Bautista and Agustin add to impressive outfield depth in early camp

Some notes on Rafael Bautista and Telmito Agustin as we wrap up our outfield previews from the early camp in Florida. All of these players will be getting their assignments in the next few days as the 2016 season gets rolling.

You might have caught outfielder Bautista, 23, getting an at-bat at the end of the Nationals game against the Braves on March 27. It was an infield popup, so it did not demonstrate what he is capable of in the long term. Bautista is still a top 10 prospect and he has made a good amount of improvement as he learns the language and gets acclimated to the pro game.

"He's a plus-plus outfielder to me," said Nationals outfielder coordinator Gary Thurman. "Coming from the Dominican, it was a little bit slow, but he's the type of the guy that you tell him something one time and he does it. I remember two years ago, I wanted him to learn a few words just for outfield communication. And the next day he came in he knew the words and the meaning of the words. He started using them right away. He's a very, very hard worker. He's very consistent out there in the outfield. He's a base stealer as well."

Thurman also says that 19-year-old U.S. Virgin Islands outfielder Agustin has made the biggest strides at this year's early camp. Agustin played 45 games in the Nationals minor league system at the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and short-season Single-A Auburn last season, slashing .318/.400/.484. He was signed as a free agent in 2013.

"He's going to play the little man's game a little bit," Thurman said. "He can bunt, (a) slap hitter. Occasionally he will drive a ball. At this point, he's my most improved outfielder from last year to this year. He has learned the mental side of the game. The consistency he has in taking his routes and his angles to balls are coming along at a good pace."

The Nationals have loved seeing the accumulation of talent, energy and athleticism this entire outfield group brings to the table grow and get better throughout camp, especially comparing them to where they wrapped up in 2015.

"The energy of this group is very impressive," Thurman said. "You got Bautista in there and he's ready to go. (Andrew) Stevenson is ready to roar. (Victor) Robles brings a lot of energy and excitement. (Blake) Perkins he's kind of the suave guy, we call him 'Smooth.' Because everything he does is smooth, not herky-jerky. (Rhett) Wiseman brings some excitement with the kind of power he has in his bat. Agustin seems to find the barrel all the time.

"It's good that they're very aggressive because it's hard to push someone to be aggressive. It's a little bit easier to tame that aggressiveness with some intelligence and that's the path we are on right now."