Tuesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Probable Pitchers |
| Syracuse | Lost, 4-3 (10 inn.) |
@ Lehigh Valley, 7:05 p.m. |
J. Turner (1-5, 5.85) vs. Taveras (2-1, 1.17) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 13-5 | @ Akron, 7:05 p.m. |
Dragmire (3-1, 2.53) vs. Chiang (0-1, 4.86) |
| Potomac | OFF DAY | @ Salem, 7:05 p.m. |
Reyes (7-12, 4.63) vs. Shawaryn (4-4, 4.48) |
| Hagerstown | Lost, 4-2 | vs. Lakewood, 7:05 p.m. |
DeRosier (2-4, 4.50) vs. Falter (7-6, 3.12) |
| Auburn | Won, 6-1 | @ Williamsport, 7:05 p.m. |
Tetrault (1-1, 2.88) vs. Rosso (0-0, 6.00) |
| GCL Nationals | Won, 5-4 | @ GCL Marlins, 10:00 a.m. |
Lehigh Valley 4 Syracuse 3 (10 inn.)
• Fedde 6IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, BB, 5K; 0-2
• Skole 1-4, R
• Bautista 1-4, RBI
Syracuse couldn’t make it back-to-back wins in its final at-bat as Lehigh Valley walked off in the 10th, 4-3. Roster moves: OF Jayson Werth, SS Trea Turner assigned from Washington for MLB Rehab; OF Rafael Bautista activated from the 7-Day DL; RHP Cody Satterwhite placed on the 7-Day DL.
Akron 13 Harrisburg 5
• G. Ross (L, 4-3) 3⅓ IP, 9H, 9R, 7ER, 0BB, K, HR, HBP
• Lara 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 4K, 2-0 IR-S
• Robles 3-5, R, 2B, HR, RBI, SB, OF assist at 2B
• Ward 2-4, BB
• Joseph 2-5, R, 2B
The Sens shut out the RubberDucks for two innings, but the other six? Not so much. Akron scored nine times from the 3rd to the 7th en route to a 13-5 demolition of Harrisburg. Greg Ross took the brunt of it, with nine runs allowed on nine hits over three and a 1/3rd innings for his third AA loss. Victor Robles led off the game with an inside-the-park HR and finished a triple shy of the cycle while going 3-for-5, followed by Drew Ward who singled twice and walked once. Roster move: Wirkin Estevez placed on the 7-Day DL.
Potomac – OFF DAY
Yesterday was a league-wide off day for the Carolina League. While Lynchburg plays Buies Creek in could-be preview of the 2017 Mills Cup, the rest of the Carolina League North plays each other, with second-place Salem hosting fourth-place Potomac, and third-place Frederick hosting fifth-place Wilmington. Anyone care to bet against the P-Nats and Blue Rocks taking two of three, creating three-way tie with Wilmington a ½ game back on Friday?
Kannapolis 4 Hagerstown 2
• Davis (L, 4-5) 5IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 1K, HR, WP
• Fuentes 4IP, 3H, R, ER, 3BB, 3K
• Corredor 2-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Boggetto 2-5, 2B
The Suns dropped their third straight and fell to three games behind in the Sally North with a 4-2 loss to the Intimidators. Weston Davis took the loss with three runs let in on five hits and two walks while striking out one (1). Steven Fuentes pitched four innings of one-run relief, but the offense did not respond, going 1-for-10 with RISP and leaving on seven. Aldrem Corredor and Branden Boggetto both singled and doubled to lead the Hagerstown nine-hit, one-walk (Carter Keiboom) offense.
Auburn 6 State College 1
• Y. Ramirez (W, 4-3) 6IP, 4H, R, ER, 0BB, 4K, WP
• Klobosits (SV, 5) 2IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K
• Scudder 2-4, R, 2B, 3RBI
• Guibor 1-3, R, 2B, 2BB, 2RBI
• Pryor 1-2, BB, HBP
It was another Book of Genesis (“In the Big Inning…”) night for Auburn as they scored four in the 8th to complete the three-game sweep of State College, 6-1. Yonathan Ramirez (pictured above) tossed six innings of one-run ball on four hits and no walks while fanning four to earn his fourth win of the season. Jeremy McKinney added one goose egg to the scoreboard for the hold while Gabe Klobosits added two for the save. Jake Scudder singled and doubled and drove in three while Austin Guibor drove in two, doubled, and walked twice to lead the Doubleday offense.
GCL Nationals 5 GCL Mets 4
• Stoeckinger 5IP, 7H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 6K, HR
• De Los Santos (W, 3-0) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• R. Mendez 3-5, 2R
• Caulfield 2-3, 2RBI
• Garcia 2-5, 2RBI
The G-Nats walked off in the 9th to reduce their magic number to seven with a 5-4 win over the G-Mets. Jackson Stoeckinger started and gave up all four G-Mets runs on seven hits, no walks, and six K’s over five innings. Jose De Los Santos pitched a scoreless 9th to get the “W.” Ricardo Mendez went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, including the game-winner on Phil Caulfield’s second RBI single. Roster move: Kelvin Gutierrez assigned from Potomac for MiLB rehab.
I can’t help it. Let’s have a reprieve of Who’s Performing Better After Their Promotion:
Player A: .320/.375/.505, 3 HR, 12 XBH, 8/9 SB
Player B: .325/.384/.500, 4 HR, 12 XBH, 9/10 SB
Crazy how similar they’ve played so far.
