Friday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | OFF DAY | vs. Columbus, 7:05 p.m. |
Hill (3-5, 4.75) vs. Detwiler (0-4, 5.84) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 3-1 | vs. Reading, 7:00 p.m. |
Valdez (0-0, 7.94) vs. Pivetta (6-4, 3.67) |
| Potomac | Postponed | vs. Myrtle Beach, 5:00 p.m. |
Fedde (3-3, 5.00) and Whiting (6-2, 3.26) vs. Martinez, Jon (3-4, 5.08) and Hedges (6-4, 2.25) |
| Hagerstown | Postponed | vs. Greenville, 5:05 p.m. |
Baez (2-5, 5.21) and DeRosier (2-3, 5.02) vs. Espinoza (4-4, 3.35) and Raudes (6-1, 4.21) |
| Auburn | N/A | vs. Batavia, 7:05 p.m. |
Watson (1-1, 0.00 @ GCL in ’15) vs. Hovis (Missed 2015 with Nationals elbow) |
Syracuse – OFF DAY
The last-place Chiefs return home on a five-game losing streak as they host the Clippers for three games over Father’s Day weekend. Taylor Hill gets the start tonight against former National Ross Detwiler.
Trenton 3 Harrisburg 1
• Giolito (L, 5-3) 5IP, 6H, 3R, 2ER, BB, 7K, HR, HBP, WP
• Brady 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Bostick 2-4, R, 2B
• Keyes 1-2
Harrisburg fell behind 3-0 after four innings and couldn’t catch up to lose, 3-1 to Trenton. Lucas Giolito needed 92 pitches to get thrrough five innings as he gave up all three Thunder runs (two earned) on six hits (one solo HR) and a walk. He struck out seven while losing his third game. Christopher Bostick singled, doubled, and scored the Senator run to lead the seven-hit, two-walk offense.
Myrtle Beach vs. Potomac – PPD
Last night’s thunderstorms postponed the opener of a five-game series between Potomac and Myrtle Beach and will force back-to-back doubleheaders tonight and tomorrow night, weather/field conditions permitting.
Roster moves: RHP Erick Fedde activated from 7-Day DL; LHP Justin Thomas placed on 7-Day DL.
Greenville vs. Hagerstown – PPD
The rains came from the west to the east and thus washed away the Suns, too. The spectre of 2014 looms as Delmarva continues to win (six straight) and put the pressure on Hagerstown, which leads by a game and a half with four games left in the first half. Third-place Hickory was eliminated with the loss to Delmarva.
Auburn – OPENING DAY
The Doubledays start the 2016 campaign with a five-game homestand: two against Batavia, three against Mahoning Valley. Local beat writer Jeremy Houghtaling has the story on the 2016 roster.
Good to see Fedde is back. There wasn’t much info about whether his injury was serious, so I’m glad that it wasn’t. Hope he picks up where he left off!
On other injury fronts, is there any news on what the injury was for Andrew Lee, or if there’s any hope for Hearn to be back from his ankle injury this summer? Those guys were looking like two of the most promising starters from the ’15 class.
Hey, hey, the Auburn roster is up, and Tyler Watson gets the first start. That speaks well of his offseason prep. Obviously the Auburn roster will evolve quite a bit over the next few weeks as the 2016 draftees sign and report. It’s the Last Chance Saloon for some others, particularly those demoted from Hagerstown or repeating Auburn from last season. It’s good to see a number of young Latin players in the mix, as well as the two bonus-baby HS kids for the ’15 draft, Watson and Blake Perkins. Time to see what they’ve been learning.
According to the Auburn roster, Blake Perkins is a right handed batter rather than a switch hitter. Guess the experiment to have him convert to hitting both ways was a failure.
Good catch on the Perkins listing. The switch-hitting experiment was the reason/excuse most cited for his very worrisome .211/.265/.283 slash line in the GCL. I’m also disappointed to see that he’s still listed at 165 lbs. I’m sure it was suggested that he work on adding 15-20 or so.
Perkins is still switch-hitting. There’s an article about him in the Aubrun Citizen. Follow @citizenhough .
