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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Lost, 6-0 vs. Buffalo,
7:05 p.m.		 Strasburg (MLB Rehab) vs.
Copeland (7-3, 2.17)
Harrisburg Lost, 5-0 @ New Hampshire,
12:05 p.m.		 TBD vs. J. Anderson (5-5, 4.85)
Potomac Lost, 4-3 @ Myrtle Beach,
7:05 p.m.		 Spann (0-5, 5.00) vs.
Torrez (7-6. 3.98)
Hagerstown Lost, 13-3 OFF DAY N/A
Auburn Lost, 10-0 vs. Aberdeen,
7:05 p.m.		 Alvarado (0-0, 0.00) vs.
Guilbeau (0-1, 4.85)


Buffalo 6 Syracuse 0
• Hill (L, 3-6) 5⅔ IP, 9H, 6R, 6ER, 5BB, 2K, HR
• Treinen 2⅓ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 4K, 1-0 IR-S
• Gwynn 1-3, 2B
• Mastroianni 1-4, 2B

Veteran Jeff Francis stymied the Chiefs to lead the Bisons to a 6-0 shutout. Taylor Hill was charged with all six Buffalo runs on nine (9) hits and five (5) walks over five and 2/3rds while fanning two to lose his sixth AAA game. Blake Treinen and Paul Demny shut down the Bisons the rest of the way with seven of the ten outs coming by way of the K. Tony Gwynn Jr. and Darin Mastroianni both doubled but Syracuse managed just five hits and one walk total on offense.
Roster move: OF Matt den Dekker optioned from Washington; IF Emmanuel Burris outrighted from Washington; C Dan Butler designated for assignment.

New Hampshire 5 Harrisburg 0
• Giolito (L, 0-1) 5+ IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 3K
• De Los Santos 2IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 3K, 1-0 IR-S
• Pleffner 1-3
• Difo 1-4, 2B

Lucas Giolito lost his AA debut while New Hampshire nearly no-hit Harrisburg in a 5-0 shutout. Giolito was knocked for four runs on six hits and three walks over five-plus innings. He struck out three. Abel De Los Santos stranded a runner for Giolito and tossed two scoreless before the Fisher Cats got to Nick Lee for the final run. Shawn Pleffner broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff single in the 8th while Wilmer Difo doubled with two out in the 9th for the second and final Senators’ hit.
Roster move: RHP Nick Pivetta traded to Philadelphia for RHP Jonathan Papelbon and cash considerations.

Myrtle Beach 4 Potomac 3
• A. Williams (L, 1-3) 5IP, 7H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 2K, 2HR
• Self 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Manuel 2-3, RBI
• Norfork 1-4, 2RBI

Potomac rallied for three in the 9th but left the tying run at third as the fell short, 4-3, to Myrtle Beach. Austen Williams gave up all four Pelican runs on seven hits, three coming on two home runs, over five innings. He walked three and struck out two. Derek Self and Justin Thomas combined for three scoreless innings of relief to give the offense a chance. Craig Manuel singled twice and drove in a run while Khayyan Norfork singled once and drove in two in the near-comeback effort.

West Virginia 13 Hagerstown 3
• M. Sanchez (L, 5-5) 3IP, 7H, 7R, 7ER, BB, K, HR
• Cooper 2⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 2K, 1-1 IR-S
• Carey 2-4, OF assist at 3B
• Read 3-4, R, HR, 2RBI

West Virginia scored 11 unanswered runs after falling behind 2-0 early as they took the game, 13-3 and the series, 3-1. Starter and loser Mario Sanchez gave up the first seven runs on seven hits and a walk over three innings. He struck out one. Sam Johns was charged with the last six runs (four earned) on four hits with neither a strikeout nor a walk over two and a 1/3rd innings. Raudy Read homered in the bottom of the 1st for the aforementioned two runs and finished at 3-for-4 to lead the Suns hit column.

Aberdeen 10 Auburn 0
• J. Rodriguez (L, 1-4) 4⅔ IP, 12H, 6R, 6ER, 3BB, 5K
• Overton 1⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Robles 2-4, OF assists at 2B, 3B
• Kerian 1-4, 2B

Three Aberdeen pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout of Auburn, 10-0. Jefry Rodriguez got lit up. Again. This time, it was six runs on twelve hits and three walks over four and 2/3rds innings while striking out five for his fourth loss for the Doubledays and ninth overall this season. Victor Robles singled twice in four trips to the plate and gunned down a runner trying to go from first to third. David Kerian doubled while Ian Sagdal singled to round out the Doubledays tally of four hits on the night.

16 Commments

  1. Ouch, a clean sweep of the system. Looking for positives, I see strong outings from Treinen and de los Santos, and Robles still making his case for a fast-track ticket to Hagerstown.

    In other personnel moves, I believe Burriss was also sent back down, and Dan Butler was DFA’d to clear a 40-man spot for Papelbon.

    Farewell and good luck to Pivetta, who produced a nice return for a 4th round pick.

