Nats Take Second Straight Game, 5-3; MLB Pipeline Releases Top 30
Highlighted by a two-run double by Juan Soto, Washington broke out for five runs in the 3rd to erase an early 1-0 deficit and held on for a 5-3 win over Baltimore. It was their second win in as many games.
Max Scherzer cruised through the first two innings, but ran into trouble in the 3rd with a single-double-sac-fly sequence for the O’s first run. A one-out double sent the 35-y.o. to the golf course showers. He finished with two runs let in on five hits and a walk over three and a 1/3rd innings while fanning five.
Dakota Bacus let in his inherited runner with a triple by former teammate Pedro Severino and a second hit plated the third and final run for Baltimore. Bacus finished the inning with a fyout and a ground out. Five relievers each turned in a scoreless inning to close out the game, with Sam Freeman pitching the 9th for the save.
Jake Noll was the sole minor-leaguer to get start, as he manned first base and batted 9th but was 0-for-3 with two whiffs.
Here’s how the other notable/watchlist players did:
- Carter Kieboom came off the bench to play third base and singled twice in two at-bats.
- Luis Garcia spelled Trea Turner at shortstop and grounded out in the 8th.
- Yadiel Hernandez subbed for Soto and also grounded out in the 8th.
- James Bourque pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and struck out two.
Today is the first scheduled off day, which typically means the first set of ST cuts are coming soon, if not today.
MLB, in its infinite wisdom, decided to release its 2020 Top 30 lists during Spring Training this year, with the NL East being revealed yesterday.
Unlike last year, the similarities between the MLB Pipeline Top 30 for Washington stop after just the first four. IFAs Andry Lara and Eddie Yean, who Keith Law is very high on (Todd Boss breaks down Law’s thoughts), come in at nos. five and six while Jaguars* Mason Denaburg (#7) and Seth Romero (#9) are sandwiched between Tim Cate at #8.* Because they run great… when they’re not in the shop
The most notable difference aside from the numerical rankings: Raudy Read, who can barely catch a cold, is still ranked while 23-y.o. southpaw Jackson Tetreault is not. Another (and a good correction, IMO) is Roismar Quintana’s inclusion (maybe not at #15) over Malvin Peña.
Alas, time is short this morning to delve any further, but feel free to do so in the comments.
Couldn’t agree more on the Read/Tetreault comp.
This is the first time I’ve seen Fuentes on a list. Potentially, this could be a breakout year for him.
Still can’t help yelling Howie Kendrick at a dodger blue clad fan
Can you imagine the crowd opening day when Howie gets introduced
Luke, do you know when Nats’ minor league camp starts (and who will be in it)? I’m down here in West Palm and so far have only seen the 40 man/NRI /major league camp players on the backfields…..
I don’t know. My best guess — based on how things went in 2016 — is that full minors camp will start next Thursday and games on the 16th. If there’s an “accelerated camp,” it would be this weekend.
Great Luke, thanks for the info. It’s amazingly hard–really, impossible–to find out anything on the internet about this. I guess the Nats don’t care about us hardcore prospect hounds!
In addition to the MLB camp and NRI’s, there are a number of other minor league guys (+/- 30) who have been in WPB for about 10 days for early camp. From what I could see on the back fields yesterday, the early camp guys are a mix of all levels (GCL to AA). Heard that the first minor league spring game(s) will be on Mon Mar 9th in advance of the arrival of the full minor league contingent.
THE REST ARE REPORTING ON FRIDAY THE 6TH
The prospects are already down there working out. Probably just early am workouts. Regular minor league players report next Wed 3/11. Remember that the minor league games start 1 week later on 4/9 due to a late Labor Day this year.
By “prospects” I assume you mean minor league players on the 40 man roster + NRIs etc who are in major league camp? Or if you mean others, who are they?
The prospects I referred to are the players from the top 30 prospect list. The 40 man and NRI players are still at big league camp. There will probably be cuts to minor league camp at the end of the weekend.
Ah ha, so you’re saying there are a limited number of minor leaguers around who are not in big league camp but are high level prospects. Eventually, they will be joined by cuts from big league camp and the rest of the minor leaguers, in the next week or so….but right now Jackson Rutledge, Andry Lara, Jeremy De La Rosa, Seth Romero, Mason Denaburg, Andry Lara, Jackson Cluff, Drew Mendoza, etc are already there and roaming the West Palm earth? That’s your understanding? Amazing how hard it is got get specific info on this stuff.
There used to be more attention paid to the minor-leaguers, but I believe there’s an inverse relationship to the performance of the big Nats when it comes to minors coverage. When the team was awful, there was more to be found — most likely because of the constant, nay incessant drumbeat to “play the kids, get rid of the bums” from the MASN commenters of the day.