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Wedenesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 5-4 vs. Buffalo, 5:05 p.m. Fuentes (0-2, 14.59) vs. Lawrence (5-2, 4.86)
Harrisburg DNP (COVID-19) @ New Hampshire, 6:35 p.m. Adon (1-2, 6.43) vs. TBD
Wilmington Won, 10-0 @ Bowling Green, 12:05 p.m. Guasch (0-1, 3.15) vs. TBD
Fredericksburg Lost, 5-3 vs. Lynchburg, 7:05 p.m. A. Lara (0-1, 7.71) vs. Muñoz (4-4, 7.05)
FCL Nationals OFF DAY vs. FCL Marlins, 12 p.m.
DSL Nationals Won, 4-0 OFF DAY

Buffalo 5 Rochester 4
• Reyes 6IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 4K
• Moreno (L, 0-1) 2IP, 1H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 2K
• Robles 2-3, RBI, SAC
• Flores 2-3, 2R, 2B

A two-run HR in the 8th snapped a 2-2 tie as Buffalo took the opener from Rochester, 5-4. Luis Reyes turned in his sixth quality start, allowing two runs on seven hits and three walks but was rewarded with his sixth no-decision. The loss went to Diego Moreno, who gave up the aforementioned longball in the 8th. Victor Robles and Jecksson Flores both singled twice in three trips to the plate while Jake Noll hit his 15th HR and Raudy Read hit his 3rd.

Harrisburg Senators – OFF DAY
Presuming the contact tracing and testing went as expected, the Senators will finish the 2021 season with five games in the Manchester not by the sea. Roster moves: RHP Pearson McMahan placed on the 7-Day I.L. (Sep. 13).

Wilmington 10 Bowling Green 0
• Parker (W, 1-5) 5IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB, 8K
• Stainbrook 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Méndez 4-6, 2R, 2-2B, 2RBI
• Connell 3-6, 2R, 2HR, 4RBI
• Pineda 3-6, 2RBI
• Ydens 2-5, 2R, HR, 2RBI

Three Wilmington pitchers combined to shut out Wilmington, 10-0 on five hits to extend the Blue Rocks’ win streak to five. Mitchell Parker notched his first High-A win with five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks while fanning eight. Tomás Alastre and Troy Stainbrook both put two goose eggs to finish the whitewash. Ricardo Méndez singled twice, doubled twice, and drove in two while Justin Connell homered twice and singled once to plate four as Wilmington pounded out 16 hits total.

Lynchburg 5 Fredericksburg 3
• Theophile (L, 3-11) 5IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 6K, HR
• Alvarez 2IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K
• Barley 1-2, 2BB, SB(11), CS(5)
• Sánchez 1-4, R, 2B, RBI

With a pair of two-spots early, Lynchburg took Round One of the Battle of the ‘Burgs℠ with a 5-3 win over Fredericksburg. Rodney Theophile was scratched by the ‘Cats for four runs on six hits (one HR) over five innings. He walked none and struck out six while losing his 11th game. Jordy Barley was the sole F-Nats batter to reach base multiple times as he walked twice and singled once. Fredericksburg squeezed four runs out of seven hits with three doubles and a 4-for-11 mark with RISP.

FCL Nationals – OFF DAY
The FCL Nats have but four games left in 2021, but they’ll be in West Palm Beach for them all as the Marlins, Mets, and Cards come to town today, tomorrow, and overmorrow, then the Astros will play host on Saturday.

DSL Nationals 4 DSL Rockies 0
• Atencio (W, 4-3) 5IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 9K
• Leon 2IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K
• Fernandez 2-3, 2R, 2B, SB
• Cruz 2-4, R, RBI

15 Commments

  1. Thankfully, Harrisburg gets to finish their season with games. It was looking iffy for awhile. Are they playing a doubleheader anytime to make up for yesterday?

    Mitchell Parker gets to finish his season with a shine.
    Ricardo Mendez has proven he can produce at High A after his promotion. One to watch.

    Jeff was asking about Mason Denaburg; he had TJ surgery in April.
    Keith Law has always talked of the folly of drafting high school pitchers in the 1st round. Proof here.

