Baseball Prospectus No. 8 Nats prospect: Jake Johansen

It is intriguing to watch the progress of one of the top Nationals pitching prospects as he gains experience and also gets to work with first-rounder Lucas Giolito. At 6-foot-6 and 235 lbs., Jake Johansen is an imposing fixture on the mound. It had to be little fun for South Atlantic League batters to face a one-two punch of a pair of 6-foot-6 hurlers in the Nationals low Single-A rotation.

No. 8: right-hander Jake Johansen

Baseball Prospectus ranked the Dallas Baptist right-hander No. 8 on their top 10 list of Nationals prospects. Chris Mellen, co-director of the Baseball Prospectus prospect team, said the Nationals have been building the 23-year-old Johansen's innings to get him into a pitching rhythm in which he repeats his delivery with accuracy every outing.

"It's been consistency they've been working with him since he signed," Mellen said. "They're working him as a starter. I think from everything I've gathered on him from seeing him down to talking to scouts and my interpretation as well that it's probably most likely a bullpen fit down the line."

But they continue to work him in the rotation to sharpen his skills, allow him to stretch out and work out sharpening the secondary stuff and improving his fastball command.

A 2013 second-rounder, Johansen tossed 100 2/3 innings for Hagerstown in 2014, making 18 starts and appearing in 29 games. He compiled a 5-6 record with a 5.19 ERA, striking out 89 batters and issuing 55 walks.

"I see it as a guy who, when all said and done, if they convert him at some point in time to potentially slide towards that back of the bullpen, whether it's a setup type guy, a guy who gets key outs in the seventh inning," Mellen said. "I'm not sure about closer potential, per se, but (he's) as a good back of the bullpen bridge type guy who could come in and get you some key outs, work off that fastball."

This makes sense. Since July 29, Johansen worked exclusively out of the bullpen, making 10 consecutive appearances as a reliever.

"I know that since he's been working as a starter, after he signed, he's low to mid-90s mph," Mellen said. "He has in the past when he was in college working on a longer rest schedule, maybe once a week, he'd be able to dial up and punch up to the high 90s. He's got that ability in the shorter settings. Again, coming out for an inning, be able to reach back, mid-90's to high 90's mph with his fastball."

Mellen said he has also seen advancement in Johansen's other pitches, which is a good sign as he potentially takes that next step to high Single-A in 2015.

"His breaking ball has been progressing," Mellen noted. "He has two looks to it. He shows more of a true slider in upper reaches of his velocity and the thinking with that is if he can continue to sharpen it and work on the angle and sharpen that break, he can round it out into a true slider-type pitch in the low 80s to mid-80s. It gets kind of slurvy and curveball-ish down in the mid-range of his velocity and the thinking is right now potentially when he gets focused on shorter outings, he can spin that harder and tighter."

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