Tuesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Lost, 7-0 (7 inn., rain) |
@ Pawtucket, 7:05 p.m. |
G. Ross (2-3, 6.39) Velazquez (4-1, 1.50) |
| Harrisburg | OFF DAY | vs. Altoona | Simms (2-3, 4.00) vs. Anderson (2-6, 4.41) |
| Potomac | Lost, 4-2 | @ Frederick, 11:00 a.m. |
Sanburn (0-1, 3.86) vs. Gonzalez (2-3, 5.70) |
| Hagerstown | OFF DAY | @ Greensboro, 7:00 p.m. |
TBD vs. Brewster (4-3, 3.07) |
Pawtucket 7 Syracuse 0
• Voth (L, 1-7) 6IP, 9H, 5R, 5ER, BB, 2K, HR
• Green 1-2
• Ramsey 1-2
The Chiefs (17-35) maintained their “lead” over the Baby Cakes (19-37) for the worst record in AAA with 7-0, rain-shortened loss to Pawtucket. Austin Voth threw six innings and gave up five runs on nine hits and a walk while striking out two for his seventh loss. Austin Adams failed to retire the three batters he faced in the 7th (BB, BB, HBP) and Matt Grace stranded just one in the game’s final frame. The Chiefs mustered four hits and one walk while being shut out for the fifth time this season. Roster moves: OF Ryan Raburn selected by Washington; RHP Rafael Martin designated for assignment; UT Mario Lisson reassigned from Harrisburg.
Harrisburg – OFF DAY
After a brief road trip to Western Pennsylvania, Harrisburg returns to the capital for a six-game homestand against Altoona and Binghamton.
Frederick 3 Potomac 2 (11 inn.) – GAME ONE
• Estevez 6IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 3K, HR
• R. Pena 3IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 4K
• Mendez (L, 1-2) 1⅔ IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0K, HR
• Gutierrez 3-5, 3B, RBI
• Sagdal 2-5, RBI
All three Keys runs came via the longball, including the game-winner in the 11th in a 3-2 win over the P-Nats. Gilberto Mendez took the loss, his second, on the homer in his second inning of work, following three scoreless by Ronald Pena. Wirkin “For the Weekend” Estevez started and went the first six, giving up two runs on a homer in the 3rd and five hits total. He walked two and struck out three/ Kelvin Gutierrez led the Potomac attack with a 3-for-5 effort, followed by Ian Sagdal at 2-for-5.
Frederick 8 Potomac 6 – GAME TWO
• Guilbeau 4IP, 9H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 4K
• Schepel (L, 1-2) 2IP, 5H, 5R, 3ER, 2BB, 2K, HR
• Sundberg 2-2, R, BB, OF assist at 2B
• Page 2-3, 2B, RBI
• Robles 2-4, R, SB, CS
Potomac led twice – 4-2 and 5-3 – but couldn’t stop Frederick from completing the doubleheader sweep with an 8-6 win. Taylor Guilbeau was strafed for nine hits and let in three runs over four innings, though we walked none and fanned four in a no-decision. Kyle Schepel took the loss as he gave up five runs on five hits over the last two innings. Jack Sundberg reached base three times with two singles and a walk while Matt Page singled and doubled and drove in a run to pace the P-Nats offense.
Hagerstown – OFF DAY
The circus left Hagerstown and headed back to Columbia while the Suns traveled to Greensboro yesterday for a three-game series against the Grasshoppers.
Does Syracuse need a new pitching coach? Everyone there just seems lost. Of course the hitters are lost, too. It’s become the Island of Misfit Toys.
Matthew Page, who I thought might not be invited back this year, and who in fact didn’t surface from XST for a few weeks, is hitting .327. Rhett Wiseman, from whom I was hoping to see a breakthrough year, is hitting .194. Jack Sundberg, 26th-round pick in 2016, is hitting a steady .283 and may see Harrisburg this summer (although he hasn’t done much in the way of power).
With Lisson called up to AAA, Robles or someone is going to have to move up to Harrisburg soon as they don’t even have a full contingent of OFs. Of course one of the slots may need to be filled by Andrew Stevenson, who has drunk the Syracuse poison and is “hitting” .174.
