P-Nats offense spotlight: Sagdal, Wiseman, Gushue, Davidson, Johnson

I sat down with high Single-A Potomac Nationals manager Tripp Keister as the club embarked on a road trip this weekend into Winston-Salem.

Keister likes what he has seen in the work ethic of his ballclub and went over a few of the offensive players on the P-Nats and their season's work to date:

First baseman Ian Sagdal: .251/.303/.397, .324 in last 10 games

"He's second in the league in RBIs. He's really done well. He's gotten better offensively each month, he's raising his average each month. He's got 10 homers now, and 63 RBIs. He's moving around the diamond a little bit, playing third base, playing first base."

Right fielder Rhett Wiseman: 10 homers, 45 RBIs

"Rhett Wiseman had a great month of July. I think he hit over .300 in the month of July. His average was pretty low before that. Turned it up a little bit."

Catcher Taylor Gushue: 17 homers, 62 RBIs

"Taylor Gushue. His numbers average-wise don't stick out at you, I think he's around .260, in that range. But he's still got power numbers, RBIs and homers."

Center fielder Daniel Johnson: .372 in last 10 games

"It's easy to look and see Daniel Johnson has come up since Victor (Robles) got promoted. Daniel's stepped in and really been a spark plug. He's gotten some big hits for us. He's had really good at-bats with runners in scoring position and game-on-the-line-type stuff. He's been good."

Second baseman Austin Davidson: 21 doubles, 7 homers, 48 RBIs; .278 last 10 games

"Austin Davidson all year. I think he's at .280, .275, with a lot of RBIs."

The P-Nats are 49-61, but Keister says the club has concentrated on building and honing fundamentals, and has begun to see some better results in the second half of the season.

"Our record does not indicate the way we have played lately," Keister said. "We have been in ballgames, we compete. We lose some close games sometimes for whatever reason. We are all still learning. The group is still learning how to win and how to finish games. But that's OK. We are going to keep competing until Sept. 5, or until they tell us the season is over."

Coming this week, I will have more information on the work of No. 1 Nationals prospect Robles and a focus on the the P-Nats pitching staff.