Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Matchup |
| Fresno | Lost, 11-5 | vs. Las Vegas, 10:05 p.m. | Braymer (AAA debut) vs. Dunshee (2-4, 5.20) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 2-1 (11 inn.) | vs. Akron, 12:00 p.m. | M. Sanchez (5-1, 3.11) vs. Tully (5-7, 4.60) |
| Potomac | Won, 5-3; Lost, 3-2 |
vs. Wilmington, 7:05 p.m. | Johnston (7-7, 4.41) vs. Martinez (5-2, 3.77) |
| Hagerstown | Lost, 7-0 | @ Hickory, 12:00 p.m. | Guillen (0-3, 3.32) vs Thompson (3-3, 3.06) |
| Auburn | Won, 4-3 | vs. Williamsport, 7:00 p.m. | Strom (0-0, 1.80) or Troop (0-0, 0.00) vs. Sutera (0-1, 1.29) |
| GCL Nationals | Won, 3-2 | vs. GCL Marlins, 12 p.m. |
Las Vegas 11 Fresno 5
• Ondrusek (L, 2-3) 3+ IP, 11H, 9R, 9ER, BB, 3K, 3HR
• Snyder 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Keller 2-2, R, 2BB, RBI
• Marmolejos 2-4, R, RBI
• Stevenson 2-5, R, HR, RBI
Fresno’s pitching woes continue as starter Logan Ondrusek was pummeled for nine runs on 11 hits, including thee longballs, over three-plus innings as Las Vegas took the series opener, 11-5. Derek Self gave up two inherited runners and two of his own before Michael Blazek tossed two scoreless and Brandon Snyder matched the feat in his second relief appearance this week. Andrew Stevenson homered and had two hits, as did Alec Keller and José “Orange” Marmolejos in the Grizzlies’ ten-hit, six-walk offense.
Roster moves: RHP Paolo Espino placed on the 7-day I.L. retroactive to June 19; RHP Kyle McGowin optioned from Washington; RHP Fernando Rodney selected by Washington, added to 40-man roster.
Akron 2 Harrisburg 1 (11 inn.)
• Fuentes 7IP, 3H, 0R, BB, 7K
• Bonnell 2IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 2K
• Condra-Bogan (L, 3-3) 2IP, 1H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Goeddel 2-4
• A. Sanchez 1-4
The RubberDucks got a two-run HR in the 11th to break a 0-0 deadlock, to which the Sens could only respond with one for a 2-1 loss. Steven Fuentes fanned seven and gave up three hits and a walk over the first seven innings. He was followed by Bryan Bonnell, who added two more goose eggs. The loss went to Jacob Condra-Bogan who gave up the aforementioned HR after pitching 1-2-3 tenth. Tyler Goeddel connected for two of the seven Harrisburg singles as the City Island nine drew no walks and struck out nine times.
Roster move: LHP Johnny Venters selected by Washington, added to 40-man roster.
Potomac 5 vs. Wilmington 3 – GAME ONE
• M. Peña 4IP, 2H, 3R, 2ER, 3BB, 4K, HR
• Howard (W, 2-1) 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Harrison 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI
• Banks 2-4, R, RBI
• Canning 2-3, 2B
K.J. Harrison capped off a four-run rally with a two-run HR to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 walkoff win for Potomac. Malvin Peña let in all three Wilmington runs on two hits (one HR) and three walks over four innings. Hayden Howard blanked the Blue Rocks for the next three innings and picked up his second win, allowing two hits, no walks, and striking out three. Harrison, Nick Banks, and Gage Canning each had two hits in the P-Nats ten-hit parade.
Wilmington 3 Potomac 2 – GAME TWO
• Teel 5IP, 4H, R, ER, 2BB, 2K, PO at 1B
• Reyes (H, 2) ⅓ IP, H, R, ER, 2BB, 0K
• Fletcher (BS, 1; L, 1-1) 1⅔ IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, BB, 2K, 3-1 IR-S
• Corredor 2-4, 2RBI
• 2-for-13 RISP, 14 LOB
Potomac had no trouble getting baserunners on (seven hits, six walks) but Aldrem Corredor’s two-run single was the exception as they left on 14 runners in a 3-2 loss to split the doubleheader. Carson Teel got the spot start and delivered five innings of one-run ball on four hits and two walks while fanning two. Luis Reyes’s 23-inning scoreless streak ended when Aaron Fletcher couldn’t bail him out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam and walked in the tying run for the blown save in the 6th. Fletcher lost it in the 7th when a leadoff single got turned into a Little League double and two more singles brought in the go-ahead run. The P-Nats loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning but left on runners no. 12, 13, and 14.
