Goodwin, Ballou and Bautista updates from winter ball are all positive

I am getting more positive updates from the winter leagues on some of the Nationals' outfield prospects.

Center fielder Brian Goodwin is now ranked second in team batting for Margarita in the Venezuelan Winter League. His slash line is .356/.444/.535 with a .979 OPS and seven doubles, three homers, 16 RBIs, 16 walks and only 18 strikeouts in 101 at-bats over 27 games.

He has been on a tear the last 10 games, hitting .543 (19-for-35) with four doubles, two homers and a 1.000 OPS.

Nationals director of player development Mark Scialabba says Goodwin is working on "repeating a consistent approach at the top of the lineup."

On location, Nationals scout Ron Rizzi says Goodwin is "staying through the baseball well, using the whole field and is showing a patient approach at the plate."

"We're excited about his progress and are looking forward to seeing how this experience can help him prepare for the 2016 season," Scialabba concluded.

Goodwin hit .226 in 114 games with Double-A Harrisburg and had a nice run at the end of the season during the road swing through Erie, where he had nine hits over five games at the end of August. You can see spurts like this during the season from Goodwin; he had seven hits in a four game stretch around mid-August. So it's nice to see Goodwin building some consistency with his at-bats in Venezuela.

Nationals lefty-hitting center fielder Isaac Ballou began playing winter ball this week in Puerto Rico for Indios de Mayaguez. He has three hits in his first seven at-bats with a double and a walk.

"With Ike, the intention is to gain experience in a different environment and get more at-bats to help expedite his development," Scialabba said.

Ballou hit .304 for Double-A Harrisburg in 49 games and .304 in five games with Triple-A Syracuse. He hit a combined .271 in 124 games for three teams this past season, smacking 22 doubles, four triples, eight homers and totaling 51 RBIs. He also had 57 runs scored and 21 stolen bases, getting caught only five times (.807).

Outfielder Rafael Bautista is batting .289 in 29 games for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League. His on-base percentage is .355 with a .361 slugging percentage. He has made only one error.