Ian Desmond getting reacquainted with high Class A


  http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/news/261512.html


  By Baseball America Staff
  May 31, 2006

  Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond was off to a hot start in his return to the
  level where he probably should have started the season--high Class A.

  Desmond, a third-round pick in 2004 out of a Florida high school, was pushed
  to Double-A Harrisburg to start this season despite hitting a combined .249
  in 515 at-bats last year between low Class A Savannah and high Class A
  Potomac. He got off to a slow start with the Senators and never recovered,
  batting.182-0-3 with 35 strikeouts and five walks in 121 at-bats, so the
  Nationals finally decided to send him back to the Carolina League. Though
  Desmond is mature for a 20-year-old, the club was concerned about his
  confidence level.

  "To say it wasn't a concern would not be honest," Nationals farm director
  Andy Dunn said. "You push the kids, you want to find out--are they ready?
  The only way you're going to find out if they're ready or not is to give
  them the opportunity. (We'd) rather find out than sit here wondering."

  The Nationals want Desmond to work on developing a better plan at the plate
  and not chase so many balls out of the strike zone. And they want him to
  build his confidence.

  "He just got off to a slow start," Dunn said. "I don't think it was
  mechanical. He was just so eager and so excited, he just got himself in a
  hole--there are good, mature arms in the Eastern League. But he never quit
  working."

  The early signs at Potomac were encouraging. Desmond was eager to get back
  on the field and prove himself, Dunn said, and he was 5-for-14 (.357) in
  his first three games, including a two-double game in a 13-4 win against
  Lynchburg on Tuesday.

                                                              --AARON FITT