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Monday’s News & Notes

Blake Perkins walks off the Suns twice with a HR, single

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Won, 8-2 OFF DAY N/A
Harrisburg Won, 2-1 vs. Reading,
6:30 p.m.		 Simms (0-1, 3.38) vs.
Barker (1-0, 4.85)
Potomac Won, 4-3 OFF DAY N/A
Hagerstown Won, 4-1;
Won, 5-4
(9 inn.)		 vs. Kannapolis,
6:05 p.m.		 Sharp (0-0, 4.50) vs.
Dunning (1-0, 0.45)

Syracuse 8 Norfolk 2
• Cole (W, 1-0) 5IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 5K
• Adams 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Bautista 3-5, 2R, BB
• Goodwin 2-3, R, BB, RBI
• Sanchez 1-3, R, BB, RBI

Syracuse completed the sweep of Norfolk with an 8-2 dismantling for its sixth straight win. A.J. Cole pitched five innings of two-run ball on a walk and five hits and five K’s to pick up his first “W” of 2017. Four relievers turned in a scoreless inning apiece highlighted by Austin Adams striking out the side in the 8th. Rafael Bautista reached base four times with three singles and a walk and scored two runs to lead the Chiefs’ 11-hit parade. Roster move: IF Grant Green outrighted from Washington.

Harrisburg 2 Bowie 1
• Simms (W, 1-1) 5IP, 5H, R, ER, 0BB, 7K
• Brinley (H, 1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Valdez (SV, 1) 2IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Read 1-3, R, 2B, RBI
• Lisson 1-2, R, BB

The Sens squeezed in two runs from three hits and two walks and got another strong out from a trio of pitchers to take the game and the series from the Baysox, 2-1. John Simms spun five strong innings with one run let in on five hits while striking out seven. Ryan Brinley followed with two perfect innings for the hold while Phillips Valdez cordero’d around three hits in the 8th and 9th innings to earn the save. Mario Lisson walked, scored on Raudy Read’s RBI double, while Spencer Kieboom’s RBI groundout plated what proved to be the gamewinner.

Potomac 4 Lynchburg 3
• Estevez 5⅔ IP, 8H, 3R, 2ER, BB, 2K
• Crownover (W, 3-0) 3⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 5K, 1-0 IR-S
• Masters 2-4, R, RBI
• Sagdal 1-4, R, HR, RBI

Potomac fell behind 3-0 after four innings but chipped away with single runs in the 5th, 6th, 8th, and 9th innings for a 4-3 comeback win in the series finale vs. Lynchburg. Wirkin “For the Weekend” Estevez went the first five and 2/3rds innings, allowing all three Hillcats runs on eighth hits and a walk, but go the no-decision. Matt Crownover continues to make his case to return to starting with another strong appearance, finishing the game with three and a 1/3rd perfect innings of relief and his third win. David Masters led the P-Nats’ offense with a pair of singles while Ian Sagdal homered and walked.

Hagerstown 4 Delmarva 1 – GAME ONE
• Watson 5IP, 3H, R, ER, 2BB, 7K, HBP, 2WP
• VanVossen (W, 2-0) 2IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 3K
• Perkins 2-4, 2R, 2B, HR, 3RBI
• J. Soto 2-3, RBI

Blake Perkins smacked a three-run HR to give the Suns a 4-1 walkoff win in the opener. Tyler Watson gave up the lone SHIrerun on three hits and two walks over five innings. The win went to Mick VanVossen with two scoreless innings. Perkins also doubled and scored two runs total while Juan Soto singled twice in three trips and drove in the first Hagerstown run.

Hagerstown 5 Delmarva 4 (9 inn.) – GAME TWO
• Howard 4⅓ IP, 8H, 3R, 3ER, BB, 4K, HR
• Fuentes 2⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 1-0 IR-S
• Simonds (W, 2-0) 2IP, 1H, R, ER, 0BB, 4K, HR
• Perkins 2-4, 2R, 2B, BB, RBI, 3SB
• Johnson 2-4, R, 2B
• La Bruna 3-4

Hagerstown rallied for single runs in the 7th and 8th innings to tie and connected on four straight singles in the 9th to win, 5-4 and sweep the doubleheader from the Shorebirds. Hayden Howard pitched into the 5th but was dinged for three Shorebirds runs on eight hits and a walk over four and a 1/3rd innings. The win went to Kyle Simonds who closed out the game with a (home) run over the last two innings, and bailed out by Carter Kieboom’s HR in the bottom of the 8th. Blake Perkins delivered the gamewinner once again while going 2-for-4 with a double, as did Daniel Johnson, while Angelo La Bruna went 3-for-4 to lead the Suns hit column.

