Nats prospect watch: Raudy Read

Catcher Raudy Read continued his work from the 2015 season and has focused on his hitting during instructs last month, most recently at the Dominican Academy.

Nationals hitting coordinator Troy Gingrich said they are looking for the 22-year-old Read to allow himself to hit the ball opposite field if that is where he is pitched.

"Basically from July all the way to instructs and I just saw him down in the Dominican Republic (a few weeks ago) at the Academy," Gingrich said. "He's learning that there's more than just the pull side of the field. He's learning that he has the ability to drive the ball to right-center and left-center, use the big part of the field. That has helped him tremendously on the offensive side."

Read joined the likes of catchers Jakson Reetz, Matt Reistetter, Jorge Tillero and Luis Vilorio at instructs under the watchful eye of Gingrich and the coaching staff.

The Dominican native Read played 82 games for low Single-A Hagerstown and slashed .244/.307/.369. That is one reason they want him to focus on hitting to all fields as he works towards 2016. Gingrich said considering all these factors, Read made big strides this season.

"If you look at his numbers from Hagerstown, they're probably not as good as he wanted them to be," Gingrich said. "But I thought it was an outstanding year for Raudy growing up in his development, especially the mental side and the catching side alone.

"He's going to hit. He just has that knack and the higher he keeps going up and the more he gets used to how people try to pitch him, he's going to hit. He's going to be that type of catcher. He has that ability."

Read played his last five games for high Single-A Potomac and hit .389 (7-for-18) with two doubles and five RBIs. Woodbridge seems the likely starting point for Read this coming March.