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Monday’s News & Notes

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Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Lost, 6-1 @ Gwinnett,
1:05 p.m.		 G. Ross (2-3, 6.97) vs.
Weigel (1-1, 7.71)
Harrisburg Lost, 3-2 vs. Richmond,
12:00 p.m.		 Eitel (0-1, 6.75) vs.
Coonrod (1-5, 4.76)
Potomac Lost, 4-3 @ Wilmington,
12:05 p.m.		 Silvestre (4-1, 4.66) vs.
Castillo (3-2, 2.61)
Hagerstown Won, 7-2 vs Hagerstown,
7:05 p.m.		 C. Pena (3-2, 6.39) vs.
Muckenhirn (1-5, 4.66)

Gwinnett 6 Syracuse 1
• O’Sullivan 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Satterwhite (L, 0-2) 3IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 2K, HR
• Falu 2-4
• Solano 0-1, 3BB

The Chiefs broke up the shutout bid early to take a 1-0 lead but allowed six unanswered runs to drop a 6-1 decision to the Braves. The newest Syracuse pitcher tossed three scoreless innings before giving way to Cody Satterwhite, who gave up a run in each his three innings thrown. Irving Falu singled twice while Jhonatan Solano walked three times but the rest of the Syracuse lineup was just 2-for-27 with a walk. Roster move: RHP Sean O’Sullivan assigned from Washington.

Richmond 3 Harrisburg 2
• Hill 6⅔ IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 3K, HR, HBP
• Brinley (L, 3-3) 2IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Read 2-4, R, 2B
• Abreu 1-3, 2B, BB, E(8)

Richmond answered Harrisburg’s rally to tie in the bottom of the 7th with a solo HR in the 8th to win it, 3-2. Taylor Hill got the start and only let one ball leave the yard as he allowed two runs on seven hits over six and 2/3rds innings, with a big assist from Jimmy Cordero, who stranded three while getting the last out of the 7th. Ryan Brinley took the loss with the aforementioned HR allowed over the final two innings. Raudy Read singled, doubled, and scored a run while Osvaldo Abreu walked and doubled as the Sens were held to six hits total.

Wilmington 4 Potomac 3
• Crownover 5⅔ IP, 7H, 0R, BB, 6K
• Rivera (H, 1) ⅓+ IP, 2H, 3R, 3ER, BB, 0K
• Schepel (BS, 2; L, 1-1) 2IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K, 3-3 IR-S
• Robles 2-4, R, RBI, SB
• Gushue 2-3, BB

The wheels came off the bus in the 7th as the Blue Rocks scored all four of its runs in a 4-3 win over the P-Nats. Matthew Crownover started and tossed five and 2/3rds scoreless, scattering seven hits, walking one, and fanning seven. Mariano Rivera III got the last out of the 6th, but put on three straight in the 7th before turning the ball over to Kyle Schepel who gave up three straight singles to empty the bases and let in one of his own for the loss. Victor Robles stayed upright except for his 9th steal and singled twice as did Taylor Gushue (minus the steal, natch) to lead the Potomac offense.

Hagerstown 7 West Virginia 2
• Bourque (W, 1-3) 6IP, 4H, R, ER, 0BB, 7K
• Fuentes 2⅔ IP, 5H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 1K
• Perkins 2-5, 2R, HR, 2RBI, SB
• Corredor 2-4, R, 2RBI, HBP
• Johnson 2-5, R, 2B

Hagerstown scored five times in three innings to take an early 5-1 lead and cruised to a 7-2 win over West Virginia. James Bourque won his first game with six innings of one-run ball on four hits with no walks and seven K’s. Steven Fuentes nearly closed it out with two and 2/3rds innings pitched before the Power got to him for an unearned run in the 9th. Table-setters Blake Perkins and Aldrem Corredor scored three times and combined for four hits and four RBIs to lead the Suns’ 11-hit parade.

16 Commments

  1. I hadn’t checked his stats for a while, but I am happy to see that Robles is outperforming his career numbers this season. I don’t think it is any justification to rush him, but steady progress is exciting, as long as Rizzo doesn’t trade him.

