Tuesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Matchup |
| Syracuse | Lost, 8-3 | vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:35 p.m. | Jackson (0-1, 4.56) vs. Koerner (1-1, 4.10) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 5-3 (11 inn.) |
@ Erie, 6:00 p.m. |
Dragmire (2-1, 2.89) vs. Turnbull (0-3, 6.00) |
| Potomac | Lost, 5-3 | @ Wilmington, 6:35 p.m. |
Sharp (3-2, 4.45) vs. Castillo (1-3, 8.78) |
| Hagerstown | Won, 2-0 | OFF DAY | N/A |
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 8 Syracuse 3
• Fedde (L, 1-1) 4⅔ IP, 6H, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 10K, 95-55 PIT-K
• Miller 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Wilson 2-4, 2B, 2RBI
• Mar. Reynolds 2-3, BB
The Chiefs’ reversion to the mean continued with its sixth straight loss, 8-3 to the RailRiders. Erick Fedde struck out 10 but couldn’t make it out of the 5th as he needed 95 pitches to get through four and 2/3rds innings, in which he gave up five runs on six hits and three walks for his first loss. Adrian Sanchez and Jacob Wilson both went 2-for-4 while Mark Reynolds reached base three times with a two singles and a walk to lead the Syracuse offense. Roster moves: OF Rafael Bautista optioned from Washington; 3B Michael Almanzar released.
Harrisburg 5 Erie 3 (11 inn.)
• Estevez 6IP, 3H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 6K
• Ames (BS, 1; W, 1-0) 1IP, 0H, 1R, 0ER, BB, 2K, WP
• Self (SV, 2) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Johnson 2-4, 2B, BB, CS
• Hernandez 1-4, 2R, HR, RBI
Harrisburg stopped its slide at five with 5-3 win in 11 innings over Erie. Wirkin “For the Weekend” Estevez continues to pitch well but has nothing but a case of the Mondays to show for it as he notched his third straight no-decision/quality start. The win went to Jeff Ames, who let in the “inherited” runner in the 10th on sacrifice and a wild pitch. Derek Self retired the side in the 11th to earn hi second save. Daniel Johnson singled, walked, and doubled while Yadiel Hernandez and Osvaldo Abreu both homered to pace the Senators offense.
Wilmington 5 Potomac 3
• Crownover 5IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 6BB, 2K
• Rivera (L, 0-1) ⅓ IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, BB, K, HR
• Kieboom 2-3, 2R, 2B, BB
• Soto 2-4
The P-Nats took leads of 1-0 and 3-1 before the bullpen blew it in the 6th for a 5-3 loss to the Blue Rocks. Matt Crownever walked six in five innings but was taken off the hook when Carter Kieboom and Juan Soto walked and singled and came around to score on an error and a Tres Barrera double. Mariano Rivera3 was charged with the loss, surprisingly just his first, as he avoided a clean outing for the sixth time in nine appearances with two runs allowed on two hits and a walk with just one batter retired. Kieboom reached base three times and scored twice while the reigning Carolina League Player of the Week, Juan Soto merely singled twice in four trips to the plate to lead the P-Nats attack.
Hagerstown 2 Kannapolis 0
• Alastre (W, 1-1) 6IP, 6H, 0R, 2BB, 6K, HBP
• Bogucki (S, 1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Garcia 3-4, 2CS
• Antuna 2-4
Three Hagerstown pitchers combined on a eight-hit shutout of Kannapolis to get win #10 and prevent a four-game sweep. Tomas Alastre went the first six and have up six hits but also struck out… wait for it… six while walking two for the win, his first. Following a scoreless 7th by Jeremy MicCkinney, A.J. Bogucki retired the last six in order for the save, also his first. Luis Garcia and Yasel Antuna combined for five of the Suns’ seven hits.
What’s wrong with Drew Ward? .065/.218/.130 though 14 games and 55 PA. Yikes.
He’s been playing exclusively at DH and 1B, but got a rare start at 3B two days ago. He promptly made two errors.
Do you demote a guy who’s played almost 200 games in AA?
No, you waive him.
Too early for that. Ward is still two whole years younger than Austin Davidson and half a year younger than Rhett Wiseman, despite being “stuck” a level higher than both of them (until 2 weeks ago). Ward could reinvent himself like Michael Taylor and Steven Souza did around this age. But this slump is still extremely discouraging.
Continue the right side of diamond trioka rotation. Ward , Gamache and AJ
Interesting bullpen in Burg even with Brinley on DL!! Scouts saw the potential for bridge arms @ AA.
Grizzly Matt Adams. Sshhh. Don’t ruin his mojo rising .
Drew Ward is 23. He turns 24 in November.
When MAT was 23, he hit 23 HRs and stole 34 bags in H’burg while playing his way on to the Big Club that year (while hitting .318).
Last year, Ward hit .235 with a slash line of .235/.325/.356 (with 0 steals and 10 bombs) in a full season at H’burg. He is not known as a strong defensive player. MAT was always known as a superior defensive player who could steal bases. So, Ward doesn’t have defense and/or other superior athletic ability to lean to give him extra time for his hit tool to develop.
Ward is hitting .046 this year. Don’t want to release him? Sure send him back to Potomac, for the rest of the season, but just don’t see him as anything other than an organizational player at this point, and I don’t any reason to give him at bats over others in the system that retain prospect status.
I think Ward may be another kid who needs a change in scenery. They ought to try to flip him to a franchise like the Padres, the Marlins or the Orioles.
The weather in EL has not hit a consistent 90F. Give the kids several months.
Who would have thought Matt Adams would be making us forget Adam Lind playing in yanks farm chain ?
What’s up with Robles? Have to believe he’d be in the majors now if not for his injury, given Eaton and Goodwin being sidelined and Taylor’s struggles.
Was listening to the Nats pregame on the radio last night and Bob Boone was talking about Soto. He said in terms of the time and quality of the pregame prep, Soto is far ahead of any of player they have in the system.
Said his control of the strike zone was incredible for a 19 year old.
I am repeating a story : I drove to Akron to see Vlad Sr play in his first week in AA. He caused the Indian manager to get ejected on a tag from 3b and sliding score on a popfly to the 3 b near 3b coach box. If not for a slick play byRF earlier in game Vlad would have hit for cycle. 12 hour round trip drive.
Time to see Soto . Closer drive to Burg. Hint , brass!
Soto has an awesome bat , but needs time to improve on base running and fielding. Some is maturity and some is skill development. He is still only 19 – this club has a history of rushing players in the minors and ruining them
Soto’s glove was ahead of his bat in the Dominican, his issue is just as Luke described: he doesn’t have the speed tool, and if he continues to grow (as Scialba thinks; see Kerr, Byron’s blog on the MASN web site) and get huge he might even slower than he is now which is about average I guess. Plus he doesn’t come with a great left-handed arm so right field is likely out. Scialba says they are going to play him all over the outfield including CF so he gets a feel for every position. Of course we all would have been interested to see if he learns to play first base … it sure sounded a bit like Scialaba wanted to do that so he could be “seen”. I hope that doesn’t mean they are marketing him.