Friday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 2-0 | vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:05 p.m. | Cavalli (1-2, 6.23) vs. Krook (1-2, 1.96) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 6-1 | @ Bowie, 7:05 p.m. | Fuentes (1-1, 3.43) vs. Peek (0-1, 3.71) |
| Wilmington | Won, 3-2 | vs. Bowling Green, 6:35 p.m. | Cate (1-1, 5.40) vs. Wiles (0-0, 6.00) |
| Fredericksburg | Lost, 10-7; Won, 9-1 |
@ Lynchburg, 6:30 p.m. | Collins (1-0, 3.55) vs. Miller (0-1, 4.50) |
Rochester 2 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 0
• Tetreault (W, 1-2) 5⅔ IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 4K, PO @ 1B
• Baldonado (H, 1) ⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K, 3-0 IR-S
• Edwards (SV, 2) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• García 2-4, 2R, 3B, HR, RBI
• Freeman 1-3, 2B
Manager Matt Lecroy emptied the Red Wings ‘pen, sending out five relievers to execute a five-hit, 2-0 shutout of the RailRiders. Jackson Tetreault got the party started with just three hits allowed over five and 2/3rds, with no walks and four whiffs. Patrick Murphy did what he could to break up the shutout, with a single and two walks issued with two out in the 7th before Alberto Baldonado came on to strand all three runners. Reed Garrett worked around a hit in the 8th for the hold and Carl Edwards Jr. pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save. Luis García tripled and homered and scored both runs, waiting for the light to dawn over Marblehead (a.k.a. GM Mike Rizzo).
Roster moves: RHP Luis Reyes placed on the Developmental List.
Harrisburg 6 Bowie 1
• Henry 2⅔ IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 5BB, 4K, 71-36 PIT-K
• A. Lee (W, 2-1) 3IP, 2H, 0R, 4BB, 4K, 3-1 IR-S
• Cronin (H, 3) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K, 2-0 IR-S
• Hubbard 4-4, R, 2B HR, 4RBI
• Connell 1-3, 2R, BB, 2B
• Cluff 1-3, R, BB, SB
Harrisburg’s Dondrei Hubbard continues to impress in his first season of affiliated ball, going 4-for-4 with a double, a homer, and four RBI in a 6-1 win over Bowie. Cole Henry struggled for the first time this season, walking five of 14 batters faced while giving up a run and a hit over two and 2/3rds. He struck out four. The Original Lee (Andrew) came on in relief and got the next nine out for the win. Justin Connell and Jackson Cluff both went 1-for-3 with a walk, with Connell collecting a double and Cluff stealing his second base.
Wilmington 3 Bowling Green 2
• Irvin 4IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 2K,
• Schlabach (BS, 1) 1IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 0K, WP
• Brzykcy (W, 3-0) 1⅓ IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 4K
• Mendoza 2-4, 2B, RBI
• Antuna 2-5, 2R, 2B, HR, RBI
• Strohschein OF assist at HP
Drew Mendoza broke up the Star Trek Convention with an RBI double in the 6th and Yasel Antuna walked off the Hot Rods in the 9th with his second HR for a 3-2 Blue Rocks win. Jake Irvin tossed four scoreless for his second straight four-inning outing, allowing two hits and a walk while fanning two. Ike Schlabach lost a 1-0 lead with a run in the 7th for the blown save while Zach Brzykcy won his third game in relief as he got the last four outs by way of the K, though he gave up the tying run in the 9th. Wilmington outhit Bowling Green 11-8 but was a woeful 2-for-12 with RISP. Israel Pineda and Omar Mergildo joined Mendoza and Antuna in having multiple hits.
