Catching depth displayed on Nationals' instructional league roster

By Byron Kerr

Nationals

September 13, 2011, 3:48pm

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The Nationals instructional league begins in late September and the coaching staff will get a chance to teach and mold top catching talent within the organization. Three of the players on this year's instructional roster finished the season with the Single-A Hagerstown Suns: David Freitas, Cole Leonida and Adrian Nieto. Freitas hit .288 with 13 homers, 73 RBIs in 123 games. Georgia Tech product Leonida battled through injuries to play 39 games with two homers and 16 RBIs. Instructional will be huge for Leonida because he could use the extra at-bats. Nieto hit .278 with seven homers and 34 RBIs in 59 games. Single-A Potomac Nationals hitting coach Mark Harris was excited about the opportunity to coach prospect Sandy Leon at the beginning of the season and he will be in Florida this month and next to work with the Venezuelan back stop. Leon batted .251 with six homers and 43 RBIs in 109 contests. There are also a pair of Dominican youngsters in 17-year old Raudy Read and 18-year old Pedro Severino. They are products of the Nationals' revamped Dominican academy. Here is the list (ages): David Freitas (22) Sandy Leon (22) Cole Leonida (22) Raudy Read (17) Pedro Severino (18)