Wooten glad to be closer to home

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on November 29, 2013 1:51 PM

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rhanchett@newsargus.com

The life of a minor league baseball player is rarely relaxed.

There is the pressure of each individual at-bat, the physical wear and tear on the body from a grueling season, constantly changing travel plans and long stretches away from family and friends.

That's not to mention impressing coaches, who decide your fate in the organization.

Goldsboro native John Wooten has learned those lessons during the past two seasons. He hopes his third year will lead to consistent play and an eventual promotion after getting traded by the Oakland A's to the Washington Nationals late Monday evening.

The news came just hours before Wooten underwent an appendectomy on Tuesday.

"The surgery went off without a hitch and I feel pretty good," said Wooten, a hard-hitting outfielder who spent last season with Single A Beloit (Wisc.). "I'm looking forward to taking a week, spending the holiday with my family and letting my body heal."

The Nationals said Wooten would not be added to their 40-man roster, but will join the organization's minor league system.

Washington has Single A teams in Hagerstown and Potomac, Md. Hagerstown is in the South Atlantic League, while Potomac is in the North Division of the Carolina League.

Should Wooten get promoted to Double A, he could play with the Harrisburg (Pa.) Senators of the Eastern League. The Nationals' Triple A affiliate is Syracuse (N.Y.) of the International League.

"It doesn't really matter to me where they place me," Wooten said. "I am looking forward to playing in the eastern time zone again, which will be a lot easier on my family, but other than that my plan is to work hard wherever I am assigned."

First, he must recover from surgery.

"The doctor said I need to take 3-4 weeks before I can start working out again," Wooten said. "So around Christmas time I should be good to get back in the gym and continue my conditioning."

A versatile player, Wooten starred at Eastern Wayne High School and helped the Warriors advance to the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A baseball championship series in 2009. He was drafted in the 20th round by the San Diego Padres, but opted to attend East Carolina.

Wooten spent three seasons with the Pirates and honed his skills at multiple positions.

"That versatility has really helped me in the minors for sure," Wooten said. "One of the things we talked about when I spoke with the Nationals was that they really liked that I can play either left or right in the outfield, and either third or first on the infield."

Oakland selected Wooten in the 37th round of the 2012 Major League Amateur Draft. He played with the Vermont Lake Monsters in the short-season New York-Penn League, and battled .286.

One season later, he moved up to Beloit and continue to impress the Athletics' organization. Wooten batted .257, swatted 20 home runs and drove in 69 runs. Beloit finished 77-62 and lost to Quad Cities in second-round action of the Midwest League playoffs.

"Playing in Beloit was a great experience and I can't say enough about the Athletics' organization," Wooten said. "We had a very good team with excellent coaches and a great manager. I learned a lot about playing professional baseball last year."

Monday's trade was the third such move between the Nationals and Athletics in the past two years. Washington acquired starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez for a package of minor league players in 2011. Oakland dealt for catcher Kurt Suzuki prior to the trade deadline last August.

In order to attain Wooten's services, Washington sent Abad to the Bay Area. Abad pitched 37 innings out of the bullpen for the Nats last season. He finished with a 3.35 earned run average and 32 strikeouts.

"Being traded one-for-one with a major league player is very humbling," Wooten said. "The Nationals representative I spoke with told me that they thought a lot of my potential and that is why they were excited to get me in the trade.

"I have been pretty surprised by the amount of texts I have gotten from guys in the Nationals organization. They seem like a good group of guys and I'm excited to meet some of them."