Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Lost, 4-3 | @ Toledo, 7:05 p.m. |
Giolito (1-2, 3.38) vs. Roach (1-0, 0.00) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 13-4 | vs. Erie, 7:00 p.m. |
Blackmar (3-2, 4.06) vs. Alexander (0-1, 6.52) |
| Potomac | Lost, 7-5 | @ Wilmington, 6:35 p.m. |
Crownover (3-4, 5.16) vs. Lovvorn (2-14, 3.92) |
| Hagerstown | Lost, 4-1 | @ Rome, 7:00 p.m. |
TBD vs. Sanchez (6-9, 5.20) |
| Auburn | ALL-STAR BREAK | @ Hudson Valley, 7:05 p.m. |
TBD vs. TBD |
Toledo 4 Syracuse 3
• Latos 5IP, 3H, R, ER, 4BB, 3K, WP
• Laffey (L, 5-6) 3IP, 3H, 3R, 0ER, 0BB, 4K
• Skole 1-4, R, HR, 2RBI
• Collier 2-4, OF assist at 2B
The Chiefs’ defense faltered in the 6th as a leadoff error led to three unearned runs that proved to be the difference in a 4-3 loss to the Mud Hens. Mat Latos walked four in five innings but minimized the damage with two double plays as he allowed one run on three hits. The loss went to Aaron Laffey who gave up the aforementioned unearned runs on three hits over three innings. Matt Skole went deep again with HR #20 and moved up to 4th place in the I.L. race as he drove in two runs to bring Syracuse within one in the 8th inning. Zach Collier led the non-MLBers with two singles in four trips to the plate.
Erie 13 Harrisburg 4
• Fedde (L, 1-1) 4⅓ IP, 9H, 7R, 7ER, 2BB, 2K, HR
• A. Sanchez 3-3, R, BB, RBI
• Marmolejos 3-5, 2B, 2RBI
Erick Fedde’s second AA start was not quite quality as Erie laid into him for seven runs in a 13-4 demolition of Harrisburg. Fedde gave up nine hits and two walks and fanned just two over four and a 1/3rd innings. Neither Derek Self nor Nick Lee were any more effective as the Seawolves piled on six more against the Sens ‘pen. Adrian Sanchez reached base four times in four PA’s with three singles and a walk while Jose “Orange” Marmolejos singled twice, doubled once, and drove in two to pace the Harrisburg offense.
Wilmington 7 Potomac 5
• Bacus 4IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 2K, HR
• Holland (L, 1-2) 1⅔ IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Davidson 3-4, 2RBI
• Page 2-4, R, RBI
• Keller 1-3, R, BB
The Blue Rocks’ Mike Hill was the king of twice as he hit a pair of two-run HRs against the P-Nats’ first two pitchers in a 7-5 Wilmington win over Potomac. Dakota Bacus labored through four innings and let in four runs (three earned) on four hits and three walks while striking out two for a no-decision. The loss went to Neil Holland with three runs allowed on four hits over an inning and 2/3rds. Austin Davidson singled three times and drove in two while Matt Page singled twice and drove in one to lead the Woodbridge nine’s 11-hit parade.
Rome 4 Hagerstown 1
• Guilbeau (L, 2-2) 6IP, 7H, 3R, 2ER, 0BB, 3K, HR
• Borne 2IP, 4H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K
• Gutierrez 2-4, 2K
• Wiseman 0-1, SF, RBI, 2BB
Rome’s Patrick Weigel dominated the Hagerstown offense with seven scoreless innings in a 4-1 Braves’ win over the Suns. Hagerstown jumped on MLB rehabber Arodys Vizcaino for a run in the 1st on two hits, with Rhett Wiseman plating Randy Encarnacion on a sacrifice fly. After that, Weigel struck out nine while issuing two walks (both to Wiseman) and giving up just three hits to earn the win. Suns starter Taylor Guilbeau pitched well enough to win with three runs allowed on seven hits and no walks over six innings but took the loss, his second.
Auburn – ALL STAR BREAK
• Banks 1-3
• Watson 1IP, 2H, R, ER, BB, 3K
Two of the three Doubledays’ representatives got into the New York-Penn League All-Star game, which was won by the South, 9-5. Nick Banks came off the bench and went 1-for-3 as the second centerfielder for the North while Tyler Watson struck out the side but gave up a run in his lone inning of work.
