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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Lost, 8-2 @ Buffalo,
6:05 p.m.		 Voth (1-1, 1.57) vs.
Hutichison (0-1, 3.38)
Harrisburg Lost, 9-3 vs. Hartford,
6:30 p.m.		 Williams (0-4, 8.84) vs.
Freeland (3-1, 0.87)
Potomac Lost, 12-5;
Lost, 8-3		 vs. Frederick,
7:05 p.m.		 Whiting (3-1, 4.91) vs.
Means (3-0, 2.16)
Hagerstown Lost, 7-4 @ Kannapolis,
7:05 p.m.		 Lee (1-0, 2.16) vs.
Riga (0-2, 10.71)


Rochester 8 Syracuse 2
• Hill (L, 0-2) 6⅔ IP, 7H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 6K, HR
• Solano 2-4, 2B, RBI
• Lozada 2-4, OF assist at HP

Syracuse’s win streak was halted with an 8-2 defeat by Rochester. Starter and losing pitcher Taylor Hill gave up two in the 1st and one in the 2nd and then settled in for four scoreless before the RedWings got to him in the 7th. He finished with five runs allowed on seven hits (another HR) and two walks while striking out six. Veterans Jhonatan Solano and Jose Lozada both went 2-for-4 to lead the Syracuse offense, which totaled 10 hits and one (1) walk.

Hartford 9 Harrisburg 3
• Giolito (L, 0-2) 3IP, 5H, 6R, 6ER, 4BB, 4K, HBP
• Self 3IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 3K,
• Soto 1-4, R, HR, 2RBI
• Dykstra 1-3, BB

The Yard Goats struck for three runs three times as they railroaded the Senators, 9-3. Lucas Giolito took the loss, charged with six runs on five hits and four walks over three innings (73 pitches, 39 strikes). Gilberto Mendez was nearly as ineffective (3R, 3IP) before Derek Self tossed three scoreless. Self’s efforts were essentially for naught as the Harrisburg offense was held to a meager three hits, including a two-run homer by Neftali Soto, a triple by Zach Collier, and a single by Cutter Dykstra, who also drew the one and only walk.

Lynchburg 12 Potomac 5 – COMP.
• VanVossen (L, 1-1) ⅓ IP, 5H, 6R, 6ER, BB, 0K, HR(GS)
• Johansen 1⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 3K, 1-1 IR-S
• Carey 1-3, 2R, 2BB, SB
• Ward 3-5, 2R, HR, RBI

Lynchburg was saved by the rain on Monday and didn’t exactly face Spahn or Sain in the completion on Wednesday. The Hillcats pounded P-Nats relievers for 10 runs to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 12-5 demolition. Mick VanVossen took the brunt of the beating with six runs let in, the last four on a grand slam, as he retired just one of seven batters faced. Drew Ward connected for his sixth homer and led the Potomac hit column with a 3-for-5 night.

Lynchburg 8 Potomac 3 – GAME TWO
• Fedde (L, 1-3) ⅔ IP, 7H, 6R, 6ER, 0BB, 1K, 0HR, HBP
• Spann 3⅓ IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 3K, 2-0 IR-S
• Stevenson 3-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Read 1-3, BB, RBI, 2PB, PO at 3B

SSDG in the 1st inning as Lynchburg made confetti out of Erick Fedde for six runs on seven hits en route to an 8-3 win and the de facto doubleheader sweep of Potomac. The P-Nats starter was lifted after 35 pitches (23 for strikes) as he retired just two of the 10 batters he faced, walking none and fanning one. Veteran Matt Spann stranded two runners as he finished the first and went three more innings in relief. The P-Nats scored single runs in the 1st, 4th, and 6th, on an RBI singles by Raudy Read and Andrew Stevenson and a solo HR by David Masters, respectively.Yesterday morning, the two teams announced they would forego the tripleheader in favor of making up the third game next Monday, which had been an off day for both teams.

Kannapolis 7 Hagerstown 4
• DeRosier 3⅔ IP, 7H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 2K, HBP
• Bach (L, 0-1) 1⅓ IP, 1H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 1K, 1-0 IR-S
• Ripken 2-3, BB, RBI
• Schrock 2-4, R, SB

The Suns jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a pair of two-run rallies in the 1st and 4th but then, um, ran out of gas as the Intimidators scored seven unanswered runs to win 7-4. Matt DeRosier started and was charged with the first four runs on seven hits over three and 2/3rds. He walked none and struck out two. Connor Bach took the loss with two runs given up over an inning and a 1/3rd one one hit and three walks. Ryan Ripken reached base three times on a pair of singles and a walk to pace the Hagerstown offense, which collected nine hits, but none by the lower third of the lineup.

22 Commments

  1. Jeez, good thing there wasn’t a triple-header! That’s the only thing that could be worse than an a double-header where your first-game starter goes 1/3 and your second-game starter goes 2/3!

    A not-so-good day for Giolito, and an awful one for Fedde. At what point do the Nats acknowledge that their aggressive push of Fedde to Potomac hasn’t worked? Time to swap him and Andrew Lee and let Fedde try to get things back on track at Hagerstown.

    I may be in the minority here, but I’m not as worried about Giolito. Concerned, yes, but not yet worried. He’s got to be one of the youngest players in the Eastern League. And contrary to all the hype that has pushed him forward, there’s really no rush. Just accept that he’s not going to be this year’s Thor for the stretch run. Try to get him ready to compete for an MLB rotation spot next spring.

    Positives, positives, . . . there’s got to be some, right? Ward, Stevenson, Schrock, and Robles keep rolling along. They seem to be separating themselves as the class of the everyday players on their respective teams. I’m thrilled in particular to see Ward flashing his power. He’s an example of the positives that can come from repeating a level.