Let the Tyler Watson hype begin. I wasn’t sure why it never got going last season. I had him in my top 10 arms in Luke’s poll.
My Auburn players to watch:
RP
Francys Peguero
Maximo Valerio
SP
Tyler Watson
Steven Fuentes
Yonathan Ramirez
Batters
Blake Perkins
Dalton Dulin
There’s a lot of DSL pitching products that are really exciting not listed above. Not so much on the offensive side of things.
Was Weston Davis injured? I assumed he was one of those late round draft picks that just sort of faded into obscurity.
Dulin had a much better offensive season at Auburn last year than Sagdal did, so it was curious to see Sagdal get promoted over him. I think Sagdal has more positional flexibility, though, while Dulin is a 2B, where Schrock was ticketed to roam for Hagerstown. I would think that Dulin, with a good start, would be in line for a call to Hagerstown when/if Schrock moves to Potomac.
Yeah, it is odd, but I suspect it came down to age (Sagdal is 1.5 years older). Since Sagdal hasn’t exactly seized the day in Hagerstown, he might find his path mirrors that of Gardner. Gardner’s 2015 Hagerstown stats are eerily similar to Sagdal’s 2016 (.226/.296/.345 vs .234/.318/.343).
Plus it’s not all bad for Dulin since he can play OF
And table set. Something to keep in mind
After promotions @ hags
Keep in mind Davis would be a soph on
A Gator studded pitching staff if he did not
Sign out of HS
Gil interesting that Franco faded to GCL
While the Trojan super sub DeBruno
Is helping out Head
Conspicuously missing is Anderson Franco. Hopefully he is not injured and this heralds a promotion to Hagerstown.
Some additional observations and notes:
1) Nats must have some kind of confidence in the position player talent in house or coming. Jeff Gardner was cut. Gilberto Ramirez was cut. Meanwhile, some of the GCL
2) More aggressive promotions from DSL this year – Yonatan ramirez, lefty starter, and closer Francys Peguero
3) Weston Davis was highly regarded when drafted and showed up well last fall. He was an aggressive promotion.
4) The rosetr feels like it will be massively overhauled once the signees show up. Folks have a slim chance to make a first impression.
Yeah, were is Franco???!!!
Is it possible that there will be a conga line of Ward to Harrisburg and Gutierrez to Potomac, leaving Franco to slide in at Hagerstown? That’s certainly a better scenario than Franco being injured or having some other difficulties.
Gutierrez is currently injured. Maybe they won’t even have to do that to accommodate Franco in Hagerstown, especially if Gutierrez is going to miss more than a week or two.
It’s odd that Franco wasn’t sent to Hagerstown instead of DeBruin when Gutierrez first went down. He was a much bigger bonus baby than Robles and they are roughly the same age.
My bet is on the conga line of promotions since the 3B duo of Stephen Perez and Adrian Sanchez at Harrisburg are both older non-prospects.
Kudos to brass for being patient with Latin
Kids. Like a goood dish in the oven. Time
And patience
Funny how the affiliates have balanced
Out with lefty hitters even if they are mostly
Org guys.
Gil I was going to say that with Gilberto cut
That proves you draft a R/R outfielder like
Upshaw or Clarke every time a Latin kid
Hits the ceiling. Upshaw does switch hit
apparently .
Time will tell on promotions
Holiday in Argentina
Gil
Davis did do the smart thing and sign
Not getting buried in gators staff
You just can’t break up the jeffries / Dulin
Friendship. They were inoperable in camp
So auburn for a few games doesn’t hurt.
All of us are like on our first pot of coffee
@ IHOP awaiting the upward promotion
Surge
Luke. Ty for all you do here !
Gil. A major amen on comment number 4
Also those are two familiar names facing us in Syracuse and Harrisburg.
Ha! Missed that. Det’s future doesn’t look too promising.
I do not want to lay out all of the math, but the Nats seem to be on track to get everybody in the top 10 signed plus Armond Upshaw (assuming he does not want too much more than 100K) and probably have several hundred K to throw at a guy like Cooper(34) or McFarland(36). A lot will come down to how much they save on Dunning if he takes 500-700K less than slot they’ll be in good shape.
