National Record

Here are the Washington Nationals Top 10 prospects according to the current issue of baseballamerica.com(Dated November 14-27th). 

1- Bryce Harper, OF

Scouting Grades(Based on 20-80 scale with 50 being considered average for a a major leaguer)

Batting: 60 

Power: 80

Speed: 55

Defense: 60 

Arm: 80

2- Anthony Rendon, 3B

3- Brad Peacock, RHP

4- A.J. Cole, RHP

5- Brian Goodwin, OF

6- Alex Meyer, RHP

7- Matt Purke, LHP

8- Sammy Solis, LHP

9- Derek Norris, C

10- Steve Lombardozzi, 2B-SS

Great news to open the Veterans Day holiday weekend as Washington Nationals C Wilson Ramos was rescued by Venezuelan authorities Friday November 11 after being abducted by armed gunmen  from his home 50 hours ago. According to Nationals and Wilson’s agent, Diego Bentz, Wilson is on his way home and safe after 4 armed gunman took him out of his home in Santa Ines Wednesday. A winter ball teammate of Ramos tweeted that the 24 year old catcher was receiving medical attention but is ok. More updates as they become available, for immediate information please follow mlb.com and the Washington Nationals team website. 

Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, one the team’s top young players, has been kidnapped by armed gunmen Wednesday November 9th  in Venezuela. 4 men broke into the Ramos’ family home and took the 24 year old rookie in front of his father and brothers. News of the situation is being updated via Ramos’  Venezuelan fall ball team, the Aragua Tigers, twitter page.  The rookie backstop hit .267 with 15 home runs and 52 rbi in 113 games while throwing out 28% of  opposing base stealers(3rd best in the NL). This is the first abduction involving a major league baseball player although the mother of former ML pitcher Victor Zambrano was taken in an almost identical scenario in 2009. Say a prayer for Wilson Ramos and his family. 

Fans of the Washington Nationals got a huge treat on Halloween as the team picked up the option on interim manager Davey Johnson’s contract for 2012 on October 31st,2011. The team played solid ball for veteran skipper of 15 seasons, finishing third in the highly competitive National League East, their highest finish since moving from Montreal in 2004. Johnson took over for Jim Riggleman on June 26th and played strong, going 40-43. The skipper sounded excited about returning in 2012, “It’s just a great organization. It’s one of the better ones I’ve ever been in, if not the best,” Johnson said. “There is no question that I love baseball. … I thought everything worked pretty good together [with the team]. I think we accomplished a lot of things. I would say the last two or three weeks, when I had kind of mixture of talent that I wanted on the ballclub … that’s when I really felt that there is so much more we can do here, and I need to be here to help see it along.” His boss, GM Mike Rizzo, said the decision was a no brainer.“The only questions that I had about Davey taking over [were], ‘Did he want to do it? Was his energy level and his focus were going to be there?’ Even as early as Spring Training this year, I saw that he moved around better this year,” Rizzo said. “He always had the fungo in his hands. He was always pounding ground balls to the young guys.He had the energy and a bounce in his step that I thought to myself, “Wow, Davey is really into it. He is really fired up for the season.’ It couldn’t have been a smoother, easier decision for me to bring Davey on in midseason. It was just as comfortable and easy decision after the season to pick up the option and make Davey the leader of the ballclub.”