Monday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Lost, 13-3 | vs. Durham, 7:00 p.m. |
Young (0-0, 12.46) vs. Odorizzi (1-0, 4.09) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 1-0 | @ New Britain, 7:00 p.m. |
Paul Demny (1-2, 4.57) vs. May (1-1, 2.11) |
| Potomac | Lost, 9-5 | vs. Carolina, 7:05 p.m. |
Schwartz (1-0, 0.00) vs. Morimando (1-2, 1.80) |
| Hagerstown | Won, 3-0 | vs. Hickory, 10:35 a.m. |
Rauh (1-1, 5.51) vs. Smith (3-0, 2.45) |
Durham 13 Syracuse 3
• Ohlendorf (L, 2-3) 6⅓ IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 4K, HR
• Roark 2IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 0K, 0HR
• Marrero 3-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Rivero 2-3, 2B, HBP
A six-run 7th started the running of the Bulls as Durham scored ten unanswered runs in a 13-3 blowout of Syracuse. Starter Ross Ohlendorf was perhaps pushed an inning too far as he was charged with four runs on four hits and three walks over six and a 1/3rd innings. Xavier Cedeno’s first appearance for the Chiefs was a forgettable three batters faced, zero batters retired. Chris Marrero led the Syracuse offense with a 3-for-4 afternoon that improved his line to .352/.405/.676 with 6HR and 20RBI in 21 games.
Harrisburg 1 Bowie 0
• Treinen (W, 2-3) 6⅔ IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB, 6K
• McCoy (H, 1) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K, 1-0 IR-S
• Barrett (SV, 4) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Bloxom 2-4, R, 2B
• Leon 1-3, SF, RBI
Blake Treinen outdueled O’s prospect Kevin Gausman as the Senators shut out the BaySox, 1-0. Treinen pitched into the 7th and let up just three hits and three walks to go with six strikeouts for his second win of the season. Pat McCoy retired four of the five batters he faced, issuing just a two-out walk to earn the hold while Aaron Barrett came on again in the 9th to set down Bowie in order for his fourth save. Sandy Leon’s sac fly in the 2nd plated Justin Bloxom, who led off the inning with a double and advanced to 3rd on a Destin Hood groundout.
Myrtle Beach 9 Potomac 5
• Cole 6IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 7K
• Bates (BS, 1; L, 0-3) 1IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 0K
• Ramsey 2-4, R, 2B
• Oduber 1-4, 2B, 2RBI, 3K, SB, 2E
Three times the P-Nats called, building leads of 3-0, 4-1, and 5-3. Three times the Pelicans answered, narrowing it to 3-1 and 4-3 before taking a 6-5 lead in the 7th. A sloppy bottom of the 8th (error, HBP) gave Myrtle Beach three more as they cruised to 9-5 win over Potomac and took the series, 2-1. Despite struggling with his command, starter A.J. Cole notched a quality start with three runs allowed on six hits and two walks to go with seven strikeouts. Colin Bates took the loss, his third, after surrendering the lead on three runs in a three-hit, no-walks 7th. Caleb Ramsey was the sole P-Nat to get multiple hits with a single and a double in four trips to the plate.
Hagerstown 3 Hickory 0
• Pineyro (W, 1-2) 6IP, 3H, 0R, 2BB, 12K
• Fischer (SV, 2) 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 6K
• Pleffner 2-4, 2B, RBI
• Severino 2-4, R, 2B, RBI
Ivan Pineyro and David Fischer combined to strike out 18 in a five-hit shutout as the Suns blanked the Crawdads, 3-0. Pineyro walked two and gave up three hits and struck 12 for his first win while Fischer struck out the side twice in the 7th and 8th innings and stranded a runner in the 9th for the three-inning save, his second of the season. Shawn Pleffner and Pedro Severino both went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI as Hagerstown took advantage of three errors to score three times on just seven hits and two walks.
Treinen did better than Cole. I am happy to see both pieces from the Morse trade do well, but the standard for Cole needs to be better than simply meeting the minimum requirements for a “quality” start. I know, he’s a kid, it’s early, etc. Still, I can’t help but hope that at least a few of our top pitching prospects bloom big these next few years.
Which is why I made a point of remarking about his command after watching him yesterday on MiLB.tv — lot of long counts, missed spots.
Do you know how many pitches Cole threw?
The mantra of the Nats organisation really seems to be efficiency to the detriment of other things. Both Zimmermann and Strasburg have been reconditioned to pitch to contact and not always try to overpower batters. We haven’t gone as far off the deep end as clubs like the Twins, but I often question the merits of such an approach.
Cole may have been missing his spots, but he seems to have hit them when he needed to. 7:2 K:BB is pretty impressive if he wasn’t totally in control. I think that speaks pretty well of him, if on a bad day he’s putting up lines like he did.
No. Unfortunately, they don’t count pitches until AA and even then it’s a little spotty. As for Cole being “bad,” that’s a misread; it’s more to point out what you just did – that even Cole’s “B” game can pretty good.
Sadly, it cuts both ways — there will be times when a pitcher will be in control, in command, have his stuff and still get hit hard. I’ll admit I probably don’t give enough credit to hitters when they do that, but I think that’s one of the many things that separates the pros from amateurs (*ahem*) when it comes to scouting.
I was just going to say the opposite. Just based off the information available, it looks like Cole had a good start. He kept the ball on the ground, and only gave up one extra base hit. 7 Ks over 6 IP isn’t bad, either.
Regarding the Treinen comparison, that’s not at all relevant. Cole is playing a level down, but is 3.5 years younger. Cole could essentially stay in Potomac for the next three years pitching miserably, and he would the be at the same point in his career as Treinen is now.
Finally, I think we’re already seeing some of our prospects blooming big.
Robbie Ray has rebounded big time from last year. The walks are still a problem, but he’s looking like he’ll regain that top prospect status from 2011.
Taylor Jordan too is looking really good. He hasn’t received the same attention as some of our other pitchers, but that’s largely because right as people starting paying attention he went down with TJ. He’s a groundball machine, and could easily climb through the minors now that he’s fully recovered.
Speaking of groundball machines, Danny Rosenbaum is the king of it. On Saturday, he recorded 18 outs, 16 of which were ground outs. Over the season, his GB% sits around 60%. (To contextualize that, there was only one starter in MLB last year who had a GB% above 60%.) He’s already shown that he can cut it in the big leagues in his time with the Rockies. I think he’s already unseated Chris Young as our 6th starter.
Ian Krol was a part of that trade as well and he’s looked very good out of the pen in Harrisburg.