I saw him (again) on Sunday in Bowie. He DHed. Two hits, both singles. One a liner that skipped off the back of the mound, and the other a blooper off his fists that he powered over the 2B's head.
Having seen him in person at a couple levels now, here's where we are: dude is strong and generally hits the ball very hard. He'll hit to all fields, but his power will be between the gaps. Think a Zimmerman or Michael Morse build type and Zimmerman's swing shape, but...why isn't he hitting the ball in the air? I'm asking that as a legitimate question, because it doesn't seem to align with his swing. He had a thumb injury, so maybe there's something in the swing plane when the bat's actually in motion, but I haven't been able to spot it live.
Short story is that he can hit. He can get the barrel on the ball and has the strength to get hits even when he doesn't. He should hit. If he doesn't get the ball in the air, he's wasting his size, and he's a big guy.
Then there's the defense. The Nats now have 3 prospect-ish guys in the upper minors who are 3B-ish. I'd prefer Morales to Wallace, because Morales has a better bat and looks like he does have the feet, arm, and athleticism to play 3B...just not as well as House. At 1B, well, he better effing hit, and I don't know if he will do it enough to be more than an average MLB 1B.
The projection here is somewhere between Michael Morse and Ryan Zimmerman if he lifts the ball, and AAAA if he doesn't. So, uh, next year is kinda important.
