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Friday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Won, 11-5 vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre,
6:35 p.m.		 J. Ross (0-2, 6.75) vs.
Cessa (2-2, 1.84)
Harrisburg Won, 6-2 @ Trenton,
7:00 p.m.		 Williams (1-3, 6.46) vs.
Herrera (2-0, 0.00)
Potomac Won, 8-4 vs. Salem,
7:05 p.m.		 Estevez (1-2, 4.91) vs.
McGrath (0-2, 6.15)
Hagerstown Lost, 6-2 @ Rome,
7:00 p.m.		 Watson (1-1, 4.13) vs.
Walker (0-2, 4.68)

Syracuse 11 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 5
• McGowin (W, 1-2) 5IP, 5H, R, ER, 0BB, 2K
• Antolin 2IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 0K
• Robinson 3-5, 2R, 2B, 2RBI
• Skole 3-5, 3R, 2B
• Severino 2-4, R, 3RBI

The Chiefs got three in the 1st and never looked back as they ran the RailRiders off the tracks, 11-5. Kyle McGowin won his first start in three tries with five innings of one-run ball on five hits, no walks, and two whiffs. Dustin Antolin and Joe Nathan combined for three scoreless before Rafael Martin made his case for being outrighted with four runs allowed in the 9th. Matt Skole and Clint Robinson both went 3-for-5 with a double to lead the Syracuse offense.

Harrisburg 6 Trenton 2
• Fedde (W, 2-3) 7IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 7K
• Brinley (SV, 4) 2IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 4K
• Lisson 2-4, R, 2B, BB, RBI, 2E
• Collier 2-4, 2R, BB
• Hernandez 2-4, RBI, CS

Ten days after Trenton sent Erick Fedde to the showers in the 4th, he stuck around for seven innings in a 6-2 Harrisburg win. Fedde gave up both Thunder runs on five hits and a walk while striking out seven as he won his second game. Ryan Brinley finished with two scoreless and four K’s to earn his fourth save. Every Sens batter had a hit, five had two with Mario Lisson and Zach Collier also adding a walk to reach base three times apiece in the 14-hit, three-walk assault.

Potomac 8 Wilmington 4
• Reyes (W, 2-5) 6IP, 8H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 5K, 2HR, BK, HBP
• Pantoja (SV, 1) 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 5K
• Gutierrez 2-4, 3R, 3B, HR, BB, RBI
• Gushue 2-4, R, 2-2B, 2RBI
• Agustin 1-3, 2B, BB, 2RBI

The P-Nats scored in each of the first four innings as they doubled up the Blue Rocks, 8-4 in the series finale. Luis Reyes gave up all four Wilmington runs on eight hits, including two homers, over six innings. He walked three and struck out five. Jorge Pantoja closed it out with three scoreless for his first save. Klevin Gutierrez homered, walked, and tripled while Taylor Giushue doubled twice to lead the Potomac attack.

Rome 6 Hagerstown 2
• C. Pena (L, 1-2) 5+ IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, BB, 2K, WP, HBP
• Ramirez (BS, 1) 2IP, 2H, 3R, 3ER, 3BB, 0K, 2-2 IR-S
• Neuse 2-4
• Franco 1-3, R, BB, 2E

Rome rallied for five in the 6th to erase a 2-1 deficit and triple up Hagerstown, 6-2. Carlos Pena put the first two runners on while Yonathan Ramirez let ’em in and three of his own to give Pena the loss and “earn” his first blown save. Sheldon Neuse (two singles) and Anderson Franco (single, walk) both reached base twice while Jake Noll was the sole batter to connect in 11 RISP chances as the Suns left on eight men total (well, I should hope so; partials would be kind of messy).

13 Commments

  1. Robles is down to .229 after another 0-for-5. Is he just pressing, still not completely healthy, or perhaps a bit of both? Stevenson did have a hit last night but is still scuffling at .147 since his promotion.

    On the flip side, Gushue’s SLG is now up to a Harper-like .733.

    1. It could very well be that Robles numbers are from the Nats making him change his ways; its the kind of adjustmant that is going to take time.
      He can’t continue to get hit like this.

      1. Any time you trade away 3 major prospects and still have 4 in the top 100, you’re doing a lot of things right.
        With 2 in Low A, 1 in High A and 1 in AA, there’s a lot to cheer for.

  2. Hopefully Glover and Kelley’s imminent returns will give the bullpen a boost. But looking at today’s box scores got me thinking about what sort of RP depth do we have.

    As we’ve discussed before, Austin Adams has been intriguing in Syracuse. So has Joe Nathan. He’s had one bad outing (4ER in 0.2 IP) that have made his numbers look worse than they are. But 8.2 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 10 K, are solid enough to warrant consideration.

