Spring Training Report: Collin Balester

I was reading a article today on the Washinton Post Web site Balester, Detwiler Show How To Make Good Impressions.

Here is the complete article:

Out on Field 3 at the Washington Nationals' practice facility Monday, Manager Manny Acta and some of the team's top hitters got a firsthand look at the organization's top two pitching prospects, right-hander Collin Balester and lefty Ross Detwiler, and it practically defied words. "Ooooooooh-wooooooo," said veteran Dmitri Young, after squaring off against Balester, who at one point froze him on successive pitches, a fastball and a curve, sending Young away muttering to
himself.

"He had extra jump on his ball," Young said of Balester, whom he got to know last spring while in the Nationals' minor league camp. "He always had potential. But now, if someone goes down in spring training, we could see him [on the big league roster] when we head north." Detwiler followed Balester with another impressive session -- at one point, Acta backed away from the cage, shaking his head -- although his command was not as precise as Balester's. "It was all right," Detwiler said. "I want to be a little bit better [about] keeping the ball down in the zone."

The Nationals have not ruled out keeping Balester and/or Detwiler, both of whom are 21, on their big league roster -- in Detwiler's case, perhaps even in a bullpen understudy role -- but are more inclined to send them to the minors at the start of the season.

"We're just going to sit down at the end [of camp] and see if we can carry him in our bullpen -- if he's lights-out, and the other guys aren't as good as him -- or just send him down to get his innings," Acta said of Detwiler. "There's no hurry with him whatsoever."