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Last Night in Woodbridge

Rejuvenated with the additions of Victor Robles and Max “For Those About To” Schrock, the Potomac offense continues to roll as they took their fourth straight with a 5-1 win over Carolina.

It also helps to have some good pitching, which a well-rested Erick Fedde provided with six innings of one-run ball on three hits and a walk. The Nats’ #1 pick from the 2014 draft (18th overall) picked up his fifth win while striking out eight, the first time he’s had more K’s than IP since May 23.

The P-Nats got on the board first in the 1st with a Victor Robles walk, a one-out steal of 2nd, and a triple from Jose “Orange” Marmolejos.

In the 2nd, Robles was involved again but the hard way. After Alec Keller and Bryan Mejia singled and Austin Davidson walked, Robles took the first of three (3) hit by pitches to get the Homer Simpson RBI and a 2-0 lead.

Carolina crept back with a long solo HR to right-center by Braxton Davidson to cut the Potomac lead to 2-1. Fedde shook it off and rolled a grounder to third then went on a strikeout tear, finishing the fourth with a pair and setting down the side by way of the K in the 6th.

Max Schrock extended his hit streak to 13 with a two-out infield single, making it easier for manager Tripp Keister to pull the plug on Fedde (82 pitches, 49 for strikes) and go to the ‘pen. Tommy Peterson took over and retired the side in order in the 7th, fanning two.

Justin Thomas came on in the 8th and also set the side down in order, then with an extra two runs courtesy of Robles (sacrifice fly) and Schrock (RBI double), worked around a two-out single to finish the game and get his second save in as many outings.

The win improves Potomac to 11-3 in the second half, which is good for a 2½ game lead over first-half champ Lynchburg. Game Two of Four between the P-Nats and Mudcats has a lefty-righty matchup of Matt Crownover (0-3, 5.83) vs. Matt Withrow (5-4, 3.44).

10 Commments

  2. Luke, why is it that Robles get hi by pitches so frequently? That’s now 27 (!!!) HBP on the season.

    Does he crowd the plate or not make an effort to get out of the way?

    Just for comparison, Schrock, who’s batted behind Robles for about 95% of the season and therefore faced almost all the exact same pitchers, has been hit 4 times. What’s the deal?

    I’m worried that one of these pitches is going to do some real damage one of these days.

    1. Think about how Marquis Grissom
      Leaned over the dish
      I bet Luke JM triple went to LC!!
      Nice to see Tar Heel AJ B touch
      The bump in auburn

    2. I think it’s a combination pitchers pounding him inside and him refusing to back down. I didn’t feel like he’s crowding the plate, say like Carl Everett did, but I also agree that it’s something to worry about. Example that always comes to mind is Nomar Garciaparra – I don’t care what anyone says, he was never the same hitter after he got hit by Al Reyes late in the 1999 season, and definitely not the same hitter after wrist surgery to fix that in 2001.

  3. Many thanks, Luke.

    It’s a big ask (!), but I’d love to see what your impressions were of Fedde, Schrock and Robles. The three of them are probably in the top 6 Nats prospects based on this season’s showing….

    1. I’ll plagiarize myself and say Robles is a potential five-tool player, but my gut says he’ll be a doubles-and-triples kind of power hitter, not the longball. He runs like a sprinter but I’m still waiting for that opportunity to put it into that 5th gear, he definitely paces himself and it’s worth noting that 3/4-speed Robles is faster than half the team’s top speed. I haven’t seen enough of him on defense to say what his range is yet but the reports of a decent arm are accurate.

      Schrock, speaking of defense, has been better than advertised. That may seem like faint praise, and of course, in comparison to Bryan Mejia (who is now at 3B and has been making an Adrian Sanchez-like transition so far) anyone will look good. Pitchers are already starting to throw him as few fastballs as possible but there hasn’t been a Michael Burgess-like dropoff in production.

      Fedde was as good last night as I’ve seen him. As noted in the comments, reports of 95mph heat are greatly exaggerated. He might touch it from time to time, but to my semi-trained eye, it looks more like low-90s just as it was pre-injury. Last night he was working in much more offspeed stuff, which is good because I’d rather not see him become the pitching equivalent of the hitter with warning-track power trying to swing for the fences. The K’s will come, but he, um, strikes me as a pitcher who will be most successful when he works the count for the purpose of getting weak contact first, strikeouts second.

  4. Some amazing stats on Schrock:

    .333 = career minor league batting average.
    .855 = career minor league OPS.
    5 vs 4 = number of strikeouts versus stolen bases at Potomac.
    48 vs 41 = number of career XBHs versus career strikeouts.
    6 vs 4 = number of career triples versus times caught stealing.

    I think the kid has potential. 🙂

  5. I’ll admit, I was not keen on the Nats dropping $400K to sign Schrock. He’s listed as about the same size as Renda, and his defense even at 2B was said to be suspect. It’s hard to argue with what the kid has been doing, though. He’s showing more speed and more power than Renda, and he’s got more plate discipline than Bostick, who has a similar speed/gap-power profile.

    Like Luke, I’ve questioned Robles’s power tool, although he’s still got time to show it. He just turned 19, and most of the Latin players generally have had some catching up to do in nutrition, weight training, etc. We’ll see. I would say that there’s no rush, but Werth’s contract is up after 2017, so there will be an opening for someone.

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