Luke Erickson: Mid-spring malaise in the minors

In Syracuse, which finished with the second-worst record in Triple-A (61-82) last summer, the Chiefs are on pace to win less than 50 games this summer and are already 14 games behind before Memorial Day.

Double-A Harrisburg, which has had its ace (Erick Fedde) moved to the bullpen (and lackluster results as a reliever), has already used eight different starting pitchers. This is key because the Senators have been getting enough hitting.

Single-A Potomac had been hovering around .500 through April, but a 7-14 May has sent them into the cellar of a five-team division that now, with the expansion to 10 teams, includes perennial playoff contender Salem.

Single-A Hagerstown is in first place, but it's a dangerous combination of the South Atlantic League's best hitting covering for its second-worst pitching. In all honesty, the Suns are just a four- or-five-game losing streak away from dropping into fourth place.

Injuries continue to dog the system, as three of the top four Nats prospects have been injured. No. 1 prospect Victor Robles missed nearly three weeks in April and started slowly in early May before returning to form the past 10 days or so.

But Juan Soto (No. 3) is approaching three weeks out and Carter Kieboom (No. 4) two weeks on the shelf, both suffering injuries while running the bases. With the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League not in operation for another month, there's no clue as to when either will return (when it is, you'll see guys like this get a handful at-bats before they head back north).

It's not all doom and gloom. Many of the early-season surprises are continuing to perform, while others have emerged. Like Aldrem Corredor, who's been lingering in the short-season ranks for four seasons, bouncing back and forth between the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League and GCL twice, but is putting together a solid season (.323/.391/.508) at 21.

Or Taylor Gushue, who's bashed 12 homers for Potomac and is third in the Carolina League in RBIs, though he's about a year older than league average. However, with 40-man guys ahead of him in both Harrisburg (Raudy Read) and Syracuse (Pedro Severino) he's stuck at high Single-A.

Finally, I'd be remiss if we didn't mention Harrisburg first baseman Jose Marmolejos' successful return thus far from injury (.381/.413/.619 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 10 games), highlighted by a two-out ninth-inning grand slam on Monday to give the Senators a 14-13 win.

Luke Erickson blogs about the Nationals' minor league affiliates for NationalsProspects.com. Follow him on Twitter: @nats_prospects. His thoughts on the Nationals' farm system will appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.