Thursday, May 5, 2011

Stephen Strasburg's Former Catcher Promoted To Potomac


Selik In Junior College
That a player was promoted from Low-A Hagerstown to High-A Potomac this early in the season is a surprise to no one.

That it wasn't Bryce Harper is.

Twenty-three-year-old Cameron Selik, the Nationals' 22nd round pick in last year's amateur draft, is now with the Potomac Nationals of the Carolina League and should make his first start with the team sometime this weekend.

The San Diego native had a good-but-not great career with the University of Kansas, and began his professional career last summer as a reliever for the short-season Vermont Lake Monsters. In 28 innings, he went 1-0 with a 2.54 ERA, striking out 10.2 per nine-innings while walking 4.1.

He moved into Hagerstown's rotation this year and dominated, going 3-0 in five starts with a minuscule 0.31 ERA (best in all of minor league baseball), striking out 9.3 per nine-innings and dropping his walk rate from 4.1 last year to 0.9 this season. His strikeout-to-walk ration last year was an above average 2.4:1. This year it's 10:1.

John Sickels said that the 6'3," 240 pounder is a "strong legs" type of pitcher with a decent fastball that tops out at 92 mph and breaking ball with a "nasty" bite to it.


Starting For The Kansas Jayhawks
A few weeks after Sickels' scouting report was published, Selik hit 95 mph a couple of times in a start against Baylor and he seems finally over his Tommy John Surgery from three years ago.

He grew up catching Stephen Strasburg and started his pitching career in junior college as a member of the rotation as well as being one of the team's closers.

MASN's Byron Kerr talked to Suns' play-by-play announcer Bryan Holland who said that "He has a devastating slider that slips low and away. Cameron also has a great differential in speed between his fastball, slider, and changeup. This makes him virtually unhittable when the batter has two strikes on him."

It would seem that Selik has joined the cabal of Nationals' minor league pitchers on the fast track to the major leagues, but a 23-year-old pitcher in the South Atlantic League should dominate the competition.

Let's see what happens in Potomac this summer before jumping to any conclusions about his future.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

South Atlantic League Pitching Can't Contain Bryce Harper

No matter what happens, Bryce Harper won't be playing baseball for the Washington Nationals in 2011.

That was the guarantee that came from pretty much every one within the organization.

Too much pressure on the kid, they said.

And a couple of weeks ago, they seemed to be clairvoyant. The kid with his own Sports Illustrated cover was batting .235 and hat just one home run. Since then, though, Harper is proving to be every bit the player we all thought he'd be.

In 32 at-bats since April 21st, Harper is batting .500 with six doubles and five home runs. He's driven in 14 runs. He slugging at a 1.156 clip and his on-base percent is .600.

He's now on pace for a record-setting season that would look like this:

At-bats: 569
Runs: 120
Hits: 205
Doubles: 60
Triples: 0
Home runs: 45
RBI: 150
Stolen Bases: 30

Batting Average: 358
On-Base Percent: .600
Slugging Percent: .697
OPS: 1.153

He's on track to walk 105 times while striking out 150. However, since mid April, he's walking more and striking out less, so those numbers will likely look a great deal different by September.

I wouldn't count on the Class-A South Atlantic League pitchers figuring him out anytime soon. They were getting him out easily during the season's first couple of weeks until Harper made an adjustment.

Harper is obviously dominating Sally League pitching. The question is how long the Nationals will let him remain before he is promoted to High-A Potomac. Right now, game time is little more than enhanced batting practice for the Las Vegas native and isn't helping his development.

Currently, Harper is ninth in the league in batting, third in doubles, home runs and RBI, sixth in on-base percentage and fourth in slugging percent. What makes his production even more impressive is his age. Catcher Chris Wallace has similar numbers (.384-7-24) to Harper but is 23. John Massanari (.388-7-23) is 25. Matt Curry (.375-4-19) is 24.

Bryce Harper is 18 years old and in his first professional season.

The team is probably beginning to firm up the date when Harper will be promoted to High-A Potomac, and there is little doubt he'll finish the 2011 season at Double-A Harrisburg. Another good spring (remember, he batted  .389/.450/.889 this year in Viera) and he could very well find himself as the team's starting center fielder this time next year.

This is a team that could make the jump from bad to good very quickly. With Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg on the team in 2012, just about anything is possible.