From the Archives: June 5
Sorry, it’s SSDD for the MLB-MLPBA negotiations. Excuse me, I need to wheel some stuff…
Buffalo 13 Syracuse 4 – 2016
• Cole 6IP, 8H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 4K, HR
• Gott (L, 3-2) ⅔ IP, 4H, 4R, 4ER, BB, K
• Sizemore 1-4, R, HR, 4RBI
• Goodwin 2-4, 2B, BB
• Ramsey 2-4, R, SB
Once again, Syracuse ‘pen forgot that batting practice happens before the game, not during. The Bisons scored four in the 7th, one in the 8th, and five in the 9th to turn a 3-3 tie into a 13-4 demolition. Trevor Gott, Abel De Los Santos, and J.C. Gutierrez were stampeded for 10 runs on 11 hits and four walks, wasting A.J. Cole’s quality start of three runs on eight hits and two walks over the first six innings. Scott Sizemore drove in all four Chiefs runs with a three-run HR in the 4th and a fielder’s choice in the 8th. Brian Goodwin and Caleb Ramsey both went 2-for-4 to lead the Syracuse hit column. Pitcher pairings are a popular narrative–Spahn and Sain, Koufax and Drysdale, Johnson and Schilling, Maroth and Bonderman–and we’ve had our share here, too. At the site’s outset, there were two – Matt Purke and Sammy Solis, two overrated and overworked collegiate pitchers (yeah, I know: a double redundancy), and two HS arms taken in 2010: Robbie Ray and A.J. Cole. The Florida northpaw lingered in the system for nine seasons and made 19 starts for the big club before he was DFA’d and traded to the Yankees for cash in April 2018. Cole has since transitioned into middle relief and become a replacement-level middle reliever for New York (AL) and Cleveland. He signed as a FA with Toronto this past January.
Harrisburg 5 Reading 4 – 2014
• Poveda 6IP, 9H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 9K
• Herron (W, 2-2) 1⅓ IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 2K
• Grace (SV, 2) ⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K, 3-0 IR-S
• Ramsey 3-4, R, RBI
• Dykstra 3-4, 2B, RBI
• Keyes 2-4, 2R, 2B, RBI
For the first time this season, the Senators dug themselves out of a four-run hole and scored the last five runs of the game for a 5-4 win. Omar Poveda survived a three-run first and gutted out six innings, striking out a season-high of nine. He allowed all four Fightin runs on nine hits. Tyler Herron got the win with a huge assist/save by Matt Grace as the southpaw struck out the first batter he faced and got the second to ground out to leave the bases loaded in the top of the 9th. Cutter Dykstra and Caleb Ramsey both went 3-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Harrisburg offense, followed closely by Kevin Keyes, who scored the gamewinner after leading off the 8th with a double, taking 3rd on a flyout, and chugging home on a wild pitch. Picked up in a trade from Milwaukee for Nyjer Morgan, Cutter Dykstra spent parts of six seasons with the Nats organization including two tours of duty with the P-Nats (2011, 2013) and three with the Senators (2014-2016). He remains married to actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, with whom he has had two children.
Potomac 5 Salem 3 – 2019
• Lee (W, 2-3) 6IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 9K, WP
• German (S, 2) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 3K
• Freeman 3-4, R, 2-2B, BB, RBI
• Corredor 2-5, R, RBI
• Banks 2-5, R
The 5th was a big one for Potomac, too, but just four runs were enough as the pitching was a wee (Lee?) bit better in a 5-3 win that completed the sweep of Salem. Andrew Lee turned in his best outing of the season, matching his high of nine K’s while issuing a season-low (as a starter) one walk in six innings of one-run ball on three hits. It was his second win and second quality start. Big or small, it wouldn’t the Nats without some drama in the late innings. After a 1-2-3 seventh, Frankie Bartow gave up a single and double to open up the 8th and Hayden Howard brought the gas… can to put out the fire and gave up one single to bring in both baserunners and another to bring the tying run to the plate. Salem tried to bunt to push the tying run to scoring position with one out but Howard nailed the lead runner at third. Jhonatan German took over and then achieved what the Red Sox wanted with a wild pitch. But with a whiff and a groundout, German stranded the two runners then worked around a walk in the 9th to earn his second save. The P-Nats top third of the lineup combined for eight of the team’s 11 hits, three of the runs scored, and both doubles. Lee survived this week’s purge despite his advanced age (turns 27 in December) as the Nats perhaps see some hope for him in 2021 after pitching a career-high 109 innings in 2019 and 13 more in the AFL.