    1. I don’t know that there’s a closer who would be available who would be worth someone listed among baseball’s top ten prospects. There’s no Chapman or Miller out there this year. The rumored price of Ward and Luzardo for Robertson seemed about right for that level of reliever. If Glover keeps getting the job done and can stay healthy, there may not be a need to trade for a closer at all.

  2. More good work by Crownover. If there’s a starter ready to move up from Potomac, he’s it.

    There’s been a lot of speculation recently about guys who may be moving up, and I’ve done it as much as anyone. It’s a complicated deal, though. There has to be a place for the designated player to move up to, and there have to be players to back-fill on the team they’re leaving.

    Let’s take Corredor as an example. He’s proven all he needs to prove at Hags, other than in the HR column. The Nats have a player in Simonetti who could back-fill the 1B opening. At Potomac, though, Corredor would displace Sagdal at 1B, a player with an interesting bat who has hit for low average but five HRs. The workaround might be to promote Davidson, who has gotten a lot of time at DH, to Harrisburg to play 2B and give Sagdal more time at Potomac both at DH and possibly 2B.

    OF is also complicated. The conga line obviously starts with an expected Robles promotion to Harrisburg. Perkins then get promoted in trace, right? But then what about Dan Johnson and his 10 HRs and .308 average? Plus the organization already placed Sundberg at Potomac when Robles was injured, so they have three more-or-less “prospect” OFs there already. Wiseman and Agustin are both really struggling, but it’s too early to give up on either of them. On top of all of this, does the organization want to leave some wiggle room at Potomac for potential later-summer promotion of a guy who outranks them all in Soto? Also, do they have two guys that they think are are ready to back-fill at Hags? Upshaw might be one of them, but since they never elevated him out of the GCL last year, they may think he needs a polishing stop at Auburn.

    Then there’s catcher. Gushue is one of the break-out players in the organization this year. But Read is a true prospect at Harrisburg, and Severino is at Syracuse (and struggling). (Former prospect Spencer Kieboom is barely playing at Harrisburg and hanging on by a .184 thread . . . yet still is on the 40-man.) Maybe you promote Gushue to Harrisburg and have him DH five days a week and catch a couple? The dude has a .984 OPS and 12 HRs. There’s not much more for him to prove at the plate in the Carolina League.

    Anyway, just remember all the moving parts as we speculate on midseason promotions over the coming weeks.

    1. Pretty sure Spencer Kieboon was offloaded from the 40 3 months ago.
      He went unclaimed so he stayed with the Nats org.

      1. You’re right. Forgot about that. I was surprised that a catcher went unclaimed.

    2. This is only a problem for Hagerstown players. Harrisburg and Syracuse are so bereft of talent, that we could easily just swap players; for each promoted player, their replacement gets demoted, since 80-90% of the players at AA and AAA are organizational filler.

      1. True
        Should be interesting how much of Auburn is June draft kids mixed with a handful of kids parked from march camp o

    4. You think the Richmond braves
      Had some guys with Sunday BBQ
      Hangover ? Eitel tossed a Fedde outing ?
      A trade for Ward would seem about the only path Davidson reaches city isle

  3. Not sure the Nats are looking to promote Perkins this season. He is 20, and this year is the first time he has had any sustained success since being drafted out of HS in 2015 (had Perkins gone to college he wouldn’t be draft eligible yet). He is still young for the Sally League.

    Johnson seems like the more likely candidate for a promotion out of the H’town OFs. He turns 22 in July, and he was drafted out of college. There is more of a need to push DJ than Perkins.

    1. I agree on all points. I think Johnson will get the first call. If Perkins moves up, it likely will be later rather than sooner.

  4. Has anyone heard any updates on Soto and Kieboom’s injuries? Any timetable for their returns?

    2. I believe it was the Washington Post that quoted a Nats official as saying it was going to be awhile for both.

      My guess at this point is that they’ll probably rehab with the GCL Nats and then go back to Hagerstown. The Nats have done this in the past. Both could still see a late season promotion to Potomac.

      1. I saw the same thing. The inference I got was that the injuries weren’t that serious but that they were being extremely careful with them, particularly with the hamstring.

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