Thursday’s News and Notes
Syracuse and Potomac win to highlight Thursday night in the Nats' minors
The Quick Rundown…
| Team | Yesterday’s Result | Today’s Game | Pitching Matchup |
| Syracuse Chiefs | Won, 7-3 | vs. Rochester, 7:05 p.m. | Garrett Mock (0-1, 7.20) vs. Chris Province (0-1, 7.27) |
| Harrisburg Senators | Lost, 3-2 | @ Binghamton, 5:35 p.m. (Doubleheader) |
Tom Milone (11-5, 2.92) and Adrian Alaniz (0-0, 3.00) vs. Mark Cohoon (5-3, 4.36) and TBD |
| Potomac Nationals | Won, 10-3 | @ Salem, 7:05 p.m. | Danny Rosenbaum (2-2, 2.43) vs. Stolmy Pimentel (9-10, 4.18) |
| Hagerstown Suns | Lost, 8-6 | @ West Virginia, 7:05 p.m. | TBD vs. TBD |
| Vermont Lake Monsters | Lost, 8-1 | @ Staten Island, 7:00 p.m. | TBD vs. TBD |
Syracuse Chiefs W, 7-3 vs. Rochester Box | Gamer
Starting Pitcher: Detwiler (W, 1-0) 5IP 5H 3R 1ER 1BB 2K
Pitching Star: Balester (H, 4) 2IP 0H 0R 0BB 1K
Hitting Star #1: Bixler 1-2, R, 3BB, 2RBI; OF assist at 3B
Hitting Star #2: Botts 3-4, RBI
Notes: It may be too little, too late but the Chiefs closed out their home slate with their fifth straight win, a 7-3 victory over Rochester. Starter Ross Detwiler went five innings, allowing three runs on five hits and one walk while Colin Balester and Atahualpa Severino each tossed two scoreless innings in relief. Brian Bixler reached based four times and drove in two to lead the Chiefs offense. The win combined with a Columbus loss kept Syracuse’s elimination number at two with four to play.
Harrisburg Senators L, 3-2 Box | Gamer
Starting Pitcher: Thompson (ND) 5⅓ IP 6H 2R 2ER 4BB 4K
Pitching Star: Martin 1⅓ IP 1H 0R 1BB 0K
Hitting Star #1: Burgess 2-4, R, 2B, HR, RBI
Hitting Star #2: Lombardozzi 1-3, R, BB, HR, RBI
Defensive Star: Baez, OF assist at HP
Notes: Solo home runs by Mike Burgess and Steve Lombardozzi were enough to chase blue-chipper Kyle Drabek, but the Senators were filibustered by the Fisher Cat bullpen as New Hampshire chipped away with single-run innings three times to come back for a 3-2 win. Starter Aaron Thompson threw 5⅓ innings and gave up two runs on six hits and four walks while striking out four. Harrisburg was held to just five hits, and could not capitalize on the six walks issued by New Hampshire, grounding into three double plays. The loss, combined with a Baysox win, dropped the Senators a ½ game behind Bowie in the E.L. West wildcard race.
Potomac Nationals W, 10-3 Box | Gamer
Starting Pitcher: Bronson (W, 4-7) 6⅓ IP 4H 2R 1ER 2BB 4K
Pitching Star: Wort 1IP 0H 0R 1BB 1K
Hitting Star #1: Walton 3-5, 2R, 2B, HR, 3RBI
Hitting Star #2: Norris 3-5, 2R, 2-2B, BB, 3RBI
Hitting Star #3: Moore 3-4, R, BB, RBI
Notes: Jamar Walton’s three-run HR in the top of the fourth broke open a 1-1 game as the Potomac Nationals would break out for a 10-3 win over Salem. Combined with a Wilmington loss, the P-Nats’ magic number is now just two with five games to play. Evan Bronson made a triumphant return to the P-Nat rotation, tossing 6⅓ strong innings with two runs allowed on four hits and two walks. Also collecting three hits were Derek Norris, and the newly anointed Carolina League MVP Tyler Moore, as the Potomac offense collected 16 hits overall.
