light hitting college players in round eight-twelve.
Lacking power (5 homers) and speed (8 steals),Gardner too enters 2016 in need of a breakout season.
Matthew Page spent the last two months here playing first and the outfield and despite not hitting a homer,had a fair OPS (.741) and 30 walks showed a good eye.
Another college player in the draft range as referred to with Jeff Gardner,Page might be back here next season at 24,where he will need a good start.
Wilmin Rodriguez spent his second Hagerstown season on the DL for much of the season.
Other than having the coolest looking Suns team card in a long time (a great shot of a sliding catch),Rodriguez looked pretty average.
Considering Rodriguez turns 25 in the middle of next season,I place him firmly in the organizational soldier slot.
Hope you enjoyed this look at the Suns hitters.
I'll work on the pitchers sometime this week!
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