Jim Bowden, The Examiner
2007-07-05 07:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

The last two June Free Agent amateur drafts, we drafted 14 high school players out of our first 20 selections. This was done by design, as high school players after the first round have proven to have the highest ceilings.

The result is that our Gulf Coast Rookie League team is filled with teenagers. I visited our GCL club for five days last week with high expectations and was not disappointed.

Bobby Henley, the manager, is one of the best player-development teachers in baseball. He is organized, structured and fundamentally sound.

We have a philosophy of having our best teachers at this important point-of-entry position. And, although Bobby should and could have been managing at AA or AAA, he decided to take this position because he wanted to help the Nationals in the most important development position. He’s a true team player.

Here is a quick glance of some of the top teenage prospects on that club:

Jacob Smolinski. The 18-year-old left fielder is one of our best hitting prospects in our system. He reminds me a lot of Craig Biggio, without the foot speed, a real gamer that can swing the bat with the potential of being a .300 hitter.

Steven Sousa. Also 18-years-old, the third baseman can really drive the ball gap to gap. Our northern California scouting supervisor, Doug McMillan passed away just before the draft. Sousa was the top player on his draft list. We not only dedicated our draft to Doug, but also drafted his top player.

Derek Norris. On May 26, I received an e-mail from midwest cross-checker Jimmy Gonzales that said he just saw the best high-school hitter in the draft. I asked if it was Michael Moustakas (later drafted second overall by the Royals) or Josh Vitters (who was taken third overall by the Cubs) and he said, “No.” It was Norris, an 18-year-old catcher from Kansas. I had never heard the name and it was less than two weeks before the draft.

We flew him to RFK for a workout and were all so impressed with his bat and power that we ended up selecting him with our fourth pick.

Phillip Dean. At 6-3 and 175 pounds has a good physical makeup. The right-hander out of New Caney High in Texas, throws an impressive 92-93 mph with a breaking ball and is a strike-throwing machine. A clean delivery with deception, love the up-side on this pitcher.

Michael Burgess. Newly signed and reported to camp Tuesday. One of the best high school left-handed power bats in the draft. Although we have a lot of work to do with him, his potential is as great as anyone on the team.

Three key teenagers from last year’s draft and international signings, shortstop Esmailyn Gonzalez, second baseman Stephen King and center fielder Stephen Englund, help give us a major-league prospect at every position. All of them are learning and progressing as we expected.

Sandy Leon, a 17-year-old switch-hitting catcher from Venezuela, was our biggest international signing this year, and he has impressed all of us with his defense, throwing arm and soft hands.

Although all these teenagers are 4-5 years away from the major leagues, they all have impressive talent and are major building blocks for the revamping of our farm system.

Remember, our farm system not only provides major league players for our big league team, but just as important, gives us players to trade for already proven major-league talent in the future.

We haven’t had much to trade the last few years, but that inventory is beginning to change in a hurry.

It’s going to be a fun few years watching them develop, whether for the Nationals or somebody else.

As told to The Examiner’s John Keim.

Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden provides an exclusive column to The Examiner each week, ranging on topics from the Nats to the state of Major League Baseball.