{"id":4035,"date":"2012-03-12T08:49:38","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T12:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=4035"},"modified":"2013-10-06T10:35:39","modified_gmt":"2013-10-06T14:35:39","slug":"nats-rule-5-lossee-spring-training-update-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=4035","title":{"rendered":"Nats Rule-5 lossee Spring Training Update pt 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_4037\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/meyersBrad_syracuse-Kevin-Littlefield-milb-via-mlb.com_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4037\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4037\" title=\"meyersBrad_syracuse Kevin Littlefield milb via mlb.com\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/meyersBrad_syracuse-Kevin-Littlefield-milb-via-mlb.com_-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/meyersBrad_syracuse-Kevin-Littlefield-milb-via-mlb.com_-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/meyersBrad_syracuse-Kevin-Littlefield-milb-via-mlb.com_.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4037\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Are the Nats gonna get Brad Meyers back?  Photo Kevin Littlefield\/Milb via mlb.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I was thinking about the AAA rotation and how thin it stands to be for my &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=3927\">updated minor league rotation&#8221;<\/a> post last week, when I was reminded that we may eventually get back at least one solid AAA starter if <strong>Brad Meyers<\/strong> fails to make the Yankees 25-man roster.\u00a0 Then, spurred on by this <a href=\"http:\/\/seedlingstostars.com\/2012\/03\/09\/a-quick-update-on-the-2011-rule-5-draftees\/\">Seedlingstothestars.com<\/a> post reviewing all the Rule-5 draft picks so far this spring, here&#8217;s a quick look at both Meyers and <strong>Erik Komatsu<\/strong>, who were both taken in the Rule 5 draft last December but who both may very well end up back with the team.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Brad Meyers Spring Training Stats as of 3\/10\/12: <a href=\"http:\/\/newyork.yankees.mlb.com\/stats\/sortable.jsp?c_id=nyy#game_type=%27S%27&amp;playerType=ALL&amp;sectionType=sp&amp;statType=pitching&amp;page_type=SortablePlayer&amp;season=2012&amp;season_type=ANY&amp;sportCode=%27mlb%27&amp;league_code=%27MLB%27&amp;split=&amp;team_id=147&amp;active_sw=&amp;position=%271%27&amp;sortOrder=%27asc%27&amp;sortColumn=era&amp;results=&amp;page=1&amp;perPage=50&amp;timeframe=&amp;extended=0&amp;last_x_days=&amp;ts=1331473344297&amp;tab_level=child&amp;click_text=Sortable+Player+pitching\">No stats<\/a>.\u00a0 He reportedly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nj.com\/yankees\/index.ssf\/2012\/02\/yankees_cc_sabathia_have_heavy.html\">injured his shoulder<\/a> lifting weights over the winter and, while he&#8217;s throwing off flat ground he&#8217;s yet to appear in a game.\u00a0 I&#8217;m guessing he&#8217;ll get stashed on the DL so the Yankees don&#8217;t have to immediately return him, waiting to see if they get an early season injury.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most pundits (examples <a href=\"http:\/\/newyork.yankees.mlb.com\/news\/article.jsp?ymd=20111208&amp;content_id=26127762&amp;c_id=nyy\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pinstripealley.com\/2012\/3\/1\/2836194\/the-rule-v-selections-analyzing-cesar-cabral-and-brad-meyers\">here<\/a>) seem to think that Meyers is competing for the Long Man spot in the Yankees rotation, what with the late off-season acquisitions of both <strong>Michael Pineda<\/strong> and <strong>Hiroki Kuroda<\/strong> filling out all 5 available starter spots for the team (not to mention the jettisoning of <strong>AJ Burnett<\/strong>). \u00a0 It is relatively difficult to see Meyers beating out the likes of <strong>Freddie Garcia<\/strong> or <strong>Phil Hughes<\/strong> (who themselves seem to be set up to be the 5th starter and long man, depending on the outcome of spring training battles) for this spot, and the rest of the Yankees bullpen seems set.\u00a0 But, without any spring training stats to go by and with his injury status up in the air, and the possibility of a DL trip looming, I&#8217;d say that its safe to say he&#8217;s not getting returned to the Nats any time soon.<\/p>\n<p>How about Komatsu?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Erik Komatsu Spring Training Stats as of 3\/10\/12: <a href=\"http:\/\/stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com\/stats\/sortable.jsp?c_id=stl#game_type=%27S%27&amp;playerType=ALL&amp;sectionType=sp&amp;statType=hitting&amp;page_type=SortablePlayer&amp;season=2012&amp;season_type=ANY&amp;sportCode=%27mlb%27&amp;league_code=%27MLB%27&amp;split=&amp;team_id=138&amp;active_sw=&amp;position=&amp;sortOrder=%27desc%27&amp;sortColumn=avg&amp;results=&amp;page=1&amp;perPage=50&amp;timeframe=&amp;extended=0&amp;last_x_days=&amp;ts=1331474009376&amp;tab_level=child&amp;click_text=Sortable+Player+hitting\">.333\/.385\/.583<\/a> through 12 at-bats in 6 games, playing mostly right field.\u00a0 He&#8217;s got a double, a triple, and a SB.\u00a0 Not bad so far.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.futureredbirds.net\/2011\/12\/27\/rule-5-draft-erik-komatsu\/\">good analysis<\/a> of Komatsu by a St. Louis focused blog upon his acquisition last December; he&#8217;s clearly competing for a backup outfielder spot, what with the team&#8217;s acquisition of new RF starter <strong>Carlos Beltran<\/strong><strong> (moving incumbent <strong>Lance Berkman<\/strong> to the vacated 1B position for 2012).<\/strong> The Cardinals have a clear 4th outfielder candidate in <strong>Allen Craig<\/strong> but Craig is injured and most likely won&#8217;t start the season with the team.\u00a0 Komatsu is also competing with a couple other prospects for a <a href=\"http:\/\/rotoworld.com\/teams\/depth-charts\/mlb.aspx\">backup outfielder job<\/a>, but may very well stick with the team out of camp.\u00a0 I&#8217;d like to see Komatsu back; he was disappointed that he didn&#8217;t get much of a shot in Washington and he was coming off an injury most of last off-season. \u00a0But at the same time this team has been looking\u00a0 high and low for a possible lead-off hitter\/center fielder and Komatsu could (if you squint perhaps) fill that role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was thinking about the AAA rotation and how thin it stands to be for my &#8220;updated minor league rotation&#8221; post last week, when I was reminded that we may eventually get back at least one solid AAA starter if Brad Meyers fails to make the Yankees 25-man roster.\u00a0 Then, spurred on by this Seedlingstothestars.com [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,2039],"tags":[700,1026,72,260,436,321,340,338,408,956],"class_list":["post-4035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-minorspitching","category-natsgeneral","category-rule-5","tag-aj-burnett","tag-allen-craig","tag-brad-meyers","tag-carlos-beltran","tag-erik-komatsu","tag-freddie-garcia","tag-hiroki-kuroda","tag-lance-berkman","tag-michael-pineda","tag-phil-hughes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4035"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4050,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions\/4050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}