    1. Yup. Burriss move was buried in the AAA feed; Butler listed only on MLB.com. Thanks.

  2. Just last night, MLB.com completely redid its rankings of the Nats’ Top 30 prospects. Pivetta is gone form the list, and so are Solis, Purke, Vettleston and Hill; while Abreu (13), Stevenson (14), Wiseman (15), Soto (18), Lora (19) and Perkins (30) have been added. Meanwhile, Cole (7), Ward (12), Goodwin (15), Kieboom (22), Johansen (29) were the big downward movers, while Difo (5), Robles (8), Franco (17), Bostick (14) and Nick Lee (26) rose in the rankings.

    It’s a reflection of how top heavy and shallow the Nats legitimate prospect pool is that a 2nd and a 3rd rounder who have played only a handful of games could enter the Top 15 so quickly and a 16-year old who has yet to play a professional game could enter the Top 20. Of course, because of injuries to the big club the Nats have had two unexpected prospect “graduations” this year in Michael Taylor and Felipe Rivero.

    It should also be noted that if Joe Ross pitches 17.1 more innings this year, he will also “graduate” and be dropped from the list.

    1. Oops, just realized I made a typo–Goodwin should be 25, not 15. His days as a prospect look to be just about over.

  3. Thanks for the intel Karl. I’m a bit shocked that Goodwin is even on the list.

    It’s looking like Robles is meeting even less resistance @ Auburn than he was in the GCL with a 1.100+ OPS and 2 assists in yesterday’s game alone. What to do.
    You don’t want to ‘Reinhart’ him by overpromoting, but at Hagerstown he might find a level that’s challenging to him.

    1. Robles looks like the real deal. What really excites me about his potential is his plate discipline even though he’s only 18. He has only struck out 16 times and has 12 walks in 16 in 136 PAs. We may well have another elite young hitter on our hands– though one who looks like he will hit more for average than power.

      I also thought it was interesting that Voth did not move up despite his great year and is stuck down at #11. Apparently, the professional scouts are not all that sold on him.

      1. He certainly appears to be promising – but does project to have roughly major-league average power, I think – definitely a step up from other “similar” (and I use the term loosely!) prospects of the recent past like Eury Perez, Bautista, etc, who are outfield flyers……

        1. Compared with those players, and particularly Perez, Robles has already shown much better plate discipline at 17 and 18 than the other guys have managed at any age.

  4. Karl, appreciate your comments on the Papelbon trade that I read elsewhere. Pretty much reflect my own.

    I am not going to dump on the prospect ratings any more than I have, other than to say that even when they update their outdated lists that are loaded with bias, they are still outdated and full of bias! What has Jeffrey Rodriguez, Goodwin or Johanssen done to be on anyone’s radar at this point? And Soto is on the list from a You Tube video and a paycheck! Bostick? Seriously? And where is Bryan Mejia on that list? Teleminto Agustin? Much more talent in the Dominican graduates like Valerio and Pena than among the draftees listed because of their bonuses.

    It is worth noting that they perceive the system to be barren if there are so many recent draftees added.

    With that noted, Robles exuberance is fun these days. He had two assists from CF the other day. #8? Yeaah right 🙂

    1. I wonder how many other teams have a 22-year-old at #28 on the list (de los Santos) who has already been proven to be MLB-legit? That’s probably low for him (obviously), but the Nats have so many arms in that vein that it would be difficult to put them in any order. There are also a number of proven MLB arms that the Nats currently have on the farm, including Grace, Treinen, Jordan, and T. Hill. None are still thought of as “prospects,” but they’re a lot more proven, and in many cases better, than most of the hurlers who have been changing teams in the trades this week.

      Don’t believe the people who try to tell you that the “window” is closing in the next year or two.

      1. I know that DLS got promoted and his numbers are great, but he is pitching middle relief and does not seem to be getting high leverage work done. Its hard to get excited over that.

        We do certainly have plenty of arms. No one cares about rafael martin anymore, but he will see the majors again and get a better shot.

    2. Thanks, f.

      I get why so many were upset with the trade. Storen seems to be a nice guy and Papelbon seems to be a jerk. If it came down to who I’d rather invite over for barbecue it would be Drew no question. 🙂

  5. I really hope the Nats are active on the trade market this week. There are a lot of sellers with some interesting inventory and the Nats have some pieces to move that can really upgrade the ML team and the organization. So I have come around to the Papelbon trade as they structured it. It is a strange time with players like Werth-Zimm coming back from injury and others underperforming.

    I know they are going for it, but there are some great opportunities out there that will not be present in the off season, and folks are in the dealing frame of mind.

    1. It’s really hard to see the Nats moving big minor league pieces to pick up a rental bench bat – nor should they. And with players actually coming back from injury rather than leaving (*knocks on wood) there aren’t really spaces on the field for the person to play. Sure, I guess you kick the tires on Lucroy, but it’s hard to ignore that he hasn’t been much better (if at all) than Ramos this season.

  6. Looks like Syracuse got an obscure Dominican catching prospect now aged 24 who has just barely played above the NYP with 1 game each in Potomac and Hagerstown? Adderling Ruiz is now the SYR backup catcher to starter Stephen Lerud with the Butler DFA. I guess there’s no promotion planned for Severino? And I keep wondering why they keep hanging on (40-man roster) to 28+ year old Erik Davis who has been pretty awful the past two seasons mostly at Harrisburg since his injury? Why designate Butler? Why designate Burriss with Davis? They stuck with Rafael Martin and now that he’s doing well at age 30+ they end up preferring inconsistent to ineffective Aaron Barrett because he’s younger?

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