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Tuesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Matchup
Fresno Lost, 6-4 vs. Memphis, 10:05 p.m. Copeland (4-5, 6.85) vs. Cabrera (4-5, 6.22)
Harrisburg OFF DAY vs. Altoona, 7:00 p.m. Tetreault (4-5, 4.43) vs. Brady (3-11, 4.51)
Potomac OFF DAY vs. Myrtle Beach, 7:05 p.m. Tapani (0-1, 4.11) vs. Marquez (1-0, 0.00)
Hagerstown Won, 5-4 vs. Lakewood, 7:05 p.m. Williamson (4-0, 3.53) vs. Gowdy (0-4, 4.79)
Auburn Lost, 4-3 @ West Virginia, 6:35 p.m. Dyson (0-1, 1.98) vs. Ford (3-1, 2.92)
GCL Nationals Won, 7-3 @ GCL Cardinals, 10:00 a.m.

Memphis 6 Fresno 4
• Hoover (L, 4-6) 5+ IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, BB, 6K, 0HR
• Miller 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• C. Taylor 2-3, R, BB, HR, 2RBI
• Y. Hernandez 2-4, RBI

Alas, the Rainiers lost too, so the Grizzlies will probably have to wait until later this week when the two teams play each other to fall into fourth place. Meanwhile, Memphis erased an early 3-0 deficit with a five-run 6th and held on for 6-4 win to give Fresno its seventh straight loss. J.J. Hoover kept the ball in the yard but was chased in the 6th after allowing four straight singles without getting an out. Michael Blazek let in both inherited runners and one of his own to turn might-have-been no-decision into a loss for Hoover. Chuck Taylor homered, walked, and singled while Yadiel Hernandez went 2-for-4 to lead the Grizzlies attack.

Harrisburg – OFF DAY
After a 2-4 road trip through New York and New Jersey, fourth-place Harrisburg returns home for three against third-place Altoona as they try to get their [stuff] together to face either 1st place Erie or second-place Bowie in the playoffs. The Senators have gone 1-3 against the Seawolves with four more to play and 8-10 vs. the BaySox with no more regular-season games scheduled.
Roster moves: OF Andrew Stevenson optioned from Washington.

Potomac – OFF DAY
After sweeping the Red Sox at home, the Blue Rocks on the road, and taking two of three from the Keys in Frederick, the P-Nats came home this past weekend with a chance to knock the Hillcats out of playoff contention. Instead, they were swept in Woodbridge by Lynchburg and dropped from a ½ game up to 1&frac; back of Salem and will be scoreboard watching two teams instead of just one the rest of the season. Potomac does have a relatively soft schedule, with just one road trip out of the DMV – albeit to their house of horrors (27-55 since 2010) at BB&T in Winston-Salem – and ten home games over the next three weeks.

Hagerstown 5 Lakewood 4
• Irvin 5IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 4BB, 6K, HR
• Wells (W, 1-0) 2IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 4K
• Mendoza 2-3, 2R, BB, E(5)
• Connell 2-4, R, RBI
• Marinconz 1-3, R, SF, 2RBI

Kyle Marinconz’s sac fly in the 8th was enough for the ‘pen to work with in the 9th as Hagerstown edged Lakewood, 5-4 in the series opener. Suns starter Jake Irvin gave up all four runs on five hits (one HR) and four walks while striking out six for the no-decision. Matt Cronin pitched two scoreless as did Nick Wells, who picked up his first win for the Suns. Both struck out four. Drew Mendoza and Justin Connell both singled twice while Marinconz drove in two to pace the Hagerstown attack.
Roster moves: IF Kyle Marinconz reassigned from Potomac; C Tyler Cropley placed on the Day I.L.

West Virginia 4 Auburn 3
• Dyson 4IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 2K
• Yankosky (L, 1-3) 1⅔ IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, BB, K
• Bocko 1⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, BB, K, 3WP, 2-1 IR-S
• Arruda 3-5
• Peroni 2-4

The Doubledays built a 3-0 lead after four, but saw it disappear with two in the 5th and two in the 6th for a 4-3 loss to the Black Bears. Tyler Dyson got the start and tossed four scoreless, giving up a hit and a walk while fanning two. Tyler Yankosky put on five of 10 batters faced and four of them came around to score, with some “help” from Jordan Bocko, who let in one of two inherited runners, and Onix Vega, who let a passed ball and four (4) wild pitches go by him. J.T. Arruda singled three times, while Anthony Peroni and Jake Alu both had two to lead Auburn’s ten-hit parade.

GCL Nationals 7 GCL Mets 3
• Taveras (W, 1-1) 2⅓ IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 4BB, 1K
• Martinez (S, 3) 1⅓ IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K
• V. Peña 3-3, 2R, BB, SB(5)
• Hurtado 1-3, R, 2B, RBI
• Emiliani 0-1, R, 3BB
Roster move: RHP Paolo Espino assigned from Fresno for MiLB rehab.

20 Commments

  1. How does Mendoza already have five errors while playing 1B? We had been told that he had struggled at 3B, but goodness.