Lynchburg 10 Fredericksburg 7 – GAME ONE
• Rutledge 3IP, 7H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 3K, HR, WP
• González (L, 0-1) ⅔ IP, 2H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 0K, HBP, WP
• V. Peña 1-2, R, 2B, BB
• De La Rosa 2-4, 2RBI
• Boissiere 2-4, RBI
Jackson Rutledge emerged from witness protection and got whacked by Lynchburg for five runs on seven hits (one HR) and two walks as the Hillcats outslugged the Fred Nats, 10-7. The loss went to Pedro González, as the 21-y.o. Panamanian retired just two of seven batters, giving up the remaining five runs on two hits, two walks, and a Victor Robles. Jeremy De La Rosa and Branden Boissiere both went 2-for-4 and combined for three RBI to lead the Fredericksburg offense.
Fredericksburg 9 Lynchburg 1 – GAME TWO
• Thoephile (W, 3-0) 5IP, 4H, R, ER, 0BB, 10K, HR, WP
• Sinclair 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• J. Young 2-3, 2R, BB, 2B, RBI, SB(10)
• De La Rosa 2-3, 2R, BB, 2-2B, SB
• Millas 2-4, R, HR, 4RBI, CS
In the nightcap, it was all the FredNats as Rodney Theophile set a new career-high with 10K in a 9-1 declawing of the Hillcats. Theophile gave up a run on a homer and four hits total over five innings for his third win, most in the Nats minors by a starting pitcher. Jacob Young and Jeremy De La Rosa combined for four hits, four runs, three doubles, two walks, and two stolen bases as Fredericksburg squeezed nine runs from eight hits and six walks.
ICYMI: Brady House was placed on the I.L. on Wednesday. No further details are available.
Rutledge should be in AAA by now but he can’t even retire Low A hitters.
On the good side, Jake Ievin needed only 46 pitches (29 strikes) to get through 4 innings. His ERA is 0.53.
Theophile has been impressive and showed again that he needs stiffer competition. His ERA is 0.96.
Weather permitting, all the starters today are compelling, including Collins, the 17th round pick from last year.
Collins emerging under the radar as many eyes follow others
April showers wet @ DCA now ..
A lot of really interesting performances to note.
1. Luis Garcia – he’s still playing out of this world. We all forget just how young he is, since he’s been on the prospect radar for so long, but his rise up the levels in 2018-19 is remarkable and put him years ahead of most development schedules. Garcia turns 22 in 2 weeks (a whole 2 years and 3 months younger than #1 prospect Adley Rutschmann, or a year and 8 months younger than our own prospect darling, Cade Cavalli, both of whom are still yet to play a game in the majors), and is the youngest batter in all of AAA (IL + PCL). Garcia’s offensive line of .344/.402/.602 is 19th best in all of AAA, or once filtering out career AAAAers, his offensive output is 4th best among players 25 or younger. This is elite production from an insanely young player. Had he not been wasted in failed past big league seasons, he’d be in discussion as a top 10/20 prospect in all of baseball. Don’t let prospect fatigue temper enthusiasm!
2. Cole Henry had an almost identical start to Parker’s last start: very wild, but little overall damage. Still, he’s maybe not just ready yet for a promotion.
3. Jake Irvin has returned from the injury wilderness back to prospect land! Hope he gets a quick promotion, because at 25 he’s not getting any younger. But a 0.53 ERA is fantastic!
4. Speaking of miniscule ERAs, Matt Cronin wins from my wager a week ago as to whom of Henry and Cronin would allow an earned run first. Cronin is now up to 9 scoreless innings.
5. Zach Brzykcy has bounced back after fading last season. 1.86 ERA with 18 K in only 9.2 IP. Really good to see him throwing well. Hope he can sustain it longer than last season, as he had a similarly hot start in ’21.
6. The Nationals’ rotation is as bad as I expected, so I don’t think it will be long before Jackson Tetreault gets a cup of coffee. He’s still somehow only 25 (26 in a month), and I don’t expect him to blow anyone away in DC, but if he can eat innings with a mid 4/low 5 ERA, it’d be a huge upgrade on Corbin or Aaron Sanchez….
7. How about Jeremy de la Rosa?! After much hype and little justification, he’s been great this year. The power has finally been put on display to complement the other tools. His OPS (.935) is a full .340 points higher than last season’s (.595)!
