We continue our conversation with Nationals pitching prospect Nick Raquet and get more information on his slider. A left-hander with his best pitch being the slider sounds familiar. How does it compare with Patrick Corbin's slider? "It's definitely my go-to," Raquet said. "I feel like if I'm in a pinch in any situation, I'm throwing my slider. It's probably my best pitch. I kind of grip it and rip it. I've never actually talked to Patrick. I would assume he spins the hell out of it. I...

Left-hander Nick Raquet made some nice adjustments early in his 2019 campaign for high Single-A Potomac that allowed him to concentrate on the finer points of his breaking pitch, helping him to end up with a very positive season. In part one of our discussion, we will break down the adjustments he made to turn his year around. Raquet (Twitter: @NickRaquet) made 25 starts at Potomac, going 11-9 with a 4.07 ERA. But in April, he struggled to a 1-4 start with an 8.72 ERA. "Yeah, I felt like I...

The Arizona Fall league today unveiled its 2019 rosters, which included the Surprise Saguaros, highlighted by Nationals shortstop prospect Luis Garcia. At 19, Garcia will be the third-youngest player in the Arizona Fall League. He is No. 77 on the MLBPipeline.com top 100 prospects. The Nats will be well represented on the pitching staff with right-handers Jacob Condra-Bogan, Andrew Lee and Sterling Sharp, and left-hander Nick Raquet. Condra-Bogan is a 2017 32nd-round selection pitching for...

Here are some updates on a few pitchers working for the high Single-A Potomac Nationals. One of those previewed - Kyle Johnston, the Nats' No. 21-rated prospect - was sent to the Toronto Blue Jays for right-handed reliever Daniel Hudson last week. P-Nats manager Tripp Keister gave updates on three other pitchers, all southpaws: Tim Cate, Nick Raquet and Carson Teel. Cate is the left-handed starter taken in the second round of the First-Year Player Draft in 2018. He has gone 4-3 with a 3.64 ERA...

The Nationals feel very good about a couple of young right-handed pitchers from the Dominican Republic who did a nice job at recent fall instructional league workouts. Nationals pitching coordinator Paul Menhart singled out right-handers Joan Adon and Francys Peguero. "Those are two guys that have shown some maturity and could definitely be in the mix for a full-season team next year," Menhart said. Adon, 20, a reliever, spent time with Rookie-level Gulf Coast Nationals and short-season...

MIAMI - Anthony Rendon is out of the Nationals lineup tonight, his neck still sore after an awkward diving play that forced him out of Monday night's series opener at Marlins Park. Rendon suffered a neck "stinger," according to manager Dusty Baker. It's not a typical baseball injury, and because the Nationals third baseman has never experienced it before, there seems to be less certainty about how much time he'll need to recover than more standard ailments. "I asked him if he ever played...

The Nationals made pitchers their pick in nine of their first 10 selections in the first two days of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft. Assistant general manager & vice president, scouting operations Kris Kline said that was by design. "We wanted to fortify our system with pitching," Kline said. "That was the goal going in." Kline said this draft had a good mix of pitchers with "a lot of velocity and guys with secondary stuff." The Nationals selected six right-handers and three...