Tuesday’s News & Notes
Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
Syracuse | Won, 11-8 | @ Louisville, 7:05 p.m. |
G. Ross (3-8, 6.34) vs. C. Reed (2-5, 3.78) |
Harrisburg | Lost, 6-1 | @ Altoona, 7:00 p.m. |
T. Hill (4-1, 4.78) vs. Brubaker (4-4, 5.17) |
Potomac | Lost, 6-4 | @ Wilmington, 6:35 p.m. |
Reyes (5-10, 4.66) vs. Blewett (5-6, 3.97) |
Hagerstown | Won, 8-6 | OFF DAY | N/A |
Auburn | Lost, 4-2 | vs. West Virginia, 7:05 p.m. |
Y. Ramirez (2-1, 2.37) vs. TBD |
GCL Nationals | Won, 13-8; Losing, 1-0 |
vs. GCL Mets |
Syracuse 11 Louisville 8
• Stevenson 1-6, 2RBI
• Severino 1-4, R, BB
Roster moves: RHP Jacob Turner selected by, recalled to Washington; C Jhonatan Solano placed on the 7-Day DL; UT Brandon Snyder activated from 7-Day DL.
Altoona 6 Harrisburg 1
• Voth (L, 0-1) 3⅔ IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 4K, HR
• Hernandez 1-2, BB, SAC
• Abreu 1-3, R, 2B, BB
Altoona scored in four of the first five innings as they cruised past Harrisburg, 6-1 in the opener. Austin Voth was knocked for four runs on six hits and two walks over just three and 2/3rds innings for the loss. Osvaldo Abreu walked, doubled, and scored the one run while Yadiel Hernandez singled and walked. The rest of the lineup went 1-for-25 with two walks. Roster moves: RHP Austin Voth demoted from Syracuse.
Wilmington 6 Potomac 4
• Silvestre (L, 7-5) 5IP, 11H, 6R, 4ER, 0BB, 4K, HR
• Rivera 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Lora 2-3, 2B, 3B, 2RBI
• Wiseman 2-4, 2R, 3B, 2RBI
The Blue Rocks got to Hector Silvestre early and often as the P-Nats never recovered from a the early onslaught and fell, 6-4. Silvestre gave up four runs in the 1st and six runs total over five innings on *eleven* hits, including a HR. He walked none and struck out four in his fifth loss. Mariano Rivera III and R.C. Orlan combined for three scoreless innings of relief. Edwin Lora went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple while Rhett Wiseman singled and tripled; both had two RBI to lead the Potomac offense. Roster moves: LHP R.C. Orlan demoted from Harrisburg; RHP Tyler Skulina placed on the 7-Dal DL, retroactive to July 12.
Hagerstown 8 Lexington 6
• M. Mills 4⅓ IP, 6H, 6R, 6ER, 3BB, 7K, 4HR
• Bogucki (W, 2-1) 2⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 2K, 3-1 IR-S
• Noll 1-3, 2R, HR, RBI
• Barrera 2-3, 2R, BB, HR, RBI
• Corredor 2-5, R, 2B. 2RBI
The Suns and Legends combined for seven HRs as Hagerstown took the series finale, 8-6. McKenzie Mills was lit up for four longballs, which accounted for five of the six runs he allowed over four and a 1/3rd innings. A.J. Bogucki let in one of three inherited runners in the 5th but tossed two more scoreless innings to get the win, his second. Jake Noll and Tres Barrera both hit solo shots while Anderson Franco knocked in three with his circle clout to lead the Suns’ ten-hit parade. Roster moves: SS Paul Panaccione reassigned from Auburn.
West Virginia 4 Auburn 2
• Raquet 4IP, 5H, R, ER, 0BB, 2K
• Cousins (L, 0-1) 2IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, BB, K
• Boggetto 1-3, R, 2B, BB
• Ortiz 1-3, BB
West Virginia broke open a 1-1 game with a safety off Jake Cousins en route to a 4-2 win over Auburn. Nick Raquet made the start and threw four innings of one-run ball on five hits without a walk and two whiffs. Jake Cousins took the loss with two runs allowed on two hits and a walk over two innings. Branden Boggetto and Olver Ortiz both went 1-for-3 with a walk to pace the Doubledays attack.
GCL Nationals 13 GCL Mets 8 – COMP.
• Baez (W, 1-0) 5⅓ IP, 7H, 4R, 3ER, 2BB, 7K
• Adler 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Pascal 4-4, 2R, 2-2B, 2RBI
• Evangelista 2-4, 3R, 2B, HR, 3RBI
• R. Mendez 2-4, R, 2B, RBI, SB
Picking up where they left off last Wednesday, the G-Nats went to town on the G-Mets for 13-8 victory. Joan Baez “started” and went five more innings for the Jack Morris win with four runs allowed on seven hits and two walks. Juan Pascal went 4-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored, and two RBI while Juan Evangelista doubled, homered, scored thrice, and drove in three to power the G-Nats’ assault.
GCL Mets 1 GCL Nationals 0 – SUSP.
Rain (presumably) stopped play again after one inning. They’ll make it up on Saturday.
Since sinking to .192, Rhett Wiseman has ten hits in his last five games. Let’s hope something has truly clicked for him.
