Marrero Looks to Move Up Quickly

VIERA, Fla., March 19 -- Chris Marrero is 19, has never played above Class A, and has a goal.

"I want to get to the big leagues by the end of the year," Marrero said. "I might be pretty young, but who says you can't have a high goal?"

Bob Boone is 60, played 19 years in the majors, was an all-star four times and won seven Gold Gloves. He knows something about baseball, and about Marrero.

"He's just a baby," Boone said. "You're talking about a 19-year-old kid. Everyone wants to say, 'When?' Well, when it's there, it's there."

Marrero is the Washington Nationals' top prospect, Boone the vice president of player development. The way Marrero sees it, he excelled at two levels in 2007 -- low-Class A Hagerstown and high-Class A Potomac, combining to hit .275 with 23 home runs and 88 RBI. He would like to begin the year at Class AA Harrisburg.

The way Boone sees it, he would like to have Marrero experience success again, and the best way to do that, he figures, might be to start him at Potomac. "If everything goes like we hope it's going to go," Boone said, "then we can always move him."

That is exactly what the Nationals expect to do. Marrero was drafted less than two years ago, but Washington is already factoring him into its long-term plans at first base. Much of the talk around major league camp this spring has been about the battle between Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young at first. But Johnson's contract expires after 2009. Young's deal has a vesting option for 2010, one that will kick in based on his number of plate appearances.

But assuming, in 2010, first base is open, the Nationals believe Marrero could be ready to seize it at the tender age of 21.

"He has all the makings of the real good players that get there early," Boone said. "He has the look of that, just in his ability. Those guys move fast."

That is the kind of talk Marrero wants to hear. After he clubbed 14 homers and drove in 53 runs in 57 games for Hagerstown, Nats General Manager Jim Bowden and Mark Lerner, one of the team's owners, took in a Suns game and told Marrero of the promotion to Potomac in person. When Marrero arrived in the more difficult Carolina League, those around him -- all older, some former college players or high-schoolers who had been in pro ball for several years -- weren't sure how to react.

"Initially, to see a young guy like that, at first I think for everybody there's a little bit of jealousy," said shortstop Ian Desmond, who spent parts of 2005-07 at Potomac. "Everybody wants the talent he has. There's some envy."

Marrero, though, worked to eliminate that. Though a bit quiet and shy at first, he eventually pulled a prank or two on bus trips. His teammates, Desmond said, started to forget about the rankings -- Marrero is No. 1 in the Nationals system as ranked by the trade magazine Baseball America -- and concentrated on the kid.

"Say there's someone that needed to double-up on the bus," Desmond said. "He would do it with no complaints. He could have easily said, 'Hey, I'm a first-rounder. I'm hitting .300. I'm not doubling-up.' But he did it. Everyone started to realize that he's a good kid and a good teammate."

They also realized his most noticeable quality: He can hit. "He hits the ball harder than anyone I've ever seen," Desmond said. That, in turn, is why Boone said, "We think he'll be a middle-of-the-order, impact bat."

That position has not wavered from the day the Nationals drafted Marrero. There has been, however, some issue about where he would play. In high school outside Miami, Marrero was a third baseman. The Nationals, however, are set at third for the foreseeable future with Ryan Zimmerman. So last year, Marrero moved to the outfield, where his lack of foot speed was a potential problem.

Last fall, when he reported here for instructional league, the Nationals moved Marrero to first. He has played the position all spring.

"You don't even notice him," Boone said. Marrero said he is more comfortable there than he was in the outfield, and that he hasn't made an error yet this spring. "I feel like I've been playing it my whole life," he said. "I feel natural out there."

He looks most natural, though, at the plate. Wednesday, when the major league club was off, Nationals pitching coach Randy St. Claire needed a couple of hitters to stand in for a live batting practice session against right-hander Shawn Hill. The minor league side offered the left-handed hitting Leonard Davis and Marrero, who swings from the right side. When Marrero found out, he said, "We're going to have Hill? I'm going to take him deep."

He didn't quite do that, though the only balls hit hard during the 38-pitch session came off Marrero's bat, a drive deep to center and a line drive that screamed off the screen in front of Hill. Earlier this spring, the Nationals gave Marrero one at-bat in a major league game. He doubled. Thus, the tug-of-war goes on, Boone wanting to slow things down, Marrero pressing to speed them up.

"I really want to get there this year," Marrero said. "I probably won't play this year, but I just want to get a little taste of it. And next year, I really want to be in the big leagues by the start of the year."