P-Nats progress for Fabian and Frias

I had a chance to visit with Potomac Nationals pitching coach Paul Menhart and we talked about a few of his pitchers this season and how they are doing. Menhart, as you know, was the pitching coach for Stephen Strasburg during the Arizona Fall League and has been working with the Nats younger pitchers for years. We began with a focus on a pair of Dominican righthanders: Robinson Fabian and Marcos Frias. 21-year old Frias is a 6'2", 190 pound right hander out of Los Llanos, Dominican Republic, while Fabian is a lanky 6'3" 152 pound righty from Santo Domingo. Menhart says the numbers aren't jumping off the charts right now but these P-Nats pitchers have been making good progress a full month into the season. On Wednesday starter Robinson Fabian: "24-year old we got from trade with Colorado Rockies. He's got quite a fastball. It is clocking in at 97 to 98 miles per hour. It is very electric." That is Stephen Strasburg territory, right?: "Yes, speed wise. It is not as simple a delivery as Stephen Strasburg's fastball. He had to hone it and repeat it." I got to see Marcos Frias start Monday, allowed the homer to Seth Loman but then settled down: "He was able to put three more zeroes up after the first inning. His pitch count got up there and he ran out of pitches. He is going to be okay." "He needs to be more consistent mechanically so he doesn't miss in and out as much. He has to force early contact. He has very good sink on his pitches. When he gets the ball down he can get easy and quick outs consistently." "That is what we are working on with most of these pitchers at this level: diagnose the mechanical flaw, work on body awareness and repeat successful deliveries." More coming up next on catcher Derek Norris and his return to lineup, plus updates on pitchers Brad Peacock and A.J. Morris.