    If the Nats get Tyler Dyson back to where he was as a soph at Florida, he may be the steal of the draft. Positive returns thus far.

    1. The pick before Dyson is looking like the steal of the draft. Matt Cronin has been ridiculous so far this season. In 14 IP, he’s already 27 strikeouts and a 1.29 ERA. He’s also a level above Dyson in Hagerstown, and looking like he should finish his first (shortened) professional season in high A ball.

      That trajectory could see him in the mix for the Nationals bullpen as early as next season!

      Speaking of Hagerstown arms, it’s good to see Nick Wells re-appear from witness protection, and seem like he might be a potentially useful player. He’d better, because Austin Adams was posting ridiculous numbers in the majors (41 K in 23 IP) before he got injured.

      1. We can only hope the Nats FO takes a long look at Cronin. Unfortunately, if Rizzo’s still in charge, he’ll go out and buy some washed up relievers over the off season and keep Cronin and all the others waiting in the farm system. Just feel bad that some of these players don’t get the chance they’ve worked for and deserve!

        1. Get the frustration for not promoting from within for those that follow the farm system, but to be fair, the players from other organizations that the Nats have added to the MLB roster have been reasonably productive (Parra, Rodney, Hudson, Guerra, even Asdrubal in his few games) and look like sound moves in retrospect. Early in the season the Nats tried to use Kieboom – he was not ready. They have stuck with Ross and Fedde and it looks like that patience is starting to pay off. Can’t just simply rely on the system (even “deep organizations” like the Braves and Dodgers have added vets to their roster) during the season to patch holes.

          On another note, totally agree with the praise of Cronin. Barring injury, a 2020 MLB debut is foreseeable.

      3. Hello my little friend aka Joe Ross power sinker
        Roll an ankle. Just come back and tater number 25. No sweat

      1. Alas, Luke , the infamous 3 or 7 day IL for Tapani hence Anderson has another good bat back

    3. Gil Grissom paging Gil Grissom !!!!
      Seijas Senior Smoke !!!!!
      The Roman chorus sings the name Jeremy De La Rosa with under current for Andre Arias !!
      Yeah baby slam the Redbirds !!

    4. Thony Amoroso pitched for DSL today. I thought he was suspended. ( only stateside suspension ??)

      1. I’m 90% certain his suspension is over and was at the behest of the organization, not MiLB.

  3. What an uninspiring team Auburn is. Their best bat is Caldioli Sanfler, who’s batting a pedestrian .288/.345/.413.

    In fact, they’ve got as many batters with an OPS above .700 as they do with an OPS under .500…

    The pitching isn’t much better (2nd worst ERA in the league), but at least a few good arms have already made the jump to Hagerstown (Rutledge, Troop, Hernandez). Hunter McMahon (12 K in 6.1 IP, 1.42 ERA), Jordan Bocko (1.15 ERA, 0.83 WHIP in 9 games, 15.2 IP), Gilberto Chu, who’s repeating in the NYPL is also due for a promotion (2.48 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 27 K in 32.2 IP).

    Would be nice if some of the interesting GCL players could help out the starved Auburn roster. Players like Viandel Pena (.313/.419/.404), Junior Martina (.375/.483/.521), Leandro Emiliani (.289/.448/.505), and Jorge Hurtado (.257/.321/.436) have done more than enough to impress. Arms like Adrian Martinez, Karlo Seijas, Jairon Peguero and Bryan Pena also deserve a promotion.

  4. I have highlighted Cronin before and posited that he could be the next Glover, perhaps to the majors within a year of the draft. Most relievers aren’t picked very high, though, so I see him as more of a nice return thus far on a guy who was picked around where expected. Dyson, on the other hand, had been projected by some entering his junior year as a potential top-five pick, a top-of-the-rotation type of arm. He fell a LONG way, and pretty much rightly so if you look at his numbers this season, but if the Nats can “fix” him and get that top-five talent out of him, it will indeed be a steal.

    I continue to scratch my head over what happened to Austin Adams. He was pitching great in what has proven to be a very tough PCL environment. He got called to the show, flew cross-country on the red-eye, had control issues in his one (1) outing, and that was it. He was gone.

  5. Pilchard — I generally agree with you that we have to tip our caps to the success thus from the scrap heap crew, with much good stuff from Parra and Cabrera last night. You’re right that they tried C. Kieboom and found that he wasn’t ready. I did have a bit of a fit when they signed Parra without trying Yaddy, though. On paper, Parra had been awful and looked like yet another old bench bat coming to watch his career die in the Nat dugout. This guy started the party in the dugout, though, and seems to have been a big inspiration all around, particularly to the young Latin players.

    Is it too much to hope that the scrap-heap magic can continue with the return of Greg Holland?

    What Fedde and Ross have done the last couple of weeks as MLB starters has been miraculous considering their struggles in the PCL. As I’ve noted, how can they reasonably judge anyone in that league, particularly “prospect” arms like Crowe, Braymer, and Bourque?

    1. Yes, KW, you have to worry a little about how Crowe, Braymer and Bouque are affected by the PCL/beer league. Confidence is a tricky thing. Sometimes it does toughen them up instead.

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