Opening Day!

In an ordinary year, this is where I caution folks not to read too much into who’s starting and when. That the big club tries to align starters to move up in case of injuries, etc. But we only know about three of the four affiliates and only two of those are starting an age-appropriate-to-the-level (AATTL) guy.

But this is not an ordinary year. I’ll be seeing fewer games in person, though the hope is still to make Fredericksburg the home base, albeit on weekends and as a member of the press. Yesterday was my first taste of that, as I sat in on the Zoom call with the new manager, Mario Lissón with the beat writers from the Free Lance-Star, Baseball America, and Lynchburg’s media rep.

The most salient thing I was able to glean from the call was about the DSL, which may not play this year. In that case, Lissón said he had not heard of any plans to field multiple teams in the GCL.

Otherwise, it was pretty mundane. Following Strom will be Tomás Alastre Karlo Seijas, Pedro González, Mitchell Parker, and Rodney Theophile (pronounced thee-oh-FEE-leh). Despite the every-monday-off schedule, Lissón said the Nats will not be employing a six-man rotation.

Eyeballing the rosters, this is how it appears to break down by watchlist players:

ROCHESTER
Pitchers: Ben Braymer, Steven Fuentes
Batters: Trey Barrera

HARRISBURG
Pitchers: Frankie Bartow, Tim Cate, Jhonatan German, Andrew Lee, Pearson McMahan, Mario Sanchez, Carson Teel
Batters: Nick Banks, Jackson Cluff, Aldrem Corredor, Cole Freeman, K.J. Harrison, Drew Mendoza, Jakson Reetz

WILMINGTON (Not fully updated at “press” time)
Pitchers: Joan Adon, Cade Cavalli, Matt Cronin, Tyler Dyson, Cole Henry, Evan Lee, Todd Peterson, Holden Powell, Jackson Rutledge, Reid Schaller, Alex Troop
Batters: Yasel Antuna, Justin Connell, Gilbert Lara, Omar Meregildo, Israel Pineda, Jacob Rhinesmith

FREDERICKSBURG
Pitchers: Michael Cuevas, Pedro González, Alfonso Hernández, Lucas Knowles, Bryan Peña, Karlo Seijas, “OT” Turner
Batters: J.T. Arruda, Geraldi Diaz, Leandro Emiliani, Junior Martina, Ricardo Méndez, Jake Randa, José Sánchez

I don’t think there’s really any dispute that the affiliate that most eyes should be on is Wilmington. Don’t confuse the numerical contingent at Harrisburg – it’s almost exclusively these guys.

Thus, the second choice is clearly Fredericksburg, which has less than half of its players 24 or older (usually it’s about 2/3rds) and actually has eight players born in 2000 or later (but only one in the 21st century).

Away we go… weather permitting. (Some things never change).