Hickory 7 Hagerstown 0
• Irvin (L, 4-5) 5IP, 8H, 5R, 4ER, BB, K, 2HR
• Cluff 2-3
• Rhinesmith 1-3
The ‘Dads shut out the Suns on five hits, 7-0 to assure a series win and extend Hagerstown’s skid to four games. Jake Irvin got clocked for five runs (four earned) on eight hits (two HR) over five innings. He walked one and struck out one in his fifth loss. Jackson Cluff was the only Sun to reach base twice with two of the five singles while Cole Daily drew the lone walk.
Auburn 4 Williamsport 3
• R. Gomez (W, 1-0) 5IP, 5H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• E. Lee 2IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 4K
• A. Martinez (SV, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K
• Vega 3-4, 4RBI, CS
• Mendez 1-1, 2R, BB
Onix Vega delivered twice in the clutch, stroking a pair of two-run singles in Auburn’s 4-3 win over Williamsport. Rafael Gomez went the requisite five innings, allowing no walks or runs on five hits to earn the “W.” After Fray Perez decided to make things interesting in the 8th, Adrian Martinez worked around a walk and a Victor Robles in the 9th for the save. The Doubledays managed just four hits and three walks, with Vega going 3-for-4 and Ricardo Mendez collecting the fourth hit and one of the three walks.
Roster moves: OF Jeremy Ydens (8th Rd. pick), RHP Amos Willingham (no relation, 17th Rd. pick), RHP Tyler Yankosky (19th Rd. pick) assigned from Washington.
GCL Nationals 3 GCL Cardinals 2
• Alvarado 3IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 3K, HBP
• Seijas (W, 1-0) 4IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Turbi 2-4, 2RBI
• Fernandez 1-4, R, BB, HR, RBI
A big WOW for the Fuentes start. He just turned 22 last month. Somewhat out of nowhere to become a legit serious prospect.
Good luck to Braymer in his AAA debut.
Auburn has two starters named Gomez, one apparently better than the other, albeit very SSS. Good to see Evan Lee off to a good start, as he really could be a sleeper from last year’s draft, from one of the better programs in the country (Ark.).
Hopefully Lee is a fast riser too. Surprised he was placed in Auburn and not Hagerstown to start the season with just about every 2018 college arm draftee is now there, but I expect after his shortened professional 2018 season, he’ll catch up after a few more games in shortened season ball.
Regarding injuries, is there any news about Drew Ward, Seth Romero, Brigham Hill and Andrew Karp’s injuries?
Ward has missed well over a month now, and the signing of Dante Bichette makes it seem like his return isn’t imminent.
Romero had TJ in early September, which means he should be back on the diamond around August, if everything goes well. That means he should be ramping up his training, and some reporters might have caught wind of something (yeah right, who am I kidding)
Brigham Hill has been MIA since last August. Did anyone confirm he underwent TJ? If so, he should also be in a similar return schedule as Romero.
Finally, any idea what happened to Andrew Karp? He missed all of July due to an unspecified injury, but was back in August, then just never reappeared.
Ward is rehabbing at west Palm beach and supposedly will be back after the all star break.
Fuentes did look really good last night for HBG.
Cue draggin the line for Sens bullpen today
Sens can use Ward back.
Braymer better not be a trade deadline chip….
I guess the DSL Cards skipper told his charges today that 8 errors isn’t the Cardinal Way
Bourne identity in Potomac ??
Nice irony. Braymer AAA debut same night Troop makes his recovery road back
Yes Luke I was one of the people who thought Amos might be kin to Ryan 11 but maybe Ryan has an old uncle Amos who saunters to the mailbox like Ryan on rehab ??
Into the Montreal mystic. Cliff Lee traded by ..Bud Selig/ MLB29… burp.. that guy from the Mets as GM… now we have several products from Little Rock.
I always admired Mike Dunn but now we may have his doppelgänger in Razorback number 2 pick
Some athletic outfielder @ Auburn lead off by Landerson Pena who would be another nice Latin DG signee revelation
Let’s see what the UCLA Bruin from Mountain View ( Bay Area – East towards Concord ) does for Rocket Old Man Wheeler !!
For those inquiring minds : DG equals Dollar General.
Sanchez and Fuentes have been after thought inclusions who have paid mighty 44-32 slate dividends for Skipper LuCroy
Interesting to watch Castillo ( USC Trojan C-3b ) advance up the ladder. He could be a guy carrying 3 gloves. We know how Nats love catchers with lumber who can catch the ball @ 1b
Will Auburn bring in Weird Al Yankovic the same night Yankowsky pitches ? Mole
Not Castillo — Carilllo.
