Nationals agree to terms with 18 players from '11 Draft

The Washington Nationals have agreed to terms with 18 players selected in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft: third baseman Matt Skole (fifth round), right-handed pitcher Brian Dupra (7th round), right-handed pitcher Manny Rodriguez (10th round), outfielder Caleb Ramsey (11th round), left-handed pitcher Blake Monar (12th round), shortstop Deion Williams (16th round), left-handed pitcher Todd Simko (21st round), right-handed pitcher Travis Henke (22nd round), second baseman Khayyan Norfork (23rd round), catcher Erick Fernandez (25th round), outfielder Shawn Pleffner (26th round), left-handed pitcher Bobby Lucas (27th round), right-handed pitcher Kenneth Ferrer (28th round), second baseman Trey Karlen (33rd round), right-handed pitcher Alex Kreis (35th round), left-handed pitcher Ben Hawkins (36th round), third baseman Bryce Ortega (41st round) and right-handed pitcher Ritchie Mirowski (45th round). Nationals Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Nationals Assistant General Manager & Vice President of Player Personnel Roy Clark and Nationals Director of Scouting Kris Kline made the joint announcement. Skole, the Nationals' fifth-round selection out of Georgia Tech, batted .348 with 16 doubles, 10 home runs, 58 RBI and 44 walks in 61 games last season. The 21-year-old left-handed batter posted .445 on-base and .545 slugging percentages en route to Second-Team All-ACC honors. During his three-season collegiate career with the Yellow Jackets, Skole batted .329 with 47 home runs and 179 RBI. SIGNED PLAYERS FROM 2011 MLB FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT RD PICK PLAYER POS B/T HT WT DOB SCHOOL 5 157 Matt Skole 3B L/R 6-3 230 7/30/89 Georgia Tech Univ. 7 217 Brian Dupra RHP R/R 6-3 205 12/15/88 Notre Dame Univ. (IN) 10 307 Manny Rodriguez RHP R/R 6-2 225 1/12/89 Barry Univ. (FL) 11 337 Caleb Ramsey OF L/R 6-3 210 10/7/88 Univ. of Houston (TX) 12 367 Blake Monar LHP L/L 6-2 205 6/16/89 Indiana Univ. 16 487 Deion Williams SS R/R 6-3 185 11/11/92 Redan HS (GA) 21 637 Todd Simko LHP L/L 6-4 225 12/5/88 Texas A&M Univ.-Corpus Christi 22 667 Travis Henke RHP R/R 6-6 250 7/9/88 Univ. of Arkansas-Little Rock 23 697 Khayyan Norfork 2B R/R 5-10 190 1/19/89 Univ. of Tennessee 25 757 Erick Fernandez C R/R 5-11 190 11/30/88 Georgetown Univ. (DC) 26 787 Shawn Pleffner OF L/R 6-5 225 8/17/89 Univ. of Tampa (FL) 27 817 Bobby Lucas LHP L/L 6-4 220 8/12/87 George Washington Univ. (DC) 28 847 Kenneth Ferrer RHP R/R 6-1 220 12/13/89 Elon Univ. (NC) 33 997 Trey Karlen 2B R/R 5-11 195 4/23/88 Univ. of Tennessee-Martin 35 1057 Alex Kreis RHP R/R 6-1 210 1/1/89 Jamestown College (ND) 36 1087 Ben Hawkins LHP L/L 6-0 180 11/4/89 Univ. of West Florida 41 1237 Bryce Ortega 3B R/R 5-10 165 9/22/88 Univ. of Arizona 45 1357 Ritchie Mirowski RHP R/R 6-2 190 4/30/89 Oklahoma Baptist Univ.