VIERA, Fla. -- The Nationals made their second round of spring cuts Friday morning. Right-handers A.J. Cole and Abel De Los Santos were optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, while righties Austin Voth and Wander Suero were reassigned to Minor League camp.
Cole, the club's No. 7 prospect according to MLBPipeline.com, received some mechanical advice from pitching coach Mike Maddux. Cole pitched a scoreless inning during Thursday's 4-3 loss to the Astros, and manager Dusty Baker could already see him starting to apply some of those changes.
Voth, the Nationals' No. 9 prospect, got to experience Major League camp for the first time. Baker said he liked Voth's stuff. The manager also came away impressed with how consistently Suero pounded the strike zone.
"Last night, when [Suero] threw strike after strike after strike on a 3-2 count -- you don't see that too much," Baker said. "On anybody, more or less young pitchers."
Suero earned the nickname "Satchel" from Maddux, so Baker let him borrow a copy of a biography of Satchel Paige. When Baker tried to get it back Friday, Suero said he wanted to take it with him.
"Now I got to get another one," Baker said with a laugh.