Our former infielder @ Hagerstown from USC spoke highly of him ….
Safe to say after two cups of coffee as the heat index rises. ( the HRs better fly today on City Isle , Hags on Road and Potomac. We don’t need to bring that up about the PCL / PBR league in Fresno – mole Luke –
The JV squad 2019 DSL is a different mix of green youth , suffer the young , but interesting mix of middle infielders and three key lefty bats .
Shall we credit DSL with 13 runs on the 8 Cards errors ??
Maybe the worm has turned in DR??
Interesting series coming up with ballparks which might play well with Nats lineups. Doubles and triples road trip
Braymer , McGowin, Ross, Fedde and swing guy who does not spell
His name like Kyle.
The conga line is shifting. Change the tune Nats.
MAT to Angels for perhaps a UV Cav? Parker or Thaiss??
July 6. I might just need to go to expo night
It’s pretty sad that the club values failure at other clubs more than it does success in its own farm system. Venters and Rodney getting the nod ahead of guys like Bacus, Self and Bourque is a bit of an insult. But what’s new…
In other news, I was looking at the GCL roster, and in addition to Jeremy de la Rosa, who’s still yet to be seen, there’s two other faces that skipped the DSL altogether: Oliver Francois (also yet to appear) and Frailin Turbi, who started strongly yesterday going 2-4 and catching 2 of 3 attempted base runners from behind the plate.
There’s a fourth name, Paul Russo, who was signed in March as an apparently undrafted free agent. He’s an infielder who went 1-3 with a BB yesterday.
The GCL roster is humungus. There’s currently 39 on the roster, which will grow when the remaining unsigned players (and recent signees) get assigned.
Speaking of which, 12th rounder Orlando Ribalta signed for $125k, leaving Only Mendoza and Cronin unsigned. Both were eliminated from the CWS last week, and should sign soon. Some of Cronin’s Razorback teammates have already signed. Then our 14th rounder, Lucas Knowles, remains unsigned, he’s a JUCO with an apparently strong commitment to Kentucky, so it’s very possible he doesn’t ever sign. After that, our next unsigned pick is our 26th rounder, Dupree Hart, a college senior. So I dunno what’s holding that one up… maybe something came up in the physical? Same with 28th rounder, Jordan Bocko…
The rest after that are mostly high schoolers that were drafted with no intention of signing.
Anybody know ifAuburn facing an Armas relative to Tony , Jr the former expo hurler ??
Vega must impress Rocket with his bat control to hit cleanup
Carter Kieboom is back to his old tricks or absolutely tearing the cover off the ball. Over his past 12 games he’s hitting a ridiculous .455/.579/.841. Most remarkably, he’s walked 11 times to only 5 strikeouts. His plate approach was arguably his biggest impediment to success in the majors (16K in 39AB), but since his demotion, he’s really improved there, getting his K% down to 16.2%. By comparison, his K% before his promotion was 23.0%, so I wonder if it’s something he’s been specifically working on. Either way, his offensive totals of .329/.448/.623 are fabulous, hitter friendly PCL or not. That 1.071 OPS is third best in the PCL, after fellow MLB-demotees Kevin Cron and Keston Hiura.
A lot of what I was going to say has already been said. Thanks guys! 🙂
Gotta love Fuentes at this point. Good luck to Braymer.
It’s a disgrace that Rizzo called up a reliever with a 4.50 ERA rather than Dakota Bacus or even Derek Self for that matter.
The fact is that the Nats have dug themselves too deep a hole and are still way too thin in bullpen arms to give a prospect a proper shot. This has been Rizzo’s M.O. going all the way back to 2009 when he rebuilt the entire disastrous bullpen left him by Leatherpants Bowden with spare parts from the scrap heap.
You wanna get mad, wait until Fuentes and Garcia are traded at the deadline for a lock down set up man who’ll be a free agent at the end of the season. Because if the Nats stay in at least WC contention I guarantee something like that is coming.
Will — Did you actually mean to use Romero and “training” in the same sentence, much less “ramping up his training”? Yes, by usual TJ recovery standards, he should be able to pitch a little in competition this summer. I do remember there being some past issues with his arm when he was drafted, though, something about a plate in his elbow or some such. So there could be a longer recovery time, AKA time in the witness protection program.
Obviously, very impressive outing again from Steven Fuentes. Nice to see a good one turned in by Karlo Seijas in the GCL, too. If some of these less-heralded sleeper prospects can fashion themselves into quality pitchers, well, that’d certainly be nice.
