Raudy Read Steps Up His Game

WASHINGTON—Catcher Raudy Read enters this spring on the 40-man roster and with a label he hasn’t necessarily had in the past. He will head to Double-A Harrisburg, where he is expected to be a leader.

Tripp Keister, Read’s manager last year at high Class A Potomac, said he noticed a more take-charge attitude from his catcher, whom he first saw in the Carolina League late in 2015.

“I thought he made tremendous strides with his maturity, and that really helped him with dealing with the failure of the game,” Keister said. “He’s always had tools, but being able to reach his tools and fight that daily adversity, that maturity really helped.”

Read played his way into the middle of the Potomac lineup. He hit .262/.324/.415 in 101 games and was especially hot in August, when he hit .329 with power in 85 at-bats. Overall, the righthanded hitter who signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2011 had 40 extra-base hits while drawing 31 walks and striking out 53 times.

“He was a presence in our lineup in the four-hole,” Keister said. “He was an RBI guy. He had good at-bats every time. He really worked hard. He was invested with the pitching staff, which I thought really made him better with his game-calling.”

The 23-year-old Read threw out 31 percent of basestealers, bringing his career mark down to 39 percent. But in other areas on defense, he picked up his game.

“He has the tools to be a frontline catcher,” farm director Mark Scialabba said. “He certainly has the arm strength and receiving skills and the raw power to be someone who can drive in runs, and he’s learning to hit the ball to all fields.

“Guys respect him. His teammates respect him. You certainly see that maturity, and people look to him and feed off of his energy and positive attitude.”

CAPITAL GAINS

• Four of the organization’s minor leaguers made rosters for the World Baseball Classic. Catcher Jhonatan Solano and utility infielder Adrian Sanchez made the Colombia team, while catcher Nick Rickles and lefthander R.C. Orlan made the Israel roster.

• The Nationals traded 21-year-old Dominican righthander Jeffrey Rosa, who pitched in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, to the Rays for lefthander Enny Romero, who is out of minor league options.

— Lacy Lusk is a writer based in Virginia