That Robles kid may have a future, eh?
I don’t understand why they’re not giving Fedde the MLB starts over Cole. Makes no sense to me. They know what they’ve got in Cole. They need to find out more about what they’ve got in Fedde.
Austin Adams is still on the 40-man and has been really good at SYR since his disastrous MLB debut. It seems likely that he’ll get another look with the big club in Sept.
And kudos to 36th-round pick Gabe Klobosits, now with a 1.66 ERA and 1.15 WHIP after 21.2 IP at Auburn.
I’m still baffled they haven’t converted Cole to a reliever yet.
MASN put up an interesting AVG through the order stat a couple starts ago, and Cole was pretty dominant in the first round through the order. His stats got progressively worse on the 2nd and 3rd time. If you ask me, that’s prime reliever material, especially when it’s pretty clear he’s nothing more than an average 5th starter at this point, but we might as well give him a shot in relief. He could be pretty good there. And just a couple weeks ago, reliever was our most desperate need.
Wish they’d switch him to relief while there’s still a few weeks left, give him some low leverage chances in September and the offseason to prepare, and give him a long look in ST. Since we’re going to need to find bullpen help again this offseason (Blanton, Kintzler, Jackson, Perez and Albers all hit FA).
Will when guys like Cole pitch from 1-5 it’s bullpen by committee spring training March concept in play anyway.
That’s a crazy good Syracuse team: Werth, Turner, Clint Robinson and Rafael Bautista in the line up, with Fedde starting, and a bullpen that have each played in the majors this season (E. Romero, Adams and Neil Ramirez).
Also, Corredor has cooled off considerably since his strong start, but he just hit his 30th 2B of the season. I wonder if that gap power will eventually translate into homer power. He’ll be an interesting one to watch next season…
Finally, it’s good to see Kelvin Gutierrez back! Add him and Romero to the locks for the AZFL roster. I wonder if Carter Kieboom is too young to get a call up as well. Maybe as the semi-roster member, like Harper did several years back.
Any other ideas on possible AZFL nominees? I’d guess someone like Noll, Davidson or Sagdal might get a look, as they always seem to send MIFs. I’d have thought Weston Davis might get a shot, but he’s been poor so far. Any word on the severity of Cole Freeman’s injury? Would he be polished enough to be sent straight there? What ever happened to Grant Borne? Did they shut him down for the year? Jefry Rodriguez is a (im)perfect candidate. I’d also love to see Marmolejos get sent.
Are there any key rule 5 eligible players the Nats might want to have a final look at?
My best guess:
3B Gutierrez
INF Davidson/Sagdal/Noll (only one, but in that order)
OF D. Johnson
CF Robles
SP Romero
RP J. Rodriguez
RP Pantoja
Marmolejos is on the 40-man, so I assume he’ll get his cup of coffee with the big club instead of a month in the desert. There are going to be some 40-man decisions coming soon, though, as Werth, Turner, and Glover are all on the 60-day DL. I assume Raburn will be moved to the 60-day since he’s not yet playing. Maybe they move Drew to the 60-day as well if he doesn’t resurface soon? Is Gott still on the DL? He could go on the 60-day.
I’ll have to think about AZ. Aren’t there rules about age and/or level you have to have reached? There was some reason that they kept putting Harper on the taxi squad. Robles seems the lead-pipe cinch, unless they throw everyone a curve and give him a Sept. call-up. I’d love to see C. Kieboom go since he lost so much time this year. The same could be said for Gutierrez. Johnson is certainly a good candidate. I’ve been a Davidson fan, but my gut says that if they haven’t promoted him after a season and a half at Potomac, they’re probably not going to give him the AFL gig. But you never know.
I doubt that the Nats are going to promote Marmolejos to DC in September unless there is another wave of injuries.
There are just not any available at bats for 1B and OF types with Harper, MAT, Werth , Kendrick, Goodwin, Stevenson, Lind and Zimmerman all active and in need of at bats; once Werth and Harper are back; doubt Adam Lind will get any more OF time; don’t see a need for 3 first basemen. Would guess that when Turner and Werth come off the 60 day DL, De Aza will get DFA’d and Raburn will go on the 60 day DL. As for the playoff roster, even if Drew is healthy, don’t see any way that they will keep Difo off the playoff roster (he leads the NL in UZR/150 rating for SS since the All-Star break; and he has hit).
I guess Romero will go to the AZL, but if his putrid performances continue at Auburn over the final 10 days of the NYP season, they might just want to send him to instructional league in Florida. I would think that Robles is a lock for the AZL with Daniel Johnson a likely possibility (but not sure if there is a limit on sending players that play the same position). Carter Kieboom and Soto will be playing baseball, but maybe in the instructional league.
Also, wouldn’t be shocked if Stevenson goes back to the AZL for another stint. He really has not played (and will not play) everyday since the end of July, and he needs at bats to develop. Again, the issue will be position over-saturation as I am not sure that the Nats can send 3 OFs, specifically CFs to the AZL as there has to be some roster balance.
Good to see Bautista is back after a long stint on the DL. Have no idea what his injury was but sure would have preferred seeing him on the big club rather than DeAza.
Carlos Acevedo on the rehab bump for GCL today. Ricardo Mendez has
Become new GCL tablessetter @17 years young
Hum, baby. Out of the GCL bullpen !
Alstre. Some interesting Latin arms simmering low …
Luke. Nice posted picture of Y. Ramirez .