Baseball America Nos. 11, 12 Nats prospects: Nick Pivetta and Austin Voth

The Baseball America top 10 Nationals prospects list was altered a bit after the acquisitions of Joe Ross and Trea Turner. The list bumped Nick Pivetta to No. 11 and Austin Voth to No. 12. Voth, a 22-year-old right-hander, spent last season with three teams, going 4-3 with a 2.45 ERA in 13 starts. He went 2-1 with a 1.43 ERA in six starts with Single-A Potomac. And now let's turn our focus to ... No. 11: right-hander Nick Pivetta Pivetta went 13-8 with a 4.22 ERA for low Single-A Hagerstown in 26 games (25 starts). He started the season 10-2 and Baseball America editor-in-chief John Manuel was impressed with the 21-year-old right-hander. "I like Nick Pivetta," Manuel said. "I like that junior college program he was at, New Mexico Junior College, the coach (Josh Simpson) does a nice job down there. I like the background of this guy. Raw, power arm from Canada, but got a lot of experience down at New Mexico JC. He didn't get into too many bad habits down there. He got into some decent habits." Manuel said the power arm with a 6-foot-5, 220-lb.frame fits right into the Nationals' framework for a starter. "He has the body and the plus fastball," Manuel said. "When I talk to (Nationals assistant general manager Kris Kline) over the years, that's the kind of raw material Kline and the Nationals scouts are looking for. "The main thing in the game right now is velocity down in the strike zone. He's got the velocity. I think the big thing for Pivetta will be the consistency of pitching down in the strike zone, moving forward. "He's 6-foot-5, using that height, pitching downhill. It's a tough angle to hitters so that it is tougher to elevate the ball. He gave up some home runs and tends to pitch too much up in the zone a little." So one key for Pivetta is to try to not leave anything out over the plate, which is always easier said then done when dealing with that kind of mid-90's fastball. "When he misses, he misses up," Manuel said. "So when you are trying to get to the bottom of the knee and you miss up, you elevate a little bit, those pitches will be thigh high. That's what a hitter wants. That's the first challenge for Nick Pivetta. He's got control. Now it's about fastball command, so when you miss where you want to miss, not where the hitter wants you to miss."