    But that’s where any interest options in Syracuse end. The rest of the bullpen has been really bad.

    In Harrisburg, there’s a couple options, but again depressingly few.
    Ryan Brinley: 3.38 ERA, 16 IP, 14 H, 3 BB, 14 K, 1.13 WHIP
    RC Orlan: 1.42 ERA, 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 10 K, 1.26 WHIP

    In Potomac, same story:
    Jorga Pantoja: 0.00 ERA, 7 IP, 5 H, 0 BB, 8 K, 0.71 WHIP
    I hesitate to include Kyle Schepel since he’s 26, but nevertheless: 2.45 ERA, 14.2 IP, 7 H, 5 BB, 21 K, 0.82 WHIP
    Same with Ronald Pena (25): 1.80 ERA, 10 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 9 K, 1.30 WHIP

    Hagerstown:
    Jordan Mills (again 25 years old!!): 1.65 ERA, 16.1 IP, 12 H, 1 BB, 16 K, 0.80 WHIP
    Kyle Simonds: 4.15 ERA, 17.1 IP, 17 H, 2 BB; 18 K, 1.10 WHIP

    And that’s really it… Trevor Gott, Rafael Maritn, Jimmy Cordero, Mariano Rivera, Steven Fuentes, Yonathan Ramirez and Hayden Howard have been bad this season. Grant Borne was sent to XST.

    Seems there won’t be much help coming through the pipelines in the next couple years.

    1. Don’t forget Neal Cotts at Syracuse. He had one bad outing that hurt his ERA but has been very good since then. He has a 0.87 WHIP, a .178 average against, and 12 Ks in 12.2 IP. I thought he deserved promotion more than Grace, although Cotts would have required a 40-man move to bring up and would have had no options. I assume Grace will be one of the ones outbound when Glover and Kelley are activated.

      Brinley in general has progressed well. He’s had a couple of bad outings this season but has been strong in others.

  3. I had some high hopes for Gott after he was acquired. He had put up some very good numbers with the Angels and came with a reputation of having a very good fastball and for attacking hitters.

    But he just has not panned out. Can anybody give an insight on what’s happened with him? I know last year he had a lingering injury, but i thought he was fully over that coming into this season.

    1. I felt the same about Gott. He had pitched well in the majors at age 22 and seemed like a good acquisition.

  4. If we are going to excuse bad outings, Rafael Martin, who Luke seems eager to clam, had a string of 7 scoreless outings between April 11 and May 8. His first and last outings this season were poor, in between he was the best reliever in Cuse. That said, for Martin and everyone else, you really can’t take out their bad outings as the ability to avoid horrible outings is key. Bad outings can cost the team games.

    1. Cotts’ bad outing was on April 9. He’s only given up one run in the month since then. I’ll take that, at any level.

  5. Funny that on a “prospects” website we are debating the merits of 42 year-old Joe Nathan, 37 year-old Neal Cotts and 32 year-old Raffy Martin. Kind of shows how desperate the Nats are for bullpen help. Would rather be touting a true fire-balling bullpen prospect, rather than guys hanging on for one last shot.

    1. Agreed, although most MLB relievers are failed starters. Very, very few guys get drafted high to be closers (Storen, Zack Burdi last year by the Chisox). Since starters have more value, most teams try to keep the better arms in their organization as starters as long as they can. It seemed like a real red flag when the Nats switched Johansen to relief so quickly. The Nats shifted Sandman Jr. to relief pretty quickly as well.

      On the flip side, the guys who are drafted as relievers seem to move up faster. Glover, Brinley, and Andrew Lee all got quick promotions (before Lee got switched to starting), and of course Glover made the majors just a year after the draft.

      As for the void of age-appropriate relievers in the upper minors, both Bryan Harper and Nick Lee would have been part of the conversation if not for major injuries. I don’t know at what point the Nats might start looking at John Simms and maybe even Voth in a Stammen-like role. Mapes would fit this description as well, although he’s been MIA all season, making me wonder how badly injured he may be.

      1. FWIW, Neuse closed for Oklahoma, with a mid-90s heater. I remember seeing some list of pitchers around draft time last year, and Neuse’s pitching numbers compared favorably to Burdi’s. I’m not saying the Nats should switch him to the mound, though, as he’s obviously more valuable as a position player. I have, however, pointed out that Andrew Lee hit for power at Tennessee, just in case coming back from a second TJ doesn’t go so well.

        The Nats have quite a collection of pitchers in the rehab protocol in A. Lee, N. Lee, Bryan Harper, Luzardo, Ryan Williamson, Tim Collins, and the re-signed Aaron Barrett. All but perhaps Nick Lee should be back on the mound at some point this summer.

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