Nationals' other first-round draft pick defeats the Hillcats

A 2009 first-round draft pick of the Washington Nationals was dealing heat Tuesday night at City Stadium. He made his High-A debut and fanned the first three Hillcats he faced, striking out the side in the eighth inning.

No, not that first-round draft pick.

The Nationals haven’t had a whole lot of contact with the No. 1 overall pick in June’s draft, Stephen Strasburg, but they’ve got the No. 10 pick in the draft signed, and he’s already making a difference. Drew Storen pitched two scoreless innings to record a save in his Carolina League debut as the Nats held off the Hillcats, 5-4.

“It’s funny, because when I went up to Nats Park to sign, a couple of people were like, ‘Mr. Strasburg!’” Storen said. “I said, ‘no, I’m the other guy.’ And that’s fine. If you’re going to be in the shadow, you might as well be in the shadow of the best college pitcher ever, you know?”

Storen was no slouch himself in college. Up the coast from San Diego, where Strasburg was wowing scouts all spring long at San Diego State, Storen compiled a 7-1 record and a team-best 3.80 ERA at Stanford as a sophomore. He led the team with seven saves and struck out 66 against eight walks in 44 2/3 innings. His mid-90s fastball enticed Washington, and the management of the parent club believes it might have found its closer of the future.

The Nationals assigned him to Low-A Hagerstown, and he made his pro debut June 18, nine days after the first day of the draft. His first two appearances were bumpy (three earned runs in two innings pitched), but he settled into a groove and was downright nasty in July. Overall, he struck out 26 and walked none in 14 2/3 innings pitched in Hagerstown. When the Nationals promoted Potomac closer Atahualpa Severino to Double-A Harrisburg Monday, Storen was assigned to Potomac.

He entered in the eighth with a 5-4 lead and mowed down the heart of Lynchburg’s order, striking out Matt Hague, Kent Sakamoto and Jared Keel in succession, all swinging. Erik Huber was the first one to ding Storen, leading off the ninth with a single. But Eric Fryer hit into a fielder’s choice, and Angel Gonzalez hit into a game-ending double play, preserving the victory.

“I like that it was in a tight spot,” Storen said. “I love pitching in tight games.”

Potomac, which has overtaken Lynchburg for the best overall record in the Carolina League, took the lead in the fifth.

Trailing 3-2, the Nationals strung together four straight two-out hits against Hillcats starter Matt McSwain, who was cruising until Dan Nelson ripped a triple off the wall in right-center.

“I was actually glad that he hit that one,” McSwain said. “It was a 3-0 fastball. I didn’t walk him. I got a fly ball out of it. It didn’t really rattle my confidence. They just started hacking first pitch (after that) and were able to put balls in play.”

Danny Espinosa followed with a double to right, scoring Nelson. Jesus Valdez hit a broken-bat single to center to score Espinosa and Michael Burgess doubled to score Valdez and put Potomac up 5-3.

The ’Cats tried to rally in the seventh. Jose De Los Santos’ single to left scored Huber and cut the lead to 5-4. But with runners at the corners and two outs, Jordy Mercer hit a grounder down the third-base line, and Tim Pahuta made a strong throw across the field to nab Mercer at first.