Baseball America No. 4 Nats prospect: Erick Fedde

Right-hander Erick Fedde, 22, made a solid return from Tommy John surgery to pitch well for 60-plus innings in the Nationals system in 2015.

The 2014 first-round selection went 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA in eight starts for short-season Single-A Auburn. He also made six starts for low Single-A Hagerstown. The Nationals measured his work, keeping him at 64 combined innings just over a year removed from the procedure.

All indications point to Fedde making the next step in the system, similar to what top selection Lucas Giolito did last season.

Fedde is the No. 4 Nats prospect in Baseball America's organizational top 10.

No. 4 RHP Erick Fedde

Will Fedde begin the 2016 season in Hagerstown or high Single-A Potomac?

Baseball America editor-in-chief John Manuel said he believes it is what kind of overall impact Fedde makes the entire season that people will remember.

"To me, Erick Fedde is another kind of breakout potential guy for 2016," Manuel said. "He's another guy who I don't expect him in the big leagues in 2016, but it wouldn't shock me if he got up in some bullpen role towards the end of the year if he were healthy.

"I remember talking to (Nationals assistant general manager) Kris Kline about him, just how excited they are about Erick Fedde's potential and how they well see him throw. In our internal notes, (our staff) is pretty excited about the athleticism. ... The fastball hasn't all come back velocity-wise during the year. At times, there was real life on the fastball and a little inconsistent coming back off of Tommy John surgery."

Manuel said the fastball is impressive, but Fedde also has other lethal pitches that. when all working at the same time. can really handcuff hitters.

"Sometimes he shows you some real arm-side life going in on right-handed hitters," Manuel said. "He has that fastball in that jams the right-handed hitter and then he has that wipeout slider away. He can pull the string on the changeup that kind of has that similar action to it as the fastball. He's got hitters going east-west. They don't know if he's coming inside or outside and how far inside.

"It's just a matter of him getting on the mound and painting that stuff. That's been his track record historically: real good control and fastball command."

Manuel said the Nationals' experience with starters Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and others successfully recovering from Tommy John had them not worrying about rehabilitating top picks like Giolito and Fedde. The Nationals believe these guys will not only come back and regain their form, but also can return even stronger than prior to the surgery. Fedde could make a head-turning move this season because he will finally be able to string together multiple starts and get more than 100 innings this season.