Welp, a little bump in the Fedde hype train.
Hard to judge how Robles is doing in high A. He isn’t setting the world on fire, but Stats aren’t horrible and complete lack of power can be excused by all the hbps and hand injury. Prophets but by comparison to Schrock m
Keep in mind that Robles is a massive 3.5 years younger than the Carolina League average. With that age disparity, it will take him a little time to adjust to the league. He is still way ahead of pace to be very solid MLB player if not a superstar.
Robles driving batteries crazy
With getting on base then swiping
Bases
Victor in great hands
‘Probably suffers by comparison’ …
Sheesh, auto corrupt!
Hey, this Zimmerman kid at Syracuse is pretty good! 🙂
I gather Goodwin will sent back down until September when Zim is activated. I was at Nats Park for two of the games he started, and though he looked fine subbing for Harper in the field he looked pretty overwhelmed at the plate.
This was the 4th homer in 7 games for Skole, who now has 81 homers in his four full seasons in the minors, with a handful of games still to go this year.
Given the well-noted lack of power throughout the Nats’ minor league system, hard to see this guy’s pop continue to be ignored.
To add some perspective to Skole’s HR production in the Nats’ system, here are the leading HR hitters for the team’s minor leaguers after Skole.
Drew Ward A+/AA – 14
Jose Marmolejos A+/AA – 12
Brian Goodwin AAA/MLB – 11
Matthew Page A/A+ – 11
Kevin Keyes AA/AAA – 10
Neftali Soto AA/AAA – 10
Rhett Wiseman A – 10
There’s not a lot of pop. Yes, there’s some potential as guys like Ward, Marmolejos and Wiseman get older and mature physically. But none of them are close to Skole.
I’m not suggesting he takes over as the Nats starter at 1B next year. But a 6-4 lefty with 20 HRs at AAA whom you drafted fairly high and is your organization’s former minor league player of the year should be rewarded for a call-up in September, especially when there’s so little other power in the team’s minor league system.
Skole is blocked by Zimmerman, Murphy and Robinson. If his OPS was over 1.000, as Souza’s was two years ago, he’d have a good argument for being called up. But with an OPS below .800 his best shot will be with another organization as I believe he is eligible for free agency after this year.
One other note about Skole and then I’ll shut up (for today!) – he’s committed all of 2 errors this year.
He’s started 93 games at 1B this year and committed 1 error, for a .999 fielding percentage. And he’s started 23 games at 3B this year and committed 1 error for a .983 fielding percentage.
Now, I don’t know what his range factor or defensive WAR or any of that is, but at first glance he looks like a guy who can play a really good 1B in the field and be a decent but not great reserve 3B in the field. And we can all assume he could learn LF fairly quickly, too.
At worse right now Skile would be as good as Zimmerman. The problem is Zim is owed a lot of money for at least 3 more years. Big problem.
Heh. “At worse right now Skile [sic] would be as good as Zimmerman.” That’s actually a pretty silly statement. It’s even a stretch to say that Skole is likely to be better than Zimmerman has been so far this year in MLB (that is, not very good). Skole’s OPS in AAA is .774. For a 26yo in AAA, that’s not awesome – especially for a bat-only player. To assume that he’s likely to be better than Zimmerman for the rest of 2016 is a HUGE stretch. Zim came off the DL last year and was the best non-Harper bat on the team in the second half. And just for fun, I’ll note that Zimmerman’s OPS in AAA is 1.455 including 1 HR per 13 plate appearances. Skole averages 1 HR every 24.65 plate appearances.
Skole has another 2+ weeks to make a closing argument. He would be a good fit for resting Rendon a bit in September if he can show this is sustained production.
The org is still of the impression that Zim has more pop. And he gets the next chance off the DL, and it won’t be a game or two. Skole’s path is through busting his way through a ceiling to displace someone on the 40, acquitting himself as an occasional replacement for Rendon and pinch hitter, and then soak up the ML.
That said, a hot power bat is a hot power bat. Get to 25 and whispers will get louder.
Dusty overworked Solis
While everyday Felipe is in pitt ??
Simonetti could one to keep an eye
On with pop in a couple years .