For all of the reasons Washington Nationals fans could salivate over the prospect of Michael Burgess in the team’s outfield within a year or two — the eight home runs he already has clubbed for Class A Hagerstown being chief among them — there are also plenty of sobering reminders that Burgess is, in fact, only 19 and still learning how to play.
There are the still-frequent strikeouts, the occasional technical mistakes in the field and all the other trappings of a teenager with tremendous power, a live throwing arm and a ways to go before he’s a finished product.
“He goes up there with a lot of hunger in his stomach. For his development, it’s harnessing that hunger and not overdoing it,” Hagerstown hitting coach Tony Tarasco said. “Those are our battles every day, trying to maintain the aggressiveness at the plate but having more controlled swings. He is a young kid, and this is his first time playing a full season. The natural teacher of experience and growing pains will do its work on its own.”
Burgess was named the team’s player of the month in April for his eight homers and 18 RBI in 25 games. But the 2007 supplemental first-rounder has struck out a team-high 37 times. His batting average and on-base percentage are just .219 and .299, respectively.
The biggest sign of progress for the 5-foot-11 right fielder, who has drawn comparisons to former Pirates and Reds star Dave Parker, might be that six of his eight homers are opposite-field shots. His impressive bat speed buys him enough time to stay back on pitches and still make solid contact, and Burgess said he’s realizing he’s good enough to handle outside pitches without trying to pull them.
“I haven’t known I had that power the other way,” Burgess said. “It always surprises me when I hit one that way that’s out of the ballpark. As long as I think [hitting to the] middle and the other way, I’m going to have a pretty good season.”
Pitchers moving up
Nationals general manager Jim Bowden said earlier in the week the three pitchers promoted from Class A Potomac to Class AA Harrisburg — starters Jordan Zimmermann and Cory VanAllen and reliever Zech Zinicola — all got there in different ways.
“In the case of Cory VanAllen, this was a fastball/change-up pitcher that’s developed a breaking ball that is now putting him at another level,” Bowden said. “It was the development of that pitch that earned his promotion to Double-A. In the case of Zinicola, he was a guy that was on the fast track to the big leagues, and all of a sudden he had a bump in the road, a setback. He came back this year throwing like he did two years ago.”
Bowden said he wanted Zimmermann in Harrisburg to start the season but deferred to others in the Nationals’ front office. All three pitchers, however, could see other promotions before the end of the season.
“I could give you about half a dozen [minor leaguers who will play in the majors this year] and probably be right on all of them,” Bowden said.
Both Zimmermann and VanAllen allowed one run in 52/3 innings in their first starts for the Senators this week, while Zinicola has pitched two scoreless innings.
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