Nats' Dominican players honored prior to Marlins game Saturday

The Nationals welcomed their organizational Players of the Year and their Gulf Coast League MVP to Nats Park prior to Saturday's game against the Marlins.

First baseman Jose Marmolejos was honored as the organizational Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, right-hander Reynaldo Lopez was named pitcher of the year, while right fielder Rafael Bautista is the Bob Boone Award recipient and center fielder Juan Soto is the GCL MVP.

All four of these players are from the Dominican Republic and were motivated by each other to succeed, showing how far the development of the Nationals' Latin American talent base has come in the last six or seven seasons.

"Obviously, it's fun to see the hard work everyone puts into it bear fruit and impact the team while we're winning and we're fighting for home field advantage this week," Nationals director of player development Mark Scialabba said. "I was down in the Instructional League yesterday talking to the players about how their brothers are up here helping the team win on both sides of the ball and impacting the game, and they're in Instructional League working hard and trying to improve their skills and maximizing their ability.

"So you don't know when your time's going to be, but it's really fun to see the players in your system come through and scouts do a tremendous job."

Nationals Vice President of International Operations Johnny DiPuglia was there when these players were first signed and knows what they went through to get this far.

"It's a family here, you know, and everybody is vested in these young men. It's a testament to Mark (Scialabba) and his staff. You got player development staff that are with these guys a lot longer than I am and the maturation process that they have instilled in these young players is what you're seeing now."

First baseman Jose Marmolejos has advanced to Double-A Harrisburg after starting this season at high Single-A Potomac.

"Marmolejos was a guy that was a U.S. player and wasn't even drafted," DiPuglia noted. "And we saw him in Latin America and we signed him, but without Troy and his hitting coaches working with him everyday, that's why he's the hitter he is today."

17-year-old Soto impressed the Nationals' development staff so much they decided he was ready to move straight to GCL this season.

"Me and Mark have had conversations about him making skip the DSL level," DiPuglia said. "He trusted me and allowed that to happen and he was able to have a very good year at the GCL because we have a very good hitting coach in the GCL named (Jorge) Mejia. And that's what it takes."

DiPuglia said Bautista was "a premium athlete guy" and Lopez started out as a catcher.

"We give him to (Nationals pitching coordinator) Paul Menhart and he makes him a pitcher. He was a fastball guy and he developed a good breaking ball and a changeup."

This day was extremely special for these players, and you could see the emotion on their faces and how thankful they are to have an opportunity to play in the major leagues in front of them.

"It's been a long journey. We've talked about this, five years ago when we were just in the Dominican Summer League," Marmolejos said. "We'd see the team and we're like: one day we'll be there.

"Even one of my closest friends from here, Wilmer Difo, we'd talk about it, and now to see him there, see that he accomplished it, it's a blessing. You can see that you can get there too. So it's like dreams coming true."

"It's like, when I was a child and I grew up, and I signed, like Marmolejos said, I saw a lot of players get some awards, some recognition, then when I saw Difo (in) 2014, and I said I want to get those awards, too," Bautista said. "I want work hard, play good, and now it's a reality.

"Being here is very motivational," Soto said through interpreter Octavio Martinez. "Given the awards and trying to reach those goals to be here and help the team anyway possible and being recognized for your hard work, it's tremendous."

One of the four now has a very good shot at making the Nationals postseason roster.

"If God blesses me with that opportunity, I feel like I'm ready and willing to help out the team any way I can to help out the team and hopefully win," Lopez said.

"This year, it's a learning process," the young right-hander continued. "There are going to be a lot of highs and lows. I was able to learn from my mistakes and keep working hard like I have been and keep working toward improving and getting better."