Minor Thoughts by SuperNoVa

Like I do for my White Sox blog, I thought I would put together a list of the Nats' minor leaguers who are showing patience at the plate. We at Nats Blog do not disguise our affinity for the Moneyball philosophy for building winning baseball organizations. Heck, ERV is based on the basic value of additional bases vs. additional outs - a very OBP-based calculation. I personally find a minor leaguer's walk rates particularly instructive in terms of their potential for contributing to the success (and ERV) of the big club.

My rough benchmark for a good walk rate is 1 walk per 10 at bats. It's probably true that 1 per 10 plate appearance is better, but since the minor league numbers I access do not have PA readily available, AB will do. Without further ado, here's your HTML table:

Team	Name	AB	BB	BB/AB
New Orleans (AAA)	T Bowers	85	9	0.11
New Orleans (AAA)	R Short	68	9	0.13
New Orleans (AAA)	L Broadway	57	7	0.12
New Orleans (AAA)	D Dement	33	4	0.12
Harrisburg (AA)	E Gonzalez	84	9	0.11
Harrisburg (AA)	M Nieves	77	18	0.23
Harrisburg (AA)	R Lane	87	13	0.15
Harrisburg (AA)	C Kuzmic	81	13	0.16
Harrisburg (AA)	C Guerrero	71	7	0.10
Harrisburg (AA)	S Norris	83	9	0.11
Potomac (A+)	V Rooi	4	1	0.25
Potomac (A+)	J Whitesell	84	10	0.12
Potomac (A+)	J Emmerick	32	6	0.19
Potomac (A+)	J Rodriguez	58	6	0.10
Potomac (A+)	K Casto	91	14	0.15
Savannah (A-)	M Lowrance	26	3	0.12
Savannah (A-)	E Baez	90	12	0.13
Savannah (A-)	O Castro	87	14	0.16
Savannah (A-)	L Montz	75	9	0.12
Savannah (A-)	R Bernadina	74	27	0.36
Savannah (A-)	S Mortimer	69	13	0.19
Savannah (A-)	J Contreras	37	5	0.14

That's actually not too bad a list. It looks like the majority of Nats minor league regulars (or, in the case of Savannah, Gnats) are walking at a decent pace.

I've never heard of Rogearvin Bernadina in my life, but the guy can sure take a walk, can't he. I googled him, and he apparently is a centerfielder with raw tools. Here are a couple of clips from a Baseball America chat on Expos Nats prospects:

Q: Mike from Orrville asks:Rogearvin Bernadina, could he be as good as Vlad?

A: Michael Levesque: Bernadina has the potential to be a five tool player but at this point is not in Vlad's class. Then again, not many players are. [ed: what an absolutely dreadful answer]

Q: Scott from Elizabethtown PA asks:Rogearvin Bernadina looks pretty raw right now. Are there other guys in the farm system who have a high potential but are still raw?

A: Michael Levesque: Outfielders Antonio Sucre and Alberto Guzman have high upsides. The 19-year-old Guzman who played in the DSL this year was signed out of the Dominican this summer by Expos director of Latin American Development Ismael Cruz. Armed with five tool potential, he has been compared to a young Bernie Williams.

The Sand Gnats' roster says that Rogearvin is just 20 years old and a lefty/lefty. At 6'0" 175, he'll probably pack on a few pounds as he ages. He's from Curacao! All that exposure to the tropical sun would make you want to take your time at the plate, too. The walking is nothing new for Het Groot Bernadina; he walked 60 times last year versus 450 at bats. He's never shown a high average, but, despite his low average, his isolated power - SLG minus AVG - has been decent over the last few years, over .100 in '03 and '04. It's not great that this is his third season in low-A ball, but at 20 years old, he's still about average or a bit younger than average for his league.

Might he be the Curacaon god of walks? Or the Curacaon Tiki of Pitch Counts?