I’ve already talked about how the Nationals rotation is pretty much a wide open contest. One of the men who will be throwing his name into the hat and fighting for a spot in the rotation is left hander Matt Chico. Matt Chico was eighth on the list of top Nationals prospects but he’s the top left handed pitcher who’s major league ready.
Chico made stops at HIgh A and two different Double A teams because he was traded from the Diamondbacks in the Livan Hernandez trade. His strikeout rate dipped once he got to Double A but he still put up solid numbers. Probably the biggest concern about Chico is he didn’t progress through the system pretty well. 2006 was his third year getting a nice chunk of time at Double A and while the third time was the charm, it’s not normal for a top flight prospect to get hung up at a level for three years.