Top Nationals Prospect Trending Upward Despite Rough Night

By Tim Durr

While the fans played a game of Clue to find out who "killed" their mascot Pops, Syracuse Chiefs pitching coach Paul Menhart had a clue that his young prospect was having an off night early.

"It was his worst game with us tonight," Menhart said. "He didn't have command of his fastball, and he was working behind. Unfortunately for him, he was facing a hot team."

A.J. Cole is the No. 2 prospect in the Washington Nationals farm system. Heading into Monday night's game, he was 3-0 in six starts with the AAA Chiefs.

The rocky start by Cole was the first clue into how his night would be. He gave up a double to the first batter he faced, a run scored off a fielding error, then he walked the third batter. Cole ended up navigating his way through 4 1/3 innings with three earned runs on six hits.

Cole entered the fourth inning down 3-0 and while the fans were still figuring out who killed Pops, Cole was a few bad pitches away from having his evening killed.

But, the fourth inning was Cole's quickest as he sat all three batters down in order, then watched the Chiefs offense start scoring and take a 4-3 lead heading into the fifth.

The lead shifted back and forth after Cole was pulled and he got a no decision for the game. The Chiefs scored a late run and beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 7-6.

Despite the bad outing, Menhart said that Cole doesn't get rattled easily.

"He's always calm," Menhart said. "This kid's got no pulse. Whatever situation, you can't tell if he's up 10 or down 10. He's that professional and that's what I love about him."

Cole was originally drafted by the Nationals in 2010, then traded to Oakland before returning to the Nationals system last year. Menhart said that his goal for Cole is to focus on preparing him for the Major League level.

"We want to develop everybody to be Major League players," Menhart said." And not just to get there, but to stay there. So we're going to take care of him."

The fans found out Professor Plum was the culprit of the crimes. Cole has a few days to find out the culprit of his struggles before his next start.

After being pulled in the fifth inning, Cole went through his post game cool down, then left the stadium and wasn't available for an interview.

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A.J. Cole's delivery from start to finish.