Hagerstown Suns L, 8-6 Box
Starting Pitcher: Clegg 5IP 7H 3R 3ER 2BB 3K 2HR
Pitching Un-Star: Garcia (BS, 1)(L, 4-4) 2⅓ 4H 5R 5ER 3BB 1K
Hitting Star #1: Leon 3-4, 2R, 2-2B, RBI
Hitting Star #2: Hague 3-4, 2B, BB, 2RBI
Notes: The Suns bullpen couldn’t hold a 5-3 lead, coughing up five runs in three innings as the Lexington Legends took the game 8-6. Starter Mitchell Clegg allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks. Lexington turned four double plays to offset the 12 hits and five walks surrendered. Sandy Leon led the hit parade with two doubles and a single in hs four at-bats.
Vermont Lake Monsters L, 8-1 Box | Gamer
Starting Pitcher: Barrett 4IP 5H 4R 4ER 1BB 5K
Pro Debut: A.J. Cole 1IP 1H 0R 1BB 1K
Hitting Star: Kelso 1-4, R, HR, RBI
Notes: The death-spiral continues for Vermont, as the Lake Monster were spun 8-1 by the Brooklyn Cyclones for their eight loss in the past 11 games. Aaron Barrett made the start ahead of announced starter A.J. Cole and tired the Cyclones out with four runs allowed on five hits and a walk before Cole came on for a scoreless inning of relief for his pro debut. Blake Kelso’s solo HR in the eighth broke up the shutout, the third of three hits the Lake Monsters would manage on the night. The loss dropped Vermont to 2½ games behind Tri-City in the Stedler Divison and reduced the elimination number to just two.
Sue (and others),
After trying for a few weeks to get Keith Law to weigh in on Tyler Moore, he responded to me via twitter with :
“Tyler Moore the Nats farmhand? Just an org player, sorry. Old for the level with a .313 OBP.”
I knew he was older, and struck out at a high rate, but does everyone else believe he’s just organizational filler?
Telling that Law went after the one stat in which Moore has had a hard time improving. I don’t necessarily think of 23 as being old for the level, but Law, like BA, may be another that’s a slave to youth. I think Moore is one to watch because he may be a late bloomer, as Nick pointed out.
This year was surprising for Moore, but the fact that he is not on the AFL roster means that the Nats FO may not disagree with Law. I hope that Moore can prove them all wrong.
Ryan Howard was at the same level at the same age than Tyler Moore…
Souldrummer — I’m sorry for the delay in responding about Eury Perez. The truth is, I saw him only once in July but it was quite the revelation as that day he was by far the best player on the field, using all 5 tools. I admit he was completely off my radar as I usually don’t pay attention until someone gets to Hagerstown. But he WAS the GCL player of the year and spent the first two months adjusting to a two level promotion.
I did some digging and a Basebal America writer was raving about his speed and rocket arm. His stats since I saw him have only gone up and I’m sure next year Sue will have some detailed analysis on him. I can see him rocketing through the system. It’s easier to miss the Dominicans, as they usualyy aren’t interviewed by the press and can’t mingle with the fans because of their English.
@ Positively Half Street
I think the Nationals think more highly of Moore than the minor league writers do but it’s always going to be hard for him to convince people that AAA and MLB pitchers wouldn’t be able to exploit the holes in his swing. He got zero mentions from Sickels heading into the year, deservedly so. I expect he’ll be scraping the Top 20-top 30. I don’t think he’s someone that we count on, but he has certainly earned the right for a full year at AA to try to continue to prove the doubters wrong. He’s kind of like the Tom Milone of the position players right now.
@Mark L
Thanks for the report on Perez. He’s certainly answering some of the doubts that the scouts had about him, and I’ll have to remember that arm the next time I make a Juan Pierre comp somewhere on him. Interesting to me that Hagerstown doesn’t have him batting leadoff with all of the speed. Probably means that they don’t want to put that responsibility on him until he shows the ability to draw more walks. It will be real exciting for Perez to get extended time in Potomac where people like Sue can assess his skills in person.
Keep in mind that a year or so ago, Law, asked about Danny Espinosa, said he didn’t trust his bat. Keep in mind also that Law absolutely HATED Jim Bowden, even more than other baseball pundits did (maybe even more than the founder of fjb.com). Jim’s been gone from the Nats for quite a while to be sure, but it wouldn’t be surprising if there were some lingering anti-Nat bias on Law’s part.
To be fair, a lot of scouts haven’t trusted Espinosa’s bat, and he hasn’t exactly shaken his rep for striking out (116K in 123G). I personally think that the only evaluation that really, really matters when it comes to prospects is who other teams ask for in trades.