Tanner Roark crowded out by ... Shane McCatty?
by d_c_guy on Apr 7, 2011 6:17 PM EDT
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PrintAs many of you may remember, last year the Nationals traded Christian Guzman to the Texas Rangers for two minor league pitchers, Ryan Tatusko and Tanner Roark. For the Nationals it was a good trade, deepening the talent pool in the minors, clearing Guzman's remaining salary and opening a spot for Danny Espinosa. Guzman proceeded to stink up the joint in Texas, posting a .154/.204/.174, was left off of the postseason roster and is currently a free agent (he is reportedly likely to miss at least the first half of this season with family issues). Both Roark and Tatusko performed well up to the AA level last year; Tatusko was particularly effective at Harrisburg, but Roark more than held his own. So far, so good.
Inspired in part by Souldrummer's series of minor league posts last year, since last season I've been paying a lot more attention to the Nationals' minor league system. One of my favorite ways to scratch this itch that is by regularly checking in on Nationals Prospects. NP, led by the indefatigable Sue Dinem (sound it out), has been posting the Nationals' minor league team rosters as they've been announced (for those who are curious, Harper officially was named to the Hagerstown (Low A) roster to start the season. For gluttons for punishment, here are the rosters for Potomac (High A, Harrisburg (AA) and Syracuse (AAA).
Looking through the rosters, I eventually noticed an odd fact: although Tatusko is returning to AA Harrisburg to continue his climb up the Nationals' ladder, Roark's name is no where to be found. Well, OK - thanks to Rizzo it's clear that pitching depth is at a premium. I couldn't find Sammy Solis's name anywhere either, although I know Solis isn't cut; I've heard that he's had an injury setback and is rehabbing in FL in extended spring training. Maybe the same sort of thing is true of Roark
But one thing I did notice that kind of bugs me. On the Hagerstown roster is one Shane McCatty. Yep - he's Steve McCatty's boy. I deeply and sincerely hope that the Nationals aren't cutting or holding back players like Roark, who have some chance of helping the Nationals someday (even if only as a middle relief type), in favor of the pitching coach's son (Shane's stats in low A ball are extremely mediocre). To me that would be very unprofessional, and I truly hope that Rizzo and crew don't stoop to that level.
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There's still a lot to be determined.
We still don’t know the starting rotations for either level. We don’t know whether Roark is injured, released or traded.
I’m not bothered by McCatty’s presence on the roster. Not everybody on every minor league roster is a prospect. Some are organizational depth that fill out necessary innings. Others are guys you have a particular liking to. I heard that some guy named Mike Piazza was drafted late by the Dodgers as a favor to somebody. I’d rather have organizational depth like McCatty who is likely to accept his role and stay in the organization to fill whatever need. Like BOOMER WHITING, organizational depth may show a flash in the pan that makes them relevant for at least a moment or two.
Lastly, as long as they don’t promote him to Pitching Coach and give him the power to start releasing players, I can go along with him. It’s when you give too much power to your sons, Mike Shanahan, that we begin to have major issues. When the time came to it, the Cardinals were smart enough to jettison the Duncans as well despite Dave Duncan’s skill as a pitching guru.
Souldrummer twitters at @souldrummer25
"Derek Norris walks." - Gameday. 'Nuff said. Souldrummer is all in for Derek Norris. Friend of Nationalsprospects.com
Well, I'm troubled at this point, not yet upset
Because (as you say) we don’t know the full story yet. I don’t really have a problem with drafting a kid in the latter rounds of the MLB draft (which unlike most sports goes on pretty much forever). But Shane has now been in the system a couple of years, and hasn’t exactly distinguished himself. And pushing out/redefining organizational depth is one thing, but based on his stats in the Texas League (a hitter-friendly league by most accounts) Roark has moved from OD to fringe prospect in my mind (Sickels had him as a “C” prospect, and listed him in the “others of note” section in his list last fall of the team’s top 20 prospects. Suffice it to say, Shane did not make that list.
As I noted in the OP, maybe there is a perfectly reasonable explanation. But if they let a healthy Roark go and keep McCatty, that would stick in my craw.
It seems doubtful to me that Roark is gone for no reason.
Like I said, let’s see what happens once the rosters are out and the games actually start. With a guy like Solis, he’s high profile enough that it’s pretty hard to hide from the questions. With Roark, who knows everything that’s going on. As far as I’m concerned, anything else we get from the Guzman Two is gravy at this point. Tatusko is at the least a serviceable rotation piece in AA and looks like he could get some time in AAA this year. Considering we gave up Guzman FAIL rental for that, I’m pleased that we’re getting more than we got out of Aaron Thompson last year in Harrisburg.
Souldrummer twitters at @souldrummer25
"Derek Norris walks." - Gameday. 'Nuff said. Souldrummer is all in for Derek Norris. Friend of Nationalsprospects.com
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