Outfielder Blake Perkins making good progress in switch-hitting

Building off of what Nationals director of player development Mark Scialabba told me about the early camp outfielders, I reached out to Nationals outfielder coordinator Gary Thurman to get more insight on this group and the progress they have made this spring.

The group includes six outfielders, three teenagers and four players who can
Hit from the left side. The teenagers are Telmito Agustin, Blake Perkins and Victor Robles. The others include Rafael Bautista, Andrew Stevenson and Rhett Wiseman.

"It's really good group of them, I know that," said Thurman. "They are very athletic. Everybody brings something different to the table. All of them are very hard workers. And they have high expectations for themselves, so they are not satisfied with where they are now. I think one quality in all of them is they are all humble. They've got a little bit of swagger but they are not cocky. That will keep them in check for the near future."

Switch-hitter Perkins, 19, was drafted in 2015 out of high school by the Nationals in the second round. He is from Litchfield Park, Ariz., and attended Verrado High School. Thurman said Perkins is advanced for his age and can see why the Nationals scouting department spoke so highly of outfielder's skill.

"Very intelligent kid. Knowledge of the game is well beyond his years at this point," Thurman said. "He's doing a really good job of knowing where to throw the ball, what to do in certain situations, how to shade and read swings. He's a very smooth runner. There is nothing herky-jerky about his movements, which is very good."

It is rare to find a high school player of Perkins' talent. The pool is slim to begin with and many go on to play Division I college baseball. But Thurman said the Nationals were lucky to get Perkins.

"I tell you what, the scouts did their job," Thurman said. "He's a great kid. He's got a great personality. There's a bright future for him. He's got very good qualities. He was raised the right way. His parents did a good job. He's very athletic and he's very smooth in all his movements which are nice attributes to have."

Thurman said Perkins has worked extremely hard to build on his switch-hitting, a skill the youngster has had to build up quickly over the last couple of seasons.

"I don't know if he switch-hit in high school or something like that," Thurman said. "To my knowledge, he just started switch-hitting in instructional ball. And it's pretty impressive with his strike zone command from that side of the plate when he's never been over there."

Thurman said Perkins' ability to switch-hit could pay big dividends as leadoff lefty hitter looking to ignite an inning by getting on base.

"He's made some hard contact with his speed from the left side of the box," Thurman said. "If he can do that, it will be an improvement and it will just take his game to a different level."