15 Commments

  1. Wow, six wins across five levels of the organization, including the majors. Shows what good pitching and timely hitting can do at all levels.

    It seems that Stras is going on paternity leave, which explains the Jacob Turner call-up for Colorado.

  2. Hagerstown’s start has surprised me. They must have one of the youngest team’s in the Sally League, and Auburn (where many of their players came from) was nothing special last year. Realize its early, but got to love players who are young for their level succeeding. Really good sign.

    1. “Nothing special” is about as nice as you could describe 28-47. The 2016 Auburn pitching was actually pretty good, though; collective ERA of 3.63, WHIP of 1.295. The hitting was BAAAAD: collective .600 OPS, with only 12 HRs for the team. Hags has 18 HRs after 18 games this year, with a team OPS of .769.

    2. Auburn might be where the majority came from, but some of the best players on Hagerstown are actually coming from the GCL.

      Kieboom, Soto, Corredor, Franco, Sharp and maybe a couple others all skipped Auburn.

      1. Soto actually had a cameo at Auburn, but your general point is on the mark, at least about the hitters. Most of the Hags pitchers came from Auburn. A few Auburn hitters are showing some improvement, particularly Johnson, with Banks to a bit lesser extinct. Noll has faded after a hot start, and Neuse and Franco have struggled. I may be most surprised by Corredor, who wasn’t good at all at the GCL level.

  3. I am interested to see how Soto’s numbers compare to Trout and Harper at the 70 to 80 game mark. He is about the same age as they were at this level. In fairness to Harper, Soto had a GCL season, is on a better team, and is not receiving the scrutiny that Harper did.

    I am also excited to see which, if any, of the seven 17-year olds in the system make the GCL this year. Antuna and Garcia both have legit potential in my opinion. I am not a scout though 🙂

    The Nats also signed Carlos Romero, a 6-6 pitcher who will turn 18 in July. He’d be the same age as HS senior from this coming draft.

    I do not have a BA sub anymore, but i saw there was an article on Edwin Lora. It sounds like he is really taking off.

    I am rooting for Armond Upshaw. His speed is supposed to be of the charts. If he can make Auburn this year, he’d be the same age as the college draftees from this year.

    I have not seen and news or mock drafts, but I am guess they will draft a ton of pitching this year.

    1. Top three hitters in the H’town lineup are:

      Perkins – 20 years old
      Kieboom – 19
      Soto – 18

      The average age for the league is between 21 and 22.

    2. At exactly the same age that Soto is now (both have Oct. birthdays), and including the AFL, Harper had 23 HRs, 30 doubles, 30 SBs, and finished the regular season in AA. For closer reference, Harper’s slash in 72 games at Hags was .318/.423/.554. The next year, Harper won NL ROY and helped lead the Nats to the playoffs. The bar is pretty high! At 18, Trout slashed .341/.428/.490 across A and A+. Soto might be capable of a hitting line like that, but not of swiping the 56 bags that Trout stole that year.

      I’m high on Soto, perhaps more than on any other Nat hitting prospect, including Robles. But he’s no Harper or Trout. He doesn’t have the speed or the defense, and we’ll have to see about his power. He’s going to have to play a corner OF position and therefore is going to need to show something in the range of 25-30 HR power.

    3. I sure would hate to try to make a living signing 16-year-olds, even in the U.S. with all the travel teams and whatnot, but all the more so in Latin America with kids who are often under-nourished and under-coached. (In fairness, many U.S. kids are often over-coached). My understanding is that Rendon was about 5’4″ at age 16 (but with a sweet swing). Stras wasn’t even drafted at age 18. But a Latin kid who isn’t signed at 16 is left behind. The Nats have had some of their best successes in mining these “over-aged” Latin kids (Difo, Lopez, Marmelejos, Bautista, among others).

  4. Really nice day across the system. Good to see AJ Cole have a good day. After Voth yesterday it bodes better for the Nats having a little pitching depth in the system (and hopefully Turner doesn’t pull a Guthrie in CO).

  5. Though it’s still early, great to see so many guys doing so well, especially Blake Perkins. I failed to see why the org. kept raving about him even after his poor numbers last year, but I guess he’s proving them right.Just goes to show what a great scouting staff Rizzo has assembled.
    On that note, is it me or has the drafting been better ever since supposed wonder scout Roy Clark left?
    Lastly, for all the positives thus far, what is going on with Pedro Severino? For a guy who many thought was gonna take over from Wilson Ramos, it looks like he’s regressing at Syracuse.

    1. I’ve had the same thought about how the Nat drafts have improved since Roy Clark took his banjo to the Dodgers. I don’t have any insight into who is making the final decisions on what picks, but the Nats seem to have gotten a lot more depth in 2015 and 2016 than they did in the previous years.

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