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[ed. note - “With interest in the Washington Nationals’ farm system at a high level, Federal Baseball has begun a series featuring the top 30 prospects in the system as of late last season, according to Baseball America. We will start with No. 30 and work our way to the top over the next few weeks, with one prospect highlighted each weekday.”]
WASHINGTON – Donovan Casey will turn 26 in February, right around the time most major and minor league players will be in Florida for Spring Training or at least headed that way.
So Casey will need to make a good impression in West Palm Beach in his first Spring Training with the Nationals.
He was able to start that process by playing in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .255 with two homers in his first 13 games.
The outfielder from New Jersey, who played at Boston College, was a 20th round pick of the Dodgers in 2017.
He was sent to Washington in late July in the deal that saw Max Scherzer and Trea Turner head to Los Angeles.
Casey began his stint with the Nationals at Double-A Harrisburg and hit .347 in 12 games, then hit .245 in 38 games with Triple-A Rochester.
“After the promotion to the 3A level he was trying to do a little too much and focused on creating a more direct path to the hitting zone. Donovan possesses the bat speed, power, speed, and defensive skill set to help us going forward and the reps in the Arizona Fall League will provide him with another challenging environment to establish more consistency with his approach at the plate,” according to Mark Scialabba, the former farm director who was promoted in November by the Nationals.
“Donovan Casey made a smooth transition after the trade and impressed our staff with his aggressive style of play on both sides of the ball.
“He is a fearless defender with good instincts and a cannon for an arm.
“Offensively, he hit the ground running hitting the ball to all fields and drove the ball to [right field] especially well early on,” Scialabba wrote to Federal Baseball late last season.