Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Won, 3-1 | vs. Pawtucket, 7:05 p.m. |
Jordan (3-4, 2.57) vs. Barnes (1-0, 3.77) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 9-5 | vs. Akron, 7:00 p.m. |
Voth (4-5, 2.94) vs. Plutko (6-4, 2.81) |
| Potomac | Won, 3-1 | @ Lynchburg, 6:30 p.m. |
Rauh (2-0, 0.76) vs. Kime (2-5, 4.34) |
| Hagerstown | Lost, 7-2 | vs. Charleston, 1:05 p.m. |
Van Orden (5-5, 3.43) vs. Kamplain (3-12, 4.91) |
| Auburn | Lost, 6-3 | @ West Virginia, 7:05 p.m. |
Crownover (0-4, 5.24) vs. Brubaker (4-3, 3.72) |
Syracuse 3 Pawtucket 1
• Cole (W, 2-5) 5⅔ IP, 4H, R, ER, 2BB, 6K
• Treinen (H, 1) 2⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 2WP, 2-0 IR-S
• den Dekker 2-4, 2R, 3B, HR, RBI
• Skole 1-2, R, 2BB, HR, RBI
The Chiefs dragged the PawSox into the I.L. East cellar with 3-1 win. A.J. Cole won his second game with five and 2/3rds innings of one-run ball on four hits and two walks while striking out six. Blake Treinen stranded the tying runs in the 6th and kept the PawSox in check for the 7th and 8th innings for the hold while Rafael Martin Cordero’d his way through the 9th with two hits allowed, no walks, and no K’s for the save. The Matts (den Dekker and Skole) both homered and scored all three Syracuse runs.
Roster move: IF Mario Lisson activated from the 7-Day DL.
Akron 9 Harrisburg 5
• Bates (L, 4-2) 2⅓ IP, 6H, 6R, 6ER, 0BB, 2K
• Bacus 2⅔ IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 1-1 IR-S
• Difo 4-5, R
• Pleffner 3-4, R, 2B, 2RBI
• D. Robinson 2-4
Akron erased an early 4-0 deficit with a six-run 3rd then put the game away with three unearned runs in the 7th for a 9-5 win over Harrisburg, snapping a modest three-game streak for the Senators. Colin Bates took the loss, charged with the aforementioned six runs on six hits over two and a 1/3rd innings. Wilmer Difo led Harrisburg’s 12-hit parade with a 4-for-5 night, followed by Shawn Pleffner’s 3-for-4 effort.
Roster move: IF Adrian Sanchez activated from the 7-Day DL.
Potomac 3 Lynchburg 1
• Spann (W, 1-6) 5IP, 4H, R, ER, 4BB, 6K
• Johansen (H, 3) 2IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 0K
• Corona 4-4, R, 2B, 3B, 2RBI, SB
• Keller 3-4, 2B
Potomac won back-to-back games for the first time in more than a week with a 3-1 decision over Lynchburg. Matt Spann won his first game for Potomac to end a nine-appearance drought, giving up the Hillcats run on four hits and four walks over five innings with six strikeouts. Jake Johansen, Derek Self, and Phillips Valdez combined for four scoreless innings to close out the game. Potomac wasted numerous chances on offense, scoring just three times on 13 hits and a walk. Reegie Corona led the way with two singles, a double, and a triple in his first game for the P-Nats.
Roster moves: IF Reegie Corona reassigned from Harrisburg; RHP Manny Rodriguez placed on the 7-Day DL; UT Cody Dent placed on the 3-Day TIL.
Charleston 7 Hagerstown 2
• Bach (L, 4-3) 5+ IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 3BB, 5K
• Brinley (BS, 1) 1IP, 2H, 2R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K, 2-2 IR-S
• Marmolejos-Diaz 3-4, 2B
• Masters 2-3, R, BB, CS
• Read 1-4, R, HR, RBI
Charleston rallied for four in the 6th and tacked on three more in the 7th to hand Hagerstown a 7-2 loss. Connor Bach pitched into the 6th but was lifted after the first two batters reached. Ryan Brinley let ’em both in and two more to give Bach the loss and “earn” the blown save. Raudy Read homered in the 2nd to give the Suns an early 1-0 lead while David Masters reach base three times with two singles and a walk to pace the Hagerstown offense.
Auburn 8 West Virginia 3
• Fedde (W, 4-1) 5IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, BB, 3K
• Borne (H, 2) 3IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K
• Encarnacion 2-3, R, 2-2B, 2RBI, SB
• Me. Rodriguez 1-3, R, 2RBI
• Sagdal 1-2, 3R, HR, BB, RBI
Auburn made the most out of its offensive chances, scoring eight times on six hits and five walks in an 8-3 win over West Virginia. Erick Fedde won his fourth game with five innings pitched, two runs allowed on five hits and a walk, and three strikeouts. Grant Borne followed with one unearned run over three innings while Mariano Rivera III mopped up in the 9th. Randy Encarnacion doubled twice and drove in two while Ian Sagdal homered to lead the Doubleday attack.
I’m quite surprised with how careful the Nats are being with Fedde. They’re basically handling him the same way they did Giolito. Giolito was pitching in Auburn at this time in his first season back from TJ.