Realize that minor league wins and losses may not be the most accurate indicator of the quality of talent in the system, but man, outside of Hagerstown (and kudos to the Suns for continuing to play well with Soto and Kieboom out), the Nats system is struggling. Cuse, H’burg and Potomac have a combined record of 66-99, and only the wretched Richmond Squirrels have kept all 3 Nats teams from being in DFL in their respective divisions.
Just really bad baseball at the 3 highest levels right now. Particularly, disappointing is the poor play of many of the “prospects” on these teams: Voth and Cole are pitching themselves out of prospect status and may have done so already; Andrew Stevenson has been a complete disaster in AAA (1 extra base hit in a month at Cuse), Jimmy Cordero couldn’t have been worse, Rhett Wiseman can’t get to the Mendoza line. Yikes.
Fedde and Robles have been playing about as expected (honestly, not quite as good as expected, but decent enough to avoid concern; except for the HBP issue for Robles), and Carter Kieboom looks like the real deal, but as a whole, the first two months of organizational baseball for the Nats has been awful. Hope that warmer weather brings better performances.
You’re right that the baseball has been terrible, but that’s a pretty pessimistic view.
For one, Robles is playing better than at any point last season, which was considered his ‘break out’ season. I think he’s played better than we could have hoped, because he’s finally shown glimpses of generating real power, which was one of his biggest question marks entering the season. His ISO is up .050 points to .205, which is fantastic for a guy who’s already proven to possess the other 4 tools. I’d have honestly been more discouraged if Robles repeated his 2015 slash of .350/.450/.500, because a lot more of those singles and turning into doubles, and the doubles into HRs. We know he can hit well, but until now we hadn’t seen as much power.
Likewise with Marmolejos. With each promotion, he’s displayed increased power, this season included. He’s now batting a Pujolsesque .358/.424/.605, and has anyone else noticed he’s been getting a lot of games in LF recently? I think he deserved a shot more than Raburn, but Marmolejos, who’s been derided for only having gap-power now has a SLG only 30 points lower than Bryce Harper. It looks like Orange is just a late bloomer.
Some other “better than expected” players in Harrisburg: Suero and Brinley.
In Potomac: Gushue, Borne, Crownover, Pantoja, L. Reyes.
Agree that there have been some pleasant surprises, but mostly at the lower levels and/or among players not considered high prospects. Even with their starts, Gushue and Brinley are fringe prospects.
Always have liked Orange as a player, but he doesn’t even have a 100 ABs yet; so, need to see more out of him to determine whether he is having a breakout year or just a hot couple of weeks. Also, there are major question marks whether Marmolejos will ever have the power to play either 1B or a corner OF spot at the MLB level. Hope to be wrong, but think Orange’s ceiling is as a MLB bench player.
The larger point is that as a whole the performance of the Nats farm system has been disappointing through the first two months. Then again, there is a lot of baseball left to be played in 2017.
I agree, I just wanted to point out some positive stories.
Regarding Marmolejos not profiling as a 1B, this canard keeps getting repeated. The league average for 1B last season was .255/.334/.447. Could Marmolejos do that? Based on his track record, yeah, probably. His minor league stats suggest he could profile as something like a .280/.350/.450 hitter. That’s not overwhelming power, but appreciably better than average. It’s just people keep thinking that 1B need to look and hit like Raffy Palmeiro or Mark McGwire. If Marmolejos could repeat his 2016 line of .289/.370/.475 in the majors, he’d be the 10th best 1B.
I think Orange could indeed get in the conversation for the big club next year for the 1B/LF bench role. I assume Lind will go on the market for a starting job if he keeps putting up impressive numbers.
You guys beat me to the “fringe prospect” comment on some of these guys. Even so, I’m intrigued by Gushue. A catcher who can hit can stick around a long time.
To me, the best news on individuals has been at Hags. Mc Mills has shown up as a legit prospect, something he wasn’t considered before. Watson has been steady. Perkins has shown significantly more than he had before, although he has cooled a bit recently. Dan Johnson has caught a lot of attention, with people wondering whether he can sustain it at the next level. Corredor has really stepped up, albeit without much HR power (profiling like a younger Orange). Neuse has been about average, not terrific, but not regressing, and showing decent power. I had hoped for more from Banks, but this is still just his first year of pro ball. Not sure what to make of Franco’s struggles. A lot was expected of him. Agustin got demoted to Hags but has responded very well thus far.
This is why as one guy says in Nats nation : the June amateur draft is like summer carnivals , Christmas
And Easter all wrapped together !
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