A lot more to be excited about this year than last!
JT needs to show a bit more consistency but truly near a phone call from Rizzo ..
A side note: is it a good idea to start a catcher in a double header and then play him as a DH in the 2nd game? There’s no shortage of players struggling to get playing time. Among catchers: Geraldi Diaz DH’d game 1 and sat for game 2, and Williams sat game 1 and played LF in game 2. And they had lots of bat-first DH options (e.g. Emiliani, Boissiere, and Will Frizzell remains MIA). And TJ White has gone missing too. Played on Wednesday for the first time since 24 April, and was missing again in yesterday’s double header. Did he pick up an injury and re-aggravate it?
Most of the folks who read this site also read Todd’s site Nationals Arm Race but in case you don’t he has a fun discussion on baseball movies now. A real delight for seamheads.
Bang the Drum Slowly
I always thought somebody would make a film out of a brilliant novel from decades ago named The Celebrant about two jeweler / ring makers who idolize Christy Mathewson but of course Christy got gassed in WW1 and the two brothers went good and bad ..
FWIW it’s not absolutely clear that Mathewson got gassed. Ty Cobb claims to have been there when it happened, but Branch Rickey (who said that he went through the exact same training and was with Mathewson afterwards) denied it. There’s a good write up here: https://insidesources.com/did-baseball-great-christy-mathewson-die-of-chemical-warfare/
Fiction novel
Yes, but the story that is included in the novel (Mathewson gassed in WWI) is based on a story that Cobb told and was also repeated in the Ken Burns “Baseball” documentary series. It was years after first hearing the Mathewson story that I discovered that there are reasons to doubt it.
I don’t think a MiLB pitcher’s age matters a lot. Remember Tanner Roark? Fedde is 29 and only now is he beginning to show some good consistency. Let’s not forget the lost year of 2020 may have set some guys back more than we might think.
Is it too early to be really curious about Dondrei Hubbard in AA? He only ever raked in Independent ball and so far he is taking in Harrisburg, albeit with a very small sample.
at the game in Bowie yesterday. a good matchup for Henry vs DL Hall (he hit 100+ in the first inning). a few thoughts:
Henry was good if not sharp. worked 93-96 and topped out at 98. curve better than his slider. disappointing that he had Rutschman 1-2 in the third and threw three straight curves for balls. then again Lee had him two strikes later and challenged him with a fastball, a very loud noise followed.
Cronin got outs but did not fool or overpower anyone. Schaller short arms it up there 91-93. didn’t stay for the ninth.
It was a nice birthday for Hubbard, hit took 97 from Hall and drilled it to right center for the only hard hit ball of him. his double was off the wall to straight away center and his HR was a no doubter to left.
Connell has filled out and still runs well. his double was a bit off the end of the bat but Hall refused to throw him a fastball.
I know this is not an O’s sight but they have something special in Rutschman.
one last comment, Henry is on a pitchcount. after 70 pitches and two outs in the third he had the batter 3-2, next pitch fouled off and he was pulled. Lee threw ball four.
After brutal errors by Escobar in back to back games, there’s no excuse now not to have Garcia starting at SS for the big club. Honestly, what could it hurt? Same with Tetreault getting a look in the rotation. Carl Edwards is more than ready to help the MLB ‘pen.
It could have to do with Garcia’s service time clock. He is listed on B-R as having 1.037 years of MLB service time. Under the CBA, if he is in the bigs for 172 days in a year he’s credited with a full year of service. He’s past that point now for this season, at least by my quick math. By my count, if he was called up and stuck for the rest of the season he’d be credited with 149 days of service. That would give him 1.903 years of time at the end of the season. But it would also make him a potential “Super 2” eligible for arbitration a year earlier.
If the Nats call him up in mid-/late-June that might be a sign that they were looking at the clock, since at that point Garcia would likely be past a potential “Super 2” issue (his .037 only represents about six days of service).