However, there’s a big difference between Gio and Fedde. Giolito was a high school draft pick and Fedde is a pretty polished college pick. Fedde’s development plan is now 3 years behind Giolito’s.
Maybe they will just be much more aggressive with him next year? I could foresee him skipping Hagerstown altogether.
Agree. 5ip is completely arbitrary; why isn’t his nightly work limited by pitch count? If he’s at 55 pitches after 5, that’s basically half a normal game.
Fedde, as an upper-end polished first round pick, should have already been above low-A upon drafting. In short-A he’s facing mostly 19-20yr olds graduated from GCL and lower-round college draft picks; he’s already older and more advanced than that. He should go directly to high-A with an eye to get a AA promotion in 2016 (much like Giolito has done this year).
That being said … he only has 35IP in 8games. That’s not a lot. And he’s getting hit; 38 hits in 35 games. Great K/bb ratio so far (36/8) but he’s not completely dominating the NYPenn league.
Well that inning pitched number is so low because he has a hard 5 IP cap.
As you rightly point out, a inning limit makes less sense than a pitch limit. But it seems to be a mixture of both. 5 IP unless he hits 80 pitches before that, based on baseball reference’s pitch counts.
Also, a lot of those hits can be chalked up to luck (or maybe bad defense). He’s sporting a .346 BABIP. It’s not outrageously high, but with it closer to .300, he’d have allowed several fewer hits. On top of that, he’s inducing far more groundballs than flyballs, so it doesn’t look like hitters are making great contact (only 1 HR so far, .090 ISO).
Potomac is a challenging step. Just ask Giolito and particularly Lopez, who utterly dominated at Hagerstown, or Mooneyham or Johansen. I can’t see the Nats having Fedde skip Hagerstown entirely. I am, however, as surprised as the others that they haven’t pushed him on to Hagerstown this year, to set him up for the progression next season that Todd suggests. I did have the thought that they might be keeping him at Auburn to keep him looking good as he was scouted before the trade deadline, but that has now passed. Of course they had pushed Pivetta up to AA for a couple of rocky starts before he was dealt.
I don’t know; Fedde is listed as the probable pitcher again today – THAT is pretty aggressive! 😀
Speaking of Lucas, there’s also a good new scouting report up: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/eyewitness_pit.php?reportid=308
It was from one of his recent forgettable outings in Harrisburg, so it’s especially notable that the scout still raves about him and gave him the highest possible rating, despite Giolito giving up 4 ER and walking 3 in 5 IP.
It’s also worth noting that Giolito’s the only prospect they’ve reviewed in over 3 years to receive an 80/80 OFP, by 4 separate scouts, no less.
Interesting comment about scrutiny @ high A ball
When so many guys just hit thet ceilings with
Experiences hitting !
Syracuse has some interesting late season bitters .
Do Skole and keyes get sept cup of coffee call ups?
Luke ? GG??
I’d make Skole in Sept. a maybe and Keyes a probably not. The team could use Skole’s LH bat off the bench. Both would be pretty limited with where they could play in the field. I assume Difo will get the call since he’s already on the 40-man and could play defense or pinch-run as well as pinch-hit. Looks like he is well back in the groove at Harrisburg. I assume they’re keeping him there only so he has a place to play SS. I’m in the camp that believes that Turner won’t see Half Street this fall, due both to his fielding and the free agency clock. If they want another IF, they’d probably give Burriss another look.
The 40-man is a bit tight, but they could clear some space if they wanted to. If Carpenter doesn’t make progress, he could be moved to the 60-day. Since they haven’t given Erik Davis a look while calling up nearly every other reliever in the upper part of the system, I assume he would be a leading DFA candidate. Would they consider doing the same with Goodwin? Or call him up, despite his struggles, simply because he’s already on the 40-man? (I doubt it.) They will probably call up a ton of pitchers, who are already on the 40-man, but probably not a lot of bats. Difo and den Dekker seem like locks, and Skole would probably be the best of the limited power options.
Free agency clock for Turner isn’t an issue for a Sep call up as time on the active roster in Sep does NOT count towards service time. The issue is simply that someone we would have to be removed from the 40-man roster, and I don’t see the Nats doing that just to have Turner rot on the bench and be used as an occasional pinch runner (they will already have Difo for PR duties).
Turner will likely be kept off the 40-man until they are ready to call him up for good–probably in late April, which would indeed set his FA clock back a year.
I also don’t think anyone not currently on the 40-man is getting a call. Skole in particular is far too mediocre a hitter to be used off the bench in the middle of a tight playoff race.
As for Davis, that they haven’t dropped him already seems to indicate that they believe health coming back from his major injury was a factor in his poor start. He’s been better lately, and I would not be surprised if he gets a Sep call up if he has a good August.
Skole has been a disappointment.I’ve been a big fan of his late inning clutch hitting, and he gets a chance to show more in AAA. But he had better wake up before his chances fade.
True on Skole.
He may not even fetch much on a trade
How about Jeff Howell throwing 3 innings in the GCL yesterady, how cool would it be if he could make some noise as a pitcher!