Atilano makes most of pitch limit in five innings of work

Luis Atilano is beginning to feel like a prospect again. More importantly, the Potomac Nationals right-hander is pitching like one, too.
After going nearly two years without a victory while he recovered from ligament replacement elbow surgery, Atilano has rediscovered the stuff — a low 90s fastball and a rapidly improving sinker — that once made him a first round draft pick.
With five innings of one-hit, shutout baseball in an 8-0 victory over the Kinston Indians on Tuesday, the 23-year-old once again made the most of the 75-pitch limit that the Nationals have initiated this season.
“When you get his stuff and confidence behind it, that’s what you’re going to see,” Potomac manager Randy Knorr said.
Outs and a lot of them. That’s what Atilano offered up against a talented K-Tribe team that currently resides in second place in the Carolina League’s Southern Division.
Acquired from the Braves in exchange for Daryle Ward in 2006, the Puerto Rico native allowed only two of the 16 batters he faced to reach base. Atilano only struck out one, but he used the sinker to get eight ground ball outs, including a double play, and easily improved to 3-0.
“He doesn’t mess around with his pitches. He throws the ball over the plate and uses his breaking pitches to get outs,” Knorr said. “He knows he has a limited time and he wants to go five every time. I like that about him.”
Three years ago, Atilano was the starting pitcher for the Southern Division in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game. His future appeared to be in Atlanta. But he had surgery on August 10, 2006 and was dealt to Washington just a couple of weeks later.
Now, Nationals Park doesn’t seem more than a few miles away.
“We always knew he was a prospect. That’s why we traded for him,” Knorr said. “It was just a matter of being patient with him and letting him get his strength back.”
The Indians have a pretty good idea of what Knorr means. They also have a young star pitcher in the Carolina League — Hector Rondon — who likely isn’t far from making his big league debut.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Rondon stood on the mound at Yankee Stadium — an all-star playing in minor league baseball’s most prestigious event.
The 20-year-old right-hander faced three batters — each one a highly-regarded prospect — and he sent them all back to the dugout. Three up, three down. Inning over.
That Futures Game performance remains the defining moment of Rondon’s 2008 season, perhaps his career, and suggested that the Cleveland Indians might have a potential ace right in their own backyard.
“He’s a young kid who is going to be really good. He’s someone you can’t try to do too much against. You just kind of have to take what he gives you because if you try to do too much he’ll throw it by you,” Nationals designated hitter Dee Brown said. “He’s going to be good. He comes right after you.”
Four years into his professional career, Rondon has emerged as one of baseball’s most exciting young players — a hard thrower from Venezuela who ranks third in the Carolina League with 110 strikeouts and is tied for second among active players with eight wins.
For all of that success, however, Rondon probably prefers Yankee Stadium to Pfitzner Stadium.
In three starts at Potomac this season, his ERA is 11.05 and it would probably be much higher if he’d thrown more than five innings on Tuesday.
Half a game was all the P-Nats needed to score six runs against Rondon, who carried a one-hitter into the fourth inning and wound up with his fifth loss of the season.
Trevor Lawhorn hit a three-run homer — his fifth of the season — in the fourth to break a scoreless tie and Dee Brown lined a two-run double off the wall in right field to highlight a three-run fifth as the Northern Division leading P-Nats improved to 18-12 in second half play.
“He’s pretty good. The guys battled against him,” Knorr said. “He comes after you with strike one and you have to battle from there.”
In winning the first two games of this four-game series, the Nationals have 15 runs. Last night, they combined for 12 hits with Brown scoring three runs and reaching base five times.
Andrew Lefave went 3 for 5, center fielder Francisco Plasencia had two hits, catcher Jhonatan Solano had an RBI double and Aaron Seuss doubled in a run while the P-Nats bullpen extended its scoreless streak to 11 innings by holding Kinston to two hits over the final four frames.
“We’re just trying to relax and have fun out there,” Brown said. “We’re trying to win this half because most of the guys on this team [weren’t here yet] didn’t get to enjoy the first half.”