Hagerstown catcher Severino surging to prospect status with Nationals

19-year old Dominican catcher Pedro Severino has made a nice step up to Low Single-A Hagerstown Suns, and is off to a good start in his first profesional season. In 70 games for Gulf Coast Nationals from 2011 and 2012, Severino hit .201 with 11 extra base hits and 17 RBIs. Focusing on last season, he hit .220 in 38 games, dwindling his strikeout total from 27 down to nine. Nationals director of player development Doug Harris said Severino is a "high energy kid who is really throwing well. He is a fun kid to watch develop. "He is a guy that should probably be on the radar," Harris said. "(Severino) has done a really good job handling that staff. He has been very competitive offensively. He is a prospect for us." Severino is hitting .267 in 45 games with two doubles, seven runs, a stolen base and five RBIs. In the last 10 games, he is hitting .314 with hits in 7 of those 10 contests. Severino has also done an exemplary job of picking up the English language, and he is communicating well with his pitchers and teammates in Hagerstown. One reason he has done so well is working with teammate and fellow Dominican catcher Raudy Read on the language. Read and Severino made it a competition during the accelerated development program in February and March this year of who could pick up the language at a quicker pace. That advancement in learning English has helped both players in working with their pitcher on field for each outing.