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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Believe it or not, the Nats took four (4) position players yesterday in Day 2 of the Rule 4 Draft.
Put down your beverage – three of them were NOT seniors.
Team Yesterday Today Pitching Matchup
Fresno Lost, 5-1 @ New Orleans, 8:00 p.m. Espino (5-1, 5.15) vs. Beggs (4-1, 3.78)
Harrisburg Won 9-8 vs. Binghamton, 6:30 p.m. Mapes (3-2, 4.19) vs.Jannis (2-0, 1.09)
Potomac Won, 5-3 OFF DAY N/A
Hagerstown Lost, 1-0 @ Lakewood, 11:05 a.m. Alastre (3-4, 5.83) vs. Glogoski (3-1, 0.96)

New Orleans 5 Fresno 1
• McGowan (L, 1-1) 5⅔ IP, 9H, 5R, 4ER, 0BB, 6K, 2HR, HBP
• Alvarez 1⅓ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 0K, 2-0 IR-S
• Stevenson 2-3, BB, CS
• Hernandez 2-4, 2B, CS
• 0-4 RISP, 4 LOB

New Orleans broke open a 2-1 game with three in the 6th as they took the series opener from Fresno, 5-1. Kevin McGowan gave up all five runs on nine hits, including two solo HRs over five and 2/3rds innings. He walked none and struck out six in his first loss for the Grizzlies. Henderson Alvarez3 stranded two while finishing the 6th and pitched a scoreless 7th while (oh look) former A’s pitcher Fernando Rodney fanned two in the 8th. Andrew Stevenson reached base three times with a walk and two singles while Yadiel Hernandez singled and doubled; the rest of the team went 1-for-23 with 12 strikeouts.
Roster moves: RHP Fernando Rodney assigned from Washington.

Harrisburg 9 Binghamton 8
• M. Sanchez (W, 4-0) 5IP, 9H, 5R, 5ER, BB, 4K, HR
• Rosenthal (H, 3) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Marmolejos 2-4, R, 2B, HR, 3RBI
• Garcia 2-5, R
• C. Taylor 1-3, 2R, 2B, BB, 3RBI

The Sens turns a 5-0 deficit into a 7-5 lead in just one inning—the 5th—but it was the two insurance runs they got in the 7th that proved to be the difference as they nosed past the Rumble Ponies, 9-8. Mario Sanchez was the beneficiary of the seven-run outburst as he threw BP for five innings and gave up five runs on nine hits and a walk while striking out four. Trevor Rosenthal actually got three outs from 15 pitches and only gave up one hit to earn his third hold. Jacob Condra-Bogan (H, 2), Taylor Guilbeau (H, 7), and Joan Baez (SV, 4) muddled through the final three innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks with two inherited runners scoring. José “Orange” Marmolejos pealed a two-run HR in the 5th and sliced an opposite-field double for three RBI, a figure matched by Chuck Taylor with a two-run double in the 5th and an RBI groundout in the 7th. Harrisburg was 6-for-11 with RISP and collected ten hits total.
Roster moves: LHP Jordan Mills reassigned from Fresno.

Potomac 5 Salem 3
• Lee (W, 2-3) 6IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 9K, WP
• German (S, 2) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 3K
• Freeman 3-4, R, 2-2B, BB, RBI
• Corredor 2-5, R, RBI
• Banks 2-5, R

The 5th was a big one for Potomac, too, but just four runs were enough as the pitching was a wee (Lee?) bit better in a 5-3 win that completed the sweep of Salem. Andrew Lee turned in his best outing of the season, matching his high of nine K’s while issuing a season-low (as a starter) one walk in six innings of one-run ball on three hits. It was his second win and second quality start. Big or small, it wouldn’t the Nats without some drama in the late innings. After a 1-2-3 seventh, Frankie Bartow gave up a single and double to open up the 8th and Hayden Howard brought the gas… can to put out the fire and gave up one single to bring in both baserunners and another to bring the tying run to the plate. Salem tried to bunt to push the tying run to scoring position with one out but Howard nailed the lead runner at third. Jhonatan German took over and then achieved what the Red Sox wanted with a wild pitch. But with a whiff and a groundout, German stranded the two runners then worked around a walk in the 9th to earn his second save. The P-Nats top third of the lineup combined for eight of the team’s 11 hits, three of the runs scored, and both doubles.
Roster moves: IF Bryan Mejia reassigned from Harrisburg; SS David Masters placed on the 7-day I.L., retroacative to June 3.

Lakewood 1 Hagerstown 0
• Cate (L, 4-4) 6IP, 2H, R, ER, BB, 6K, 2WP, E(2)
• Williamson 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Jo. Sanchez 3-4
• Rhinesmith 2-4, 2B
• 0-6 RISP, 9 LOB

Make that 16 one-run losses for the Suns with 1-0 decision in favor of the BlueClaws. Tim Cate tossed his seventh quality start with the Lakewood run let in on two hits and one walk while striking out six… and lost for the third time in those seven games. It was his fourth loss overall. Ryan Williamson struck out four over two scoreless innings to keep Hagerstown in the game, but the Suns couldn’t push across the equalizer despite getting the tying run into scoring position in both the 8th and 9th innings. Jose Sanchez and Jacob Rhinesmith combined for five of the six Hagerstown hits
IF Gilbert Lara, OF Jacob Rhinesmith named to the 2019 South Atlantic League All-Star game..