  2. If it’s “folly” to draft high school pitchers (and I tend to agree, all the more after seeing the vaunted Jesus Luzardo last night), what about the insanity of being expected to spend millions on international (mostly Latin) players the age of high school sophomores? The Nats gave $3.9 million to Armando Cruz. He’s currently hitting .246/.299/.310 in the DSL, with seven errors in 38 games. Should we be concerned? Or should we mostly just accept that he’s the same as any other gangling high school junior and hope for the best?

    I sure wish the international players would just go into the draft, at age 18. The system as it is right now is pretty screwy, and shady. International players have been subject to the NBA draft for a long time.

  3. Mitchell Parker has been the victim of brutal BABIP bad luck at A+, an astounding .419 BABIP against. FIP indicates that his ERA should be around 3.64, but it’s at 5.89. He’s still striking out 12 batters per nine innings at this level, which is pretty dang good. There seems little doubt that he has “electric stuff.” If he can control it a little better, he’s going to turn out to be a steal from the 5th round.

    1. KW, you took the words out of my “mouth” (fingers?). Parker’s ERA obscures an excellent season. It’s finally nice to see him put up both good basic stats (ERA, etc.) in addition to peripheral stats (FIP, BABIP, etc.).

      Parker’s last start takes him to 10th (out of 4,555 pitchers) most strikeouts in the minors this season.

      You know who is first?

      Our own, Cade Cavalli.

  4. Greetings from New Hampshire! A doubleheader is not scheduled for the canceled game but rain is in the forecast for this evening. Hoping to see some baseball and report in!

    2. Thanks Sens Fan
      Yes this bonus baby candy hand out to a few kids while the rest are Dollar General priced signees is so unpredictable
      Enjoy Manchester
      Chowder and ale

  5. FanGraphs has a brief scouting report on Rutledge’s last start: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/daily-prospect-notes-9-14-2021/

    In it, there’s also reference to the fact that Rutledge is a prime AFL candidate. This got me thinking about other possibilities. The easiest to spot are the players that missed significant time to injury, so that could also include Cole Henry. Other options: Steven Fuentes, Matt Cronin, Andrew Pratt as that inevitable catcher spot? Though Millas could be a good alternative.
    I think Leandro Emiliani and Roismar Quintana are probably too raw for the AFL, while Raudy Read is too old.

    There’s also a chance they give one of their older 2021 draftees some time: Baker or Frizzell. I’d also like to see Ricardo Mendez, Jake Alu and Jacob Rhinesmith get a longer run out after surprisingly good seasons. Maybe Gage Canning too.

    2. I had speculated the other day that Rutledge and Henry seemed like good AFL candidates since they have missed so much time. Cronin is a good thought. Fuentes has missed time, but I don’t know how much he still has to prove at the AA level; AFL tends to be filled with A+ and AA guys. Frankly, Seth Romero needs that work more than Fuentes does.

      The Nats often send guys about whom they have to make Rule 5/40 decisions on, but there aren’t too many of those, maybe Carrillo and Troop?

      At least one catcher figures to be Pineda, who is also a Rule 5 decision (again). I would think Pineda and/or Millas. Antuna sure could use the extra work as well, and perhaps start learning a new defensive position. Mendoza is another touted prospect who could use extra work. Upshaw had a breakthrough year at A+ and might could use some prep to help solidify him at AA. Connell has had a pretty solid year at A+ but with limited power. Really, though, nearly all the field position players are reaches, which is why the new infusion of draft/trade talent was sorely needed.

      The Nats did send Bryce as the taxi-squad player the year he was drafted. Is it too far-fetched to think that they might do the same with House, just to throw him in the deep end a little? I would definitely have him ticketed for the AFL in 2022.

      1. In a related note, it’s also time to start thinking about organizational POYs. Cavalli seems like a lock to be the pitcher. There aren’t a lot of great candidates among the hitters. Maybe Alu, despite him cooling off? And will they even give, or at least rename, the Boone Award after they kicked ol’ Bob to the curb? Maybe Upshaw as someone who stuck with things until they finally clicked?

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