All of this is based on 1) BA having the Nats has saving 333,800 so far on six signed. 2) The Luzardo 1.4 million agreement being accurate(not in BA yet) 3) Joey Harris saving another 150K 4) The Nats using the approximately 381K they can go over their pool.
Do not worry about the listed heights and weights for Auburn. @citizenhough posted a pic of a roster that had more up to date info. Watson was listed at 215 for example.
The Nats are in on a catcher in the DR. BA mentioned several catchers by name. There was no info beyond that, but he was the 2nd catcher mentioned. All are expected to go for 500K or below so I imagine he’s not considered a big time prospect, but in DiPuglia I trust, so every name is worth watching.
I was worried about Franco as soon as I saw Neuse was drafted and how excited they seemed. Franco is still very young and will hopefully, do well in the GCL. Kieboom, Franco, Soto could make for a fun, young trio.
I did find it curious that, with Ward, Gutierrez, and the mysterious Mr. Franco already in the pipeline, that the Nats invested two of their first three picks in guys who profile as 3Bs: Kieboom and Neuse. Kris Kline told the Post that their plan was to keep Kieboom at 3B for now and that they drafted Neuse as “a bat” and would figure out where to play him. There was some pre-draft speculation that some teams had talked to him about learning to play catcher. He has a rocket arm as a mid-90s reliever for the Sooners in addition to SS.
My feeling is that they’re only going to save enough on Dunning to pay the balance on Luzardo. I’m intrigued by McFarland, but I will be (pleasantly) surprised if they come up with enough cash to tempt him.
Err, meant to say that the plan is to keep Kieboom at SHORTSTOP for now.
I agree that McFarland is likely going to school. Both he and Murdock have said as much. McFarland’s agent said there was a number they’ take, so it is possible.
They do not need to save for Luzardo if the 1.4 million is correct (unless someone else is going to be way over slot). Any savings from Dunning will go towards someone else.
They are currently at 333,800 saved, plus apx 150K for Harris, plus the $381K they can go over without losing draft picks. If 1.4 for Luzardo is correct that would leave them with 100K extra before deals for Dunning, Neuse, and Banks. They should be able to offer someone post round 10 a deal between 500K-1M depending on the other deals.
I am curious what Upshaw would want. His 60-time and vertical are off the charts, but his numbers aren’t overwhelming for that league. I’m hoping they can get him and Cooper (McFarland would be amazing).
Luzardo’s slot was $635,800. He signed for $764,200 over slot, more than double, so there’s still a fair amount of red ink to erase from what I can see. It’s possible that Banks is wanting over slot as well since he entered the season a solid first-rounder. We’ll see.
Don’t know whether you’re counting it, but Panaccione signed for only $10K, and that’s probably all they’re offering Harris as well.
I think you’re right that Cooper may be more signable than McFarland. On paper, McFarland looks incredible. I’m not sure why he wasn’t among the high schoolers ranked for the first couple of rounds. It would be quite a coup if the Nats come up with enough cash to shake him loose from his ARK commitment. He’s represented by the same guy who has Riley Pint and several others.
BA has them at $333800 saved so far. Add another 150K saved on Harris. Add $381K that they can go over without being penalized draft picks.
333,800 + 150,000 + 381,000 = 864,800 under slot. That covers the over slot for Luzardo and leaves 100,600 K to spend elsewhere. Any savings on the final 3(Dunning, Neuse, and Banks) can be put towards someone like Cooper.
My guess is that they can get Dunning for $300-500K under, that Neuse will be very close to slot, and that Banks will want a bit more. Just speculating. They may end up with $300-500K extra, but I don’t think that would get them McFarland. We’ll see.
Harken back to michael barrett @ 3 b
Drafted by expos moved to cstcher.
Good scoops John .
This draft pool $$ math gives me a head ache
Worse than bad jet lag lol
Draft for need
Draft to seed affiliates in a sense too