Andrew Stevenson - Another great Washington outfielder to keep your eye on

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Okay. Confession time: I have an obsession with players who can hit it all around the field, play all above average defense, and all and all good all-around player. My newest obsession? Andrew Stevenson.

Stevenson played college baseball as LSU and was a teammates with with Alex Bregman, third baseman out in Houston, you might have heard of him. In 2015, Washington took him in the second round of the draft and made it all the way to Hagerstown, Washington’s A ball affiliate while putting up a .308/.363/.379 slash line.

The Nats continued to push him and he started the 2016 season in high A Potomac. He did not miss a beat was promoted to AA and played in the AFL, where he put up a .353/.457/.518 slash line.

What is my boy doing this year? Showing that those AFL stats were no fluke. As of April 26, he is hitting .338/.411/.400 all while playing lights out defense. He also seems to be changing the minds of scouts. Here is a recent write up from Baseball Prospectus writer Jeffrey Paternostro:

“It’s easy to put guys in boxes, especially if they look like they’ll fit snugly. It’s easy to cast Stevenson as a fourth outfielder. He looks the part. A speedy center fielder without much in the way of pop at the plate, who’s not particularly young for his level. As good as his outfield glove could be, he’d still have to hit to have an everyday role. Well, he looked that part too. While there isn’t much loft in the swing, the line drives are loud and he can spray balls to all fields. Stevenson is at least a plus runner, and will take an extra base or two on those line drives. That will help make up a bit for the lack of over-the-fence power. Everything else was what you would expect, he made a couple nice, rangy plays in center field, He went first-to-home with ease on a double. It was a one-game look—which can lead to dangerous prognostications—but I think we may have packed Stevenson into the “extra outfielder” box a bit too soon.”

With Jayson Werth leaving soon, is it too much to wish on a Stevenson/Eaton/Harper outfield in 2018? Only time will tell.

Extra prospect time!

Does this sound like a prospect that should be on your radar?

24 years old.

Hit .286/.382/.495 in High A with 11 HRs in 2016.

Hit the second most doubles in the minors in 2016 at 45.

Improved walk rate from 6.7% to 13.3% in 2016.

Won the Nationals Minor League Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016.

This is Jose Marmolejos.

He was signed as a minor league free agent in 2011 and has preformed at every level. He was added to the Nats 40 man roster this offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. However, on February 24 he was added to the 60 day DL with a forearm strain to make room for Matt Wieters. This injury seems to complicate things but, if healthy, should start in AA when he returns later this season.

Article featured image of Andrew Stevenson – courtesy of Bill Mitchell, BaseballAmerica.com

Shelly Verougstraete

Shelly Verougstraete is the Nationals writer here at Prospects1500. Even as a diehard Red Sox fan, and author of sabermetric based Red Sox blog greenmonsterbb.wordpress.com, the goal here is to keep you up to date with all the happenings down on the Nats farm. Shelly lives in Virginia and has many minor league parks (A to AA) close by. Let's Go Nats!