Part of it also were the projections for ETA to the majors on some of the prospect sites like MLB.com, as well as the ridiculous numbers he put up before the trade. I kind of like the dose of realism Longenhagen put on him when he dropped him to 112 on his list. Probably an over-reaction to a down period after the trade, as well as the hamate, but it pushed back a lot on the expectation of him taking over center in August.
Besides, I don't think the Nats will be pushing their top hitter out of center this year despite statcast not liking his defense 
Those projections are always ridiculous.
And every time his production comes up, I compare him to a dude I saw in A+ last year early in the season who is the same draft class, same handedness, same position and body type, HS from the same state, and a year younger. Here is that dude's present AA line this season: 102 PA, .308/.471/.487, 18/23 K/BB, playing CF.
MLB.com still has him ranked behind Hassell. Now I get that it's still sitting on a pre-season ranking, but I've seen both the players. It's not even close. Other dude (Evan Carter) is the example of a maybe-2023 if Texas is in contention kind of player.
Hassell is a normal, good prospect. But he needs time. He is not Evan Carter. He is not some Elly De La Cruz level freak show. He just needs to play baseball. And yes, there is a chance that it goes to crap and he's Nate Schierholtz. That's what prospects do sometimes.
But now ain't the time for hand-wringing. Sometimes
I long for the era when they used to send dudes like this off into the ether to places with silly names like Chattanooga and silly fans like me would buy cheap tickets and watch them freak up for a couple years while the talent shined enough to wait for the freakups to smooth out.
Now everybody's looking at some 19-year-old's strikeout ratio in low-A and crap like that. Unless it's massively one way or the other, everybody should chill. That's what coaching is for, at least if you're not the Nationals.
Yeah, I need a drink too after going way past two sentences.