22 Commments

  1. You can’t make this up, but the Nationals drafted none other than Jackson Cluff in the 6th round, bring the organization up to 5 Jacksons (it’s truly a shame Jackson Cramer decided to retire or we’d have 6). No other Jacksons have been drafted yet this year, and we’ve got two.

    As far as I can tell, there are 12 Jacksons (including our Jakson) currently active in professional baseball, and we’ll add two soon to that list, bringing the total to at least 14 Jacksons. The Nationals will have 5 of 14 Jacksons, an impressive 37% Jackson-ownership rate, but not quite as dominant as we could be. So with that in mind, here’s some Jackson trade targets:

    The cream of the crop, Jackson Kowar, was a supplemental first round pick last year (Why did we waste a pick on Denaburg when we could have had another Jackson?) is a 22 y.o. SP that we’ve seen a few times against the PNats. He’s been good, if unimpressive, so far with a 3.69 ERA, 55K in 61 IP.

    Jackson McClelland is a RP, who the Senators just faced last week, is in the Blue Jays system. He’s been lights out this season with a 1.69 ERA, 26K in 23 IP.

    Jackson Rees, another RP in the Jays farm system, has been beyond dominant, striking out a ridiculous 44 in in 25 IP, with only 4 BB and 13 H to give him an infinitesimally small ERA of 0.36 and a WHIP of 0.67. But what are the Jays doing? He’s 24 years old and only in low A. Seems like time for a change of scenery! Might be wise to package him with McClelland.

    Finally, Jackson Stephens could provide some much needed bullpen relief. Stephens has bounced between AAA and the Reds for the past few seasons. He’s been far too hittable, giving up 13 HR in only 63 big league innings, and currently sports a 5.35 ERA in AAA this season. But since when did we let underperformance dissuade us from taking another team’s bullpen castoffs! I think an offer of Tanner Rainey back to the Reds could persuade them, given the Reds’ similar stockpiling of Tanner R.’s (Tanner Roark, Tanner Robles, and Tanner Rahier). If that doesn’t prove enough, Tanner Driskill might tip the scales.

    After those deals get done, Mike Rizzo should turn his sights on acquiring a AAA replacement for Fresno next year. I would strongly suggest, none other than the Jackson Generals. It makes sense too. The Generals are a Diamondbacks affiliate. Distance-wise, it makes sense for both teams to swap Jackson for Fresno.

    1. This vaudeville act of various comedians using the same one liner about Jackson sounds like the jerry Lewis telethon at 3 am back in the day.
      Run of Mills Jordan Mills settles for Senator term
      Same scout who scours Arkansas scouts FSU Seminoles ?? 3 Seninoles in last 3 years

      1. The Nats don’t mess around. Day 2 they shop from Florida , Texas and a sole UCLA bat. Let’s see if they scooop into the Midwest soil…

        1. Texas State double dipped. More e eee kudos for Jimmy Gonzales Texas scout ? Plus his son a legacy late pick ??
          Hill and Johnston welcome another Longhorn arm into the fold eeee

      2. See! The Fresno affiliation pays off with Bulldog SS Arruda coming into org to tell farmmates how good Bulldog BBQ is !!

    4. Smart scouting. Double dip @ one university
      Luke, did our buddy Koda Glover pitch @ Western Oklahoma or was that a prior draft pick in another year ??

      1. I believe he pitched for Oklahoma State, unless you’re going way back, you might might be thinking of the “Groovin’ Aruban” Randolph Oduber.

        1. Luke. You are right. This phone needs a sprint tech
          Opinions on the corner infieldguys drafted Day 3?

  2. Isn’t it time for Cate to move up? What more does he have to prove?

  3. The senators scored all 7 runs with 2 outs in that pivotal inning. Rosenthal looked better. The single Was a bunt on the 1st pitch he threw.

  4. Nats have to make a decision on Rosenthal by Sunday. Think that they will put him back on the MLB roster even though he still seems far from MLB ready.

    1. He still has an option left. The problem is he has a say in exercising that option.

      I wonder if through a verbal agreement, the Nats could strike a deal, whereby Rosenthal accepts the option on the contingency that he’s promoted or released by a specified date.

      I’d hope he’s bright enough to see that if he can’t get batters out in AA, he won’t find a big league team aside from a cellar dweller willing to give him a few wasted innings in hope of a quick flip. There’s an extra incentive to stay with the Nats as his current deal contains a (mutual) option for next year too. At this point, the chance of any guaranteed money next year could be a big incentive.

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