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Blake Treinen: Piece in Morse trade part of Nationals' bullpen

Blake Treinen was one of three prospects acquired in the three-team 2013 trade that sent Michael Morse to Seattle. After a strong season at Double-A and an impressive spring, the right-hander made his MLB debut with the Nationals early this season...

By Patrick Reddington
Mitchell Layton

[ed. note - "Every Friday morning throughout this season, assuming that they will continue to have us, Federal Baseball will be writing a post over at MASNSports.com's Nationals Buzz, "... as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest," writers to their site. I substituted the word "writers" for "bloggers" there. All opinions expressed are our own... A sample of our third post of the season follows... You can read the entire post HERE or through the link included below."]:

Blake Treinen, 25, and one of the two pieces that came to the Nationals in the Michael Morse trade, made 20 of 22 starts in 2013 at Double-A, where the hard-throwing right-hander was 6-7 with a 3.64 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 33 walks (2.50 BB/9) and 86 strikeouts (6.52 K/9) in 118 2/3 innings.

"He proved everything he had to prove this spring to us. We're all certainly pleasantly surprised with his progress..." - Matt Williams on Blake Treinen this spring

Ian Krol put up a 0.69 ERA in 26 innings at Double-A in 2013. Last June, he was called up to the majors where he had a 3.95 ERA in 27 1/3 innings before he was dealt to the Tigers in the Doug Fister trade this winter.

Treinen was a non-roster invitee to spring training and he stuck around long enough to impress first-year manager Matt Williams, becoming one of the two final candidates for the last spot in the opening day bullpen.

"He's just an exceptional young man," Williams said. The first-year skipper told the now-25-year-old right-hander as much when he informed Treinen he was being sent to Triple-A.

FBB's Recommended Reading:

Nats' Fister throws in extended spring training Williams: "Probably the worst one we've played."

"We let him know that he is our next wave, if you will," Williams explained. "And he proved everything he had to prove this spring to us. We're all certainly pleasantly surprised with his progress and the way he threw the baseball." "His stuff plays," Williams said. "His stuff plays at any point later in the game. It's a bowling ball at 97 (mph). So that's all good. Again, we have some depth certainly in the starting roles, so he may be able to help us in the bullpen."

• Read the entire post over at MASNSports.com:

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