  2. ??!! Running blue chip pitchers out in awful
    May weather just good for incoming flowers ???
    And good for washing away dog poop , Luke .
    Lol.

    1. Suns squad proving SS NYPenn league results
      Do not matter .
      Most NYPenn League clubs which win a crown
      Tend to ceiling by High A.

  3. Good grief, what a day for pitching. Best to just forget it happened rather than analyze it, imo.

    I am not worried about any of them, to be honest. Just seems like development goes through these ups and downs. Let’s give it half a season, including some consistently warm weather as Jeff alludes to, before forming conclusions.

    But yikes. Good timing for the big club to have a laugher.

  4. Giolito is the same age Strasburg was during his brief destruction of the EL in 2010. He has also regressed significantly from his first taste of AA last year despite being restricted to low pitch counts. There is just no way around the fact that he does not even remotely resemble a guy who is supposed to be the top pitching prospect in baseball.

    ironically, until last night I was less concerned about Fedde because his strikeout numbers were good despite his high ERA. Now I wonder if both Giolito and Fedde have injuries we haven’t heard about yet.

    1. Clayton Kershaw had a stretch in AA where he struggled with his command and was walking over 6 batters per 9 innings. He posted an ERA of 3.65. He was also prone to the longball, giving up 4 HR in 24 inn.

      Max Scherzer too had a pretty poor season in AA in 2007. He too struggled with his command, walking nearly 5 per 9 IP, and posted a 3.91 ERA.

      Top prospects are allowed have bad months. Some are even allowed to have bad seasons.

  5. People who are in A ball are supposed to have days where they lack command and get pounded. I’ve not ranked Fedde nearly as enthusiastically as others, but he’s show signs of promise and if he is over his head, it will be reflected by more than this outing.

    You know it’s a bad day when Johannsen has the best pitching line.

    Giolito is more of a puzzlement, though. Weather arguments are as they are. But I guess we know we won’t see him in May in DC.

    More likely that we would see Austen Williams down in A+ before Lee promotion. The real A- person to watch is Pedro Avila. Doors – They’re something happening here.

  6. The Nats have had great success with players rebounding from TJ surgery.

    But no organization has a perfect record with these things so the numbers suggest they are due for someone for whom the surgery doesn’t hold or there’s a reinjury or what not.

    Maybe Fedde or even Giolito are just the odds playing themselves out.

  7. Meh. The system had a bad day. Overall I’ve been very impressed with the results from the farm so far in 2016. It’s not that the teams are winning – they are, with the exception of Harrisburg. But by and large their success has been led by prospects. In particular, the position players (led by Robles, Turner, Ward and Stevenson) have been doing very well. As for the pitchers, Voth has been his usual excellent, underappreciated self and Solis has already gotten himself promoted to the MLB squad. Cole and now Fedde have had one awful start that has completely screwed up their early season numbers, but have otherwise been perfectly acceptable. Although he’s now on my radar, I am not (yet) worried about Giolito – there’s plenty of time to get him worked out, it’s the health and stuff that I care about.

    Drew Ward is repeating High A, but he only turned 21 last Thanksgiving and so far is pretty much smacking around the Carolina League. .315/.400/.576 with six HRs in 24 games? Nice. We’ve always been told that he had a power bat but results were disappointing until now. If the light has gone on for him, then that’s a big deal. He’ll be worth watching over the coming months.

  8. John C. – given that we seem to be aligned in agreement on virtually everything time and again, the apocalypse has surely dawned. What in the world? 🙂

      1. I haven’t been to a game so all doesn’t matter .
        May flowers haven’t fully bloomed like some guys
        Mojo

  9. After reading the recap as to how Hartford scored against Giolito, I am less concerned.

    In the first inning, Hartford hit one ball out of the infield and that was a ground ball up the middle. Not a single ball was hit hard, and Hartford scored 3 runs. Hartford had a walk, stolen base, infield single, bunt single (squeeze play), HBP, ground ball single.

    In the third inning, two walks, 2 SBs, a double (fly to left; admittedly a hard hit ball), and a single to left. Giolito did strike out 4 in 3 innings. Hartford did steal 3 bases in 3 innings; Strasburg had an issue with holding runners on too, and he has overcome it.

    Wouldn’t be surprised if Giolito has a strong outing next time out.

    1. Well, he needs a strong outing because he has not had one yet. Were it not for some of his earlier runs being unearned, his ERA would be closer to that of Williams.

    2. Good info. Thanks. This sounds like one of those Stras dink-and-dunk starts that used to drive him crazy.

      Another unknown is how much the Nats are having Giolito work on his third and fourth pitches, rather than just blowing people away or dropping the big hook on them.

      We’ll see.

      There’s got to be a lot of weight on the kid’s shoulders. Everywhere he goes, he’s billed as “the best pitching prospect in baseball.” Stras got the same treatment, but he had three years of college under his belt. And the label doesn’t go away. Stras has been a very good major-league pitcher, but since he hasn’t turned into Kershaw, some still feel like he hasn’t lived all the way up to the “generational talent” billing.

  11. I offer no opinion on this, but share it because I thought it would be of interest to some of you (not KLaw’s opinion, the reference to Maddux). From KLaw chat:

    Mark: Have you heard any reports about Giolito this Spring? Tiny sample size, but he’s struggled a bit in AA, and I was wondering if he was focusing on the changeup, and/or if he’d had any dip in velocity.
    Klaw: I heard Maddux tinkered with his delivery, which, if true, would be the dumbest [xxxx] thing I have ever heard of a pitching coach doing with a prospect, because Giolito’s delivery did not need tinkering.

    1. Steve, the guy who set up the TalkNats blog, has reported that the team is having Giolito work on secondary pitches. Between that and the innings limits (no more than 4IP per start) my concern is only at about 2 on a 10 point scale

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