Hagerstown 3 Greensboro 1 – 2015
• Bach 6IP, 4H, 1R, 0ER, BB, K
• M. Sanchez (W, 2-2) 3IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 5K
• DeBruin 2-4, R, 2B
• Davidson 2-4, 2B, RBI
The Suns scored single runs in the 8th and 9th innings to pull away from the Grasshoppers and take the first game of the series, 3-1. Starter Connor Bach got the no-decision despite allowing just an unearned run on four hits and a walk over six innings. The win went to Mario Sanchez, who struck out five and walked one over the final three innings. Grant DeBruin and Austin Davidson both went 2-for-4 with a double, though the Suns struggled with clutch hitting, as they went 0-for-9 with RISP as the three runs scored on an error, home run (“Orange” Marmolejos-Diaz), and a two-out double that Davidson tried (and failed) to stretch into a triple. Alas, longtime OG Austin Davidson was given his walking papers this week after a six-year stint which included multiple stints at Hagerstown (2014-16), Potomac (2016-19), and Harrisburg (2018-19) and playing time at seven positions (all but P and CF). His best year was 2018, hitting .292/.374/.482 in 18G at High-A and 94G at AA.
Andrew Lee was actually on my radar before the 2015 draft more for his power hitting at Tennessee than as a pitcher. He had 9 homers and 9 saves for the Vols that spring. I thought the Nats needed hitters, particularly power hitters, more than they needed pitchers, when they drafted him, but of course that’s not how they think, so what do I know?
Anyway, Lee was one of three relievers in the 2015 draft who made very encouraging runs all the way through the organization to Hagerstown that summer. Alas, there may not have been a more ill-fated-by-injury trio than that law firm of Glover, Brinley, and Lee. The Nats kept Lee at Hags to begin 2016 stretching out as a starter, but he was the first of the trio to suffer a major injury, having to undergo a TJ (his second) that June. Other than one curious 1.2 IP appearance in the GCL in 2017, he missed most of two seasons. He’s slowly worked his way through the system in 2018-19, with the Nats still trying him part of the time as a starter. He’s a big dude who throws hard, so maybe his perseverance eventually will be rewarded. But we could STILL also use a power hitter . . .
As Luke’s Cole/Solis/Purke comment reminds us, the Nats have a long and confounding history of keeping SO many pitchers as starters far too long instead of developing them to fill their perpetual MLB relief needs. They finally did switch Solis, mainly due to injuries, and got a little time of semi-competent MLB relief out of him. They never would admit “defeat” with Cole, though, just as they’ve continued to bang their heads against the wall about Fedde starting. Now we start the watch on Seth Romero, who several have insisted since he was drafted that he’d be better in relief.
He’s the bottom line: despite a HEAVY commitment to drafting pitching and signing Latin fire-ballers across the last decade, there were only two drafted/signed pitchers on the championship playoff roster. Those were a 1/1 overall pick who was thought to be a generational talent (and finally proved it), and Suero, an older Latin signee who lives on his cutter, not his heat. As a result of not being able to develop their own, the Nats have had to spend a fortune signing free-agent starters and have made at least two zillion trades to acquire relievers. Sigh.
Hard to sympathize with the “Sigh” when the words “Championship Playoff Roster” is contained in the same paragraph. There are 29 other teams that would like to have had the same perceived pitching development problems on a World Series Championship team.
Pilchard, I respectfully disagree. Yes, I’m thrilled to have the championship, and no doubt some pitching pieces were traded to bring the likes of Eaton, Doolittle, Hudson, and Gomes (and Strickland, egad). But for a team that has invested so much draft capital in pitching, it should have more to show for it in the rotation and in the bullpen. The trades for bullpen help EVERY YEAR that everyone bemoans are a direct result of both the inability to develop relievers and the reluctance to fully commit to moving better minor-league arms to the bullpen. The Nats covered for those sins with playoff relief work from Stras, Max, and Corbin, but that’s an unsustainable model in a regular season. And the heavy draft investment in pitching has left them with very few high-quality position players in the system.
+1
In theory, you should count on having to replace one position player every year. There isn’t a team in MLB that goes into any given year not needing or not wanting to upgrade its rotation, especially its No. 4 & 5 guys. To that end, the Nats are in deep shit if more than a couple of players get hurt or decline. Ordinarily, I’d add the adverb “unexpectedly” to decline, but guys over 35 hitting a wall is dog bites man, iykwim.
Re: Lee. There’s a lot of pitchers, especially minor leaguers, who never recover from that second T.J. surgery. Let’s hope he follows Daniel Hudson’s path forward. He had a good AFL.