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Tuesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Matchup
Fresno OFF DAY @ Round Rock, 8:05 p.m. Braymer (0-3, 8.33) vs. Valdez (1-2, 3.12)
Harrisburg OFF DAY vs. Hartford, 6:30 p.m. TBD vs. TBD
Potomac OFF DAY vs. Salem, 7:05 p.m. Teel (5-2, 3.61) vs. Ward (1-1, 1.91)
Hagerstown Won, 5-1 OFF DAY N/A
Auburn OFF DAY @ Hudson Valley, 7:05 p.m. TBD vs. Sanchez (1-0, 3.24)
GCL Nationals Won, 6-3 vs. GCL Astros, 12:00 p.m.

Fresno – OFF DAY
After losing five of its last six, the Grizzlies limp into Texas to visit Round Rock for three, then San Antonio for four. Fresno has fallen five games behind Sacramento in the PCL Pacific Northern Division, and the two teams do not meet again in 2019.

Harrisburg – OFF DAY
With Max Scherzer going back on the DL, GM Mike Rizzo will once again pass over Kyle McGowin in favor of Erick Fedde, who has two quality starts this season against AAAA Baltimore and San Diego and two quality starts against AA Bowie and Altoona. The Senators return home from a 6-1 swing through New England to host the Yard Goats and Flying Squirrels for three apiece.

Potomac – OFF DAY
The P-Nats will interrupt their 49 games against Frederick and Wilmington to come home for the last three of nine against the division-leading Red Sox. Potomac trails Salem in the C.L. North by 4½ games, so they can only sweep and hope for some help to make the playoffs, which still appear to be a race for who gets to lose to Down East (73-34 and on pace for 95 wins) for the Mills Cup.

Hagerstown 5 Columbia 1
• Alastre (W, 4-10) 5IP, 4H, R, ER, 3BB, 7K, 2WP
• Howell (H, 2) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K, WP, 3-0 IR-S
• Vickers 3-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Cluff 1-1, 2R, 3B, 2BB, SF, RBI, CS
• Upshaw 1-3, R, RBI

Hagerstown is so hot right now that even Tomas Alastre can’t stop them as they took their sixth straight and completed the four-game sweep of Columbia with a 5-1 win. Alastre won for the fourth time in 20 starts with five-plus innings of one-run ball on four this and three while striking out seven. Jacob Howell and Trey Vickers also had a huge assist as the former came on with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 6th and got an unassisted doubled play from the latter to get out of the inning with the 4-1 lead intact. Vickers also led the Suns hit column with two singles and a double while Jackson Cluff walked twice, scored twice, tripled, and hit a sacrifice fly.

Auburn – OFF DAY
The Doubledays travel to Hudson Valley in the regular season for the first time since 2016 (before Gilberto Chu joined the team!) for three games before starting a six-game homestand on Friday. Auburn has lost 14 of its last 20 games to fall eight games under .500 and 7½ games behind Batavia.

GCL Nationals 6 GCL Cardinals 3
• Alvarado (W, 2-2) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 4K, HBP
• Knowles 2IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Emiliani 2-3
• V. Peña 1-3, R, BB, RBI, E(4)
• Arias 1-3, R, BB, SB(5)

17 Commments

  1. Drew Ward going from HBG to Fresno. I don’t know what the corresponding moves will be.

    1. Could be a promotion to replace Matt Adams on the major league roster? Or a player being traded…

    2. Would Rizzzz entertain the return of Felipe Vasquez ?? Double barrel lefties in pen would be scary for some clubs trying to rally
      If Howard is traded I hope he doesn’t pull a Norm Charlton for Wayne Krenchiki. (RIP Wayne )

  2. Since this is mostly an off day (unless there’s a trade), I’ll roll out a question that’s been on my mind for a while. I’ll address it primarily to Luke, but I’d also be interested in the observations of the Harrisburg folks and anyone else who has seen these guys live. Anyway, the question is this: with all of the pitchers who have been moving through the mid-levels of the system over the last couple of seasons, which ones strike you as guys who seem to have genuine MLB talent? It’s really hard to differentiate from just looking at the stats and game-by-game results. There’s such a long list of Crowe, Braymer, Fuentes, Tetreault, Sharp, A. Lee, Guilbeau, Fletcher, Cate, Teel, Tapani, Raquet, Johnston, Istler, Bartow, German, et al. Which guys really stand out to you as the real deal?

