AFL Update: Oct. 21, 2019
In the top of the 1st, Cole Freeman reached base on a throwing error and took third on another throwing error, stealing his first AFL base on his way from first to third. Nick Banks drove him in with an RBI single and stole second as well.
In the 2nd, KJ Harrison got his first hit in three games and went all the way to third on a walk and a failed double play. Freeman (0-3, BB) drew a two-out walk but a strikeout by Baltimore’s Mason McCoy ended the rally.
Harrison (1-3, BB) would lead off the 4th with a walk, but failed to go any further as he was erased on a double play. That would be the theme on offense for Surprise as the Sagauros got the leadoff man on twice more – including the second single by Nick Banks (2-4, RBI) – and failed to get either into scoring position.
The Saguaros finished with just four hits and three walks while striking out ten times.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, Sterling Sharp made his sixth AFL start and was his usual self: five innings of one-run ball on one hit and two walks while fanning seven. He threw 65 pitches, 40 for strikes.
Likewise for Andrew Lee, who set down the side in the 6th on ten pitches (five for strikes) in his only inning of work. Both Lee and Sharp have ERAs of 1.50 for Surprise.
Alas, so was Nick Raquet, who faced just two batters in the bottom of the 10th. The first grounded out to third base, the second singled in the free runner for the game-winner and Raquet’s second AFL loss.
It’s a day game today for Surprise as the Mesa Solar Sox visit for an afternoon game.
Altogether I’m a bit puzzled with Raquet. He had an decent but rather unexceptional 2019. If you dig hard enough you can write off his dreadful April (8.72 ERA)and find a pretty solid season in there (3.15 ERA from May onward).
As a recent 3rd round pick, I suspected the Nats would have sent him home and hoped he picked up in 2020 where he left off in 2019. He threw more innings in 2019 than any previous season, and so he wasn’t underworked either, nor a Rule 5 risk either.
But instead they send him to the AFL. And they convert him to relief. Something he hasn’t done since his sophomore year at UNC. There’s at least a dozen other arms I’d have considered in relief before Raquet, but alas… hope this stint in Arizona ends any further experiments with him in the bullpen.
Honestly, my assessment of Raquet is that he just isn’t very good. It was a bit of a headscratcher when the Nats used their third-round draft pick on a guy I think most had pegged for closer to the end of Day 2, but the hope was he would respond and develop into a prospect. He just hasn’t done much in the pros. I think the only reason we still talk about him at all is that third-round pedigree. Probably better to think of him as a seventh- or eighth-rounder.
Pearson MacMahon. Nats trying to gear him up on the assembly line for Fred2020 Opening night roster ??
Now we can chuckle @ the Fresno outpost since F helped Ross get himself together while Harrisburg pushed to the playoffs . Ross and Guerra are guys we might not have foretold in spring if a psychic said World Series run way back in April.
Grace must be off to his broadcasting career @ UCLA…
A shout out to the late memory of a super Sens / Nats fan Marian Tyler who passed Sept 2017.
So many young kids loved this super fan. I am sure she is punch drunk happy about Davey and the Boys up there with St Peter….
There are numerous folks here who should post apologies to Michael A for the whipping post behavior they have given a class guy …. this World Series has turned many catbird seat opinionaters including myself into hypocrites and Pharisees
Great pic, Lee. Looks like KJ jumps like a catcher.
Another terrific outing by Sharp, have to like what we see in the AFL this year.
Not hard at all to envision a top 10 entering 2020 like:
1. Carter Kieboom
2. Luis Garcia
3. Tim Cate
4. Jackson Rutledge
5. Sterling Sharp
6. Wil Crowe
7. Yasel Antuna
8. Drew Mendoza
9. Mason Denaburg
10. Matt Cronin
Or something. Point is, Sharp’s stock is jumpin’ and Crowe, Antuna, and Denaburg had pretty rough years.
In Antuna’s case, he didn’t have a year at all. Given his all-around bad 2018, he’s totally fallen off my prospect lists.
He is still 19 (though just for another 5 days), so he’s still a prospect worth watching, but he’s just not anywhere near top 10 status.
Denaburg, meanwhile, actually had a terrible year. Given his pedigree, he’ll be considered, but jeez, he’s really only working on pedigree and nothing else at this point.
Crowe was actually great in AA, but completely fell apart in Coors Lite. I can’t completely fault him, since just about every other Nationals pitcher not named Austin Adams did too.
I’d throw Steven Fuentes, Jeremy de la Rosa, Jakson Reetz, Mario Sanchez, and possibly Viandel Pena, Junior Martina and Leandro Emiliani into the equation too.
Still crossed fingers in Arias and B Fernandez
Those guys after Fuentes and De La Rosa, whom I’d project in the #11-15 range, could surface in the twenties. Not gonna be in the top ten. I’d be thinking the likes of Tres Barrera or Nick Banks before any of them.
Sao, I’d put Steven Fuentes long before Denaburg. I hope he turns it around but Denaburg has been zero so far.
I agree (and on Antuna too), but you and I both know the role inertia plays in these prospect rankings. And I think Fuentes getting popped for that banned blood pressure medication will likely forestall a meteoric rise to leapfrog last year’s touted first-rounder. (That being said, I do think Fuentes likely gets added to the big league roster, since if he’s not, he’ll likely go in the Rule 5 draft.)
Sao, not to disrupt the convo — FTR if/when someone posts something I agree with or would have posted myself I say nothing [Insert Col . Klink reference here] — but Fuentes was dinged for Heptaminol, a cardiac stimulant. I believe you’re confusing his suspension with that of the Twins’ Michael Pineda, who got punished for hydrochlorothiazide, which is indeed a blood pressure medication (I’m on it). For those wondering why MLB bans it, here’s your link.
Thanks, you’re quite right.
I would have Cronin higher. Perhaps, I’m over-rating him, but think Cronin rises through the system like a bullet.
Luke that was Sgt Shultz. Lol.
Lee nice picture capturing Pearsons grip on the ball. Home plate seat behind netting ??
My apologies… I only saw “Hogan’s Heroes” in reruns (and in color).
Fun fact: we used the drumbeat from the theme song as the beat we kept between songs in my middle-school band.
What with the WS opening tonight … another list to look ahead to is Baseball America’s Nationals lineup crystal ball all seeing sooth saying 2025
Sao Mag. If the Nats can pull off a Boston Braves esque run the summer all MSM went Gaga over Bryce and his John McEnroe meets baseball headband.
Luke after this WS I am giving up the worship of baseball and the Nats. ….
As I meant to say. This summer run proves that God has a sense of humor and is a gag writer. ( line from a funny John Ritter film SKIN DEEP). If all this can happen then Mr Densburg can prove brass faith in him EXPOnentially. That’s for you , Cane Grissom.
Thank you!!~
lol@ jumps like a catcher
Sorry for sounding like a broken record, as i already asked this before, but what exactly happened to Antuna this year?
I know he had Tj last year and he managed to get in a couple of games this July before being shut down again. Why? And why hasn’t he been assigned ot winter ball?
Was the injury worse than thought?
Will he be able to come back as before? (both offensively and defensively.)
I don’t have any spies in West Palm Beach so I don’t know. The last I heard(saw) was him being on the Instrux roster.
If Rizzo can hydroplane over all the flak from the early season into a WS run then Big Tuna can bounce back and cause Gingrich to place another feather in his career tale spinning to his grand children .