And although Anderson Franco has generally struggled this year, his homer yesterday was his 8th, which is encouraging power for the age-19 season for a guy who may still be able to put 20-30 pounds on his tall frame.
Poor Austin Voth . . .
agree on Franco, like that he was pushed past short season.
Noll’s power output is also pleasing
I know it’s really early, but it’s been some really unimpressive stuff from our 2017 draftees.
Nick Raquet and Alex Troop have been fine, though neither overpowering, but that’s it from the rest of the top 14 rounds. Brigham Hill, Kyle Johnston, Jackson Tetreault, Jared Brasher, Justin Connell, Jackson Stoeckinger and Eric Senior.
Fortunately, there’s been a late round picks that have started well (Scudder, Jared Johnson, Engelbrekt, Klobosits, Blash).
And of course Crowe has yet to pitch and Romero hasn’t even been assigned, and Freeman has yet to surface.
I wasn’t a fan of what they did in this draft. I thought Romero was a big risk. I did think Crowe was a steal where they got him, but they’ve lost valuable time with him already for a guy who is already a year older. Raquet and Freeman were overdrafts on whom they didn’t save as much money as they should have. Hill was a Friday starter for a good program, but neither he nor Johnston are particularly big, making them harder to project as major-leaguers in this day and age. I did like Troop in the 9th round.
In general, I liked the investment in JUCO guys. There seemed to be some good raw talent there, both with the pitchers and with Blash and Senior. I also didn’t mind them stocking up on seniors from programs in Power 5 conferences. Those guys have played the game at a high level for a long time and can help provide mentoring and polish to the JUCO and Latin kids.
We’ll see. It’s still early, and three of their top four picks haven’t even played.
Wow. The draft was barely a month ago, and most draftees have played less than two weeks (as stated the Nats top 3 haven’t played at all). Think the analysis is a little premature?
Unless some late rounder picks emerge (always possible), the success/failure of the 2017 draft will largely rest on what happens with Romero (particularly, if he gets derailed by off-the-field issues which was everyone’s concern). If pitches like his top 10 talent, the Nats taking him late in the 1st round will be a steal. Really curious to see where the Nats place Romero once he is assigned.
My comments are based almost entirely on what I thought at the time of the draft, not on how they’ve performed. As noted, three of the first four picks haven’t even played pro ball yet.
Most drafts tend to ride on a team’s first couple of picks. We love to follow the long-shots here, but most teams are built on high draft picks. By my quick count, the Nats have 14 1st-rounders, counting Werth, Trea, and Ross on the DL and the newly arrived Doolittle . . . and assuming Justin Turner isn’t DFA’d yet.
Err, JACOB Turner. If Justin Turner gets DFA’d, there will be an investigation!
Let’s see how the domestic draft haul arm wise mixes with
Latin scout and sign haul .
The mix should be better in time .
Long seasons ending in Omaha
Keeps some of these kids on sidelines to keep away from injury
I read something once that stayed with me. In the same year a player is drafted, don’t look for anything other than health and how he acclimates. Teams usually don’t give any instruction that first summer. They let the kids play, see what they have and then build an instruction program for … well, fall instructs.
This feels like it had a lot of truth to it, so it’s what I’ve been doing. I forget about them, and the recent IFAs for that matter. Give them a year and then start to gauge how they perform.
And with that theory, the 2016 class looks pretty good, including the guys used to get some big leaguers.
Wally. Well said.
That explains how Nats brought in Merrill to play SS for auburn .
Interesting how brass made C Joseph an org guy @ Harrisburg
And brought in Gamache to plug another hole there. Meanwhile Davidson, Sagdal and Meijia toil @ Potomac .
No word on why Robles was pulled last night? Thought for sure I’d wake up to hear he’d been traded. Maybe we’ll hear something later today.
The scuttlebutt here on Nats Prospects last night was that he was pulled for (yet another) a base-running blunder. I don’t know whether that was confirmed.
Do other players get pulled regularly for these same mistakes? Or is Robles held to a higher standard? Or does no one else make these same mistakes?
It depends on the mistake. Guys who don’t run out fly balls or loaf on grounders have been pulled regularly. If there’s a higher standard, it does seem that speed guys are punished more frequently, but that’s purely anecdotal–not to mention it’s a bit more obvious. Randy Read not hustling looks pretty much the same as when he does hustle, for example.
Robles did get picked off last night. He is still very raw. At least, Victor didn’t get hit by pitch (my first thought when I saw he was pulled after two ABs).
Ken Rosenthal tweeted that that’s why, which is probably as close to a confirmation as we’ll get.
I’m sorry, but why does Ken Rosenthal care about a kid in an A+ league? I know Robles is a “top 10 prospect,” and that his name is heavily bandied about as the trade deadline approaches, but still. If anything, Robles’ issues on the base paths tend to come from him being too aggressive, not from not being aggressive enough. There are plenty of major-leaguers, including with the Nats, who are still making similar mistakes. Taylor and Harper have gotten picked off at terribly inopportune times this year. Trea has gotten picked off and has over-slid second several times. (And of course Bryce once got choked by a teammate for not running out a pop-up, but we’re still trying to forget about that!)
Because there were a bunch of rumors swirling that his being pulled out of the lineup at the same time as another player meant that a trade was going down.