Keister intrigued by team speed as Potomac introduces 2016 roster

By Byron Kerr

Nationals

April 05, 2016, 1:13pm

Comments

WOODBRIDGE - High Single-A Potomac manager Tripp Keister introduced his 2016 P-Nats roster Tuesday at media day and is looking forward to working with the talent the club has assembled again this season. Keister believes they can be aggressive with some speed on basepaths and on defense.

"It's exciting. I think the group of position players, there's some depth to the group, there's some length to the lineup," Keister said. "We're going to have some pretty good hitters one through nine. I'm really excited about the fact that five or six of them can run.

"(Andrew) Stevenson has been an exciting kid to watch. He has a chance to be a pretty darn good one on the defensive side and do some things offensively. He's got some power. He can run. He can also bunt.

"Obviously this crew - (Osvaldo) Abreu, (Bryan) Mejia, (Drew) Ward, (Jose) Marmolejos - in the infield is young and anxious to see how they respond to the step up.

"Raudy (Read) was up here a little bit. I've known Raudy because he's been in the organization a couple years. Maturity-wise, he's really made some great strides.

"Alec Keller is returning. He got called up at the All-Star break and played well. A lot of new faces offensively, which I'm excited about. Don't know the league, but sometimes that's a good thing, just go and play, do what you've done. We're going to make some mistakes, that's kind of our job. We make some mistakes and then we correct them and move forward."

The Nationals' first-round selection in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft, right-hander Erick Fedde will start the P-Nats' third game. Right-handers Koda Glover and Ryan Brinley will lead a talented bullpen.

Keister said Phillips Valdez will start opening day and "really pitched well here last year. Looking for him to pick up where he left off." Wirkin Estevez will start the second game. Then Fedde gets to pitch, while right-hander Boone Whiting gets the fourth start and right-hander Luis Reyes takes the fifth game.

Stevenson will lead off and play centerfield for the P-Nats.

The P-Nats begin at Wilmington Thursday. Their home opener is April 14, also against Wilmington.

Here is a rundown of the roster for the Potomac Nationals:

Right-handed pitchers
Ryan Brinley
Wirkin Estevez
Erick Fedde
Koda Glover
Jake Johansen
Brian Rauh #
Luis Reyes
Andrew Robinson
Mario Sanchez
Derek Self
Phillips Valdez
Boone Whiting