If in fact Seijas had 21 strikes in 21 pitches in his first outing in the US for GCL yesterday, the Nats do have a first round caliber starting pitcher talent to add to the discussion of inventory.
Cane you reared your CSI eye!!!!
All quiet on the western front. Not the saying for F trooop this week
Thoughts / salutations brother in Beisbol
Gameday at those levels counts a strikeout as 3 P, 3 S, a ball in play as 1 P, 1 S, a hit batsman as 1 P, 0 S, and a walk as 4 P, 0 S. Not accurate for determining ball/strike ratios.
Do Stevenson’s numbers (he has raised his average from .280 to .345; his OPS is .899) temper some of the enthusiasm for Yadiel’s and Kieboom’s production at Fresno? Is the PCL such an offensive friendly league that it’s hard to put much stock into offensive stats? If not, Stevenson may have finally turned the corner as he has completely destroyed PCL pitching over the last 10 games (.551 average).
With the PCL just discount the stats by 20%
Stevenson spraying the ball all over the park. Very encouraging anywhere . Keeps the pitching battery nervous like Robles getting on base
Yeah, PCL numbers are kind of like New Math for us. Plus are we supposed to believe that Kieboom and Yadiel are budding superstars but Stevenson and Orange aren’t? I have no idea. I want to believe in Kieboom. I remain skeptical of the rest. I think of Stevenson as an old dog who may struggle to learn new tricks . . . and yet he just turned 25 at the beginning of June. So maybe he does still have some growth potential. I suggested a couple of days ago that he’ll have a good chance to stick with the big club next year when Taylor gets non-tendered . . . but everyone missed the part about Stevenson and jumped up and down about me claiming MAT wouldn’t be back. (Yet I just heard Grant & Danny suggest that Taylor might be gone in a couple of days when they activate Zim.) Anyway, it would be a really good thing if Stevenson could develop into a reliable-but-cheap MLB reserve.
Trade with Giants who are kicking tires on outfielders like Rizzo on relievers ?
Could the salary space have room for Dylan Bundy??
Despite his tepid performance, think MAT has marginal trade value and that the Nats could get a lesser prospect for him. So, think there is a chance that the Nats deal MAT before Zim gets activated this weekend. Did not think MAT has an option left, but if he does, the Nats could send him to Fresno or H’burg. Either way, no chance that the Nats cap 8 first basemen/OFs on the 25 man roster.
Stevenson seems like a better long-term extra outfielder to team with Robles because he is left-handed, as long as Stevenson can hit a little.
I believe Taylor has an option.
Charlie Slowes, who was on with Grant & Danny, suggested that a reliever might go when Zim is activated, since they’re currently carrying only four bench players, but I don’t know who it would be. Voth is the only potential fifth starter currently on the 25-man, so he’s not leaving. And the most disposable relievers are the ones they just activated, Venters and Rodney.
Of course Zim just started his rehab on 6/21, so they don’t have to activate him until 7/20. Maybe his return is tied to whenever Venters or Rodney crashes and burns . . .
Rizzo said the plan is activate Zim for this weekend’s Tigers series because the Nats can use the DH. He did condition the move on Zim making it through tonight’s game in H’burg. With 4 lefties, the Nats could send Grace down, but he and Guerra are the only two that can go multiple innings.
July 10 on Zim — it’s 20 days max for position players, 30 for pitchers
Was looking to see how Craig Kimbrel has pitched for the Iowa Cubs (AAA), and noticed that former overall #2 pick in the 2011 draft (selected ahead of Rendon) Danny Hultzen is making a comeback with Cubs.
Hultzen has appeared in 3 games out of the bullpen for Iowa and has yet to give up a run. He has pitched 2.1 innings and has 4Ks. Hultzen is from Bethesda. With all of the desperate reaches the Nats have made for arms, you would think that there would be a natural connection with a local prospect. Would think Hultzen would’ve been a better investment than Dan Jennings or Vidal Nuno.
Give Rizzo a few more weeks. The Chorus Line theme song is constantly the laying upstairs in DC
Playing not laying. Ooops . Freud would have a Day game matinee field day. Lol!!
Hultzen–Rizzo was said to have really loved him and may have taken him over Rendon if he had dropped. (Let that shift in the fate of the franchise sink in for a moment. Also wonder where Bubba Starling, taken ahead of Rendon, is these days.) Anyway, I’ve been surprised that Rizzo hasn’t scooped up Hultzen at some point over the years.
Grace–I’m pretty sure he’s out of options.