    1. KW. Could we rephrase the question to say which pitcher against the appropriate AAA or AA level outside of Pacifico Beer league competition looks the best ?? Oddly enough Kyle McGowin has fared the best in the Pacifico Beer League and EL splits .
      If the Marlins are swimming to Wichita then where does that leave the Baby Cakes??

      1. Last I heard, New Orleans was hoping to snag a Southern League team and keep their name like San Antonio in reverse.

    2. In their current usage, maybe Tetreault and Sharp though at this point I’m afraid Sharp has developed Nats elbow; he’s been out too long for it to be something else (except a torn Landrum and that is even worse).

      I only saw Fuentes in relief so I can’t comment on how he is as a starter. Far too many times I’ve seen guys run into trouble on the second time around the lineup. Likewise for Andrew Lee.

      As I’ve mentioned before, Joan Baez has the raw talent to perhaps become a second tier reliever like Wander Suero, who also took a very long time to develop. And Baez has always thrown harder.

      1. It’s tough to evaluate the pitchers since I don’t see them as often as the position players. Sharp is the one I really liked but he has been in FL for a while with an oblique injury that was considered minor at the time.

        McGowin deserves a start over Joe Ross. They keep giving Ross multiple chances, but only use McGowin out of the bullpen (and now he’s back in HBG where he will be a starter). His numbers were great in the PCL, while others not so much.

  3. (To clarify, I was just listing guys who have pitched at Potomac over the last couple of seasons. This isn’t a Top 10 Arms list from which I’m intentionally excluding Denaburg, Rutledge, etc.)

  4. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a trade brewing with some Fresno players on the 40 man. They’ll need some spots for whatever Rizzo picks up! Hoping Carter K. isn’t involved. Not sure we can afford to lose him!

  5. Particularly with no guarantees with Rendon, I would be totally shocked if they traded Carter K. I don’t think they’ll be dealing at that level, though. I’m thinking it will be a couple of second-tier guys, with pitching prospects leaving the system in return.

    1. Fuentes fits into that two tier group
      Reaction to op ed by TL in WashTimes RE: Lerner . Did the writer mean to say 1974 San Diego Padres to DC vs the mentioned SF Giants to DC?
      Side note. I saw Taylor Hill is heading to Mexico after his contract sold by an Indy League club

    2. Let’s say there are two winter time themes. Redon and the corresponding plan B if he has played his way out of the Lerner budget ceiling 2) taking stock of the bullpen options from DL / rehab list and the active guys who earned points. Very curious to see in time about Glover , Gabe K, … then seeing how much Fletcher and Cronin graduate to higher needs …

  6. It seems pretty clear that Howard isn’t in the same class with Fletcher, or with what they think they have in Cronin.

  7. Apologies for this showing up down thread, but my browser isn’t letting me put replies in the proper place. Thanks to Luke and LM for the replies on the pitching. I must say that I’m surprised by the love for Sharp (if he’s not too injured). Stat-wise, I’ve never been overly impressed with him. In some areas in 2019, he had significant AA improvement over 2018; in others, not so much. His ERA only dropped from 4.33 to 3.99, and his WHIP barely moved, from 1.43 to 1.41. By itself, I find a WHIP that high concerning. In other areas, there were significant improvements, though: FIP down from 4.32 to 2.60, xFIP down from 4.09 to 2.86, K/9 up a full two Ks, BB9 down 1, so K/BB ratio doubling from 7.0 to 14.5. Of course it’s really going to hurt in the overall progression if he loses all of the rest of this season.

    Strictly by the numbers, Fuentes is pitching better than Sharp and is two years younger. As Luke noted, though, will he have the arsenal to keep hitters off balance three times through the order? Tetreault is right between Sharp and Fuentes age-wise and is having a very similar AA debut as Sharp did last year.

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