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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 6-5
(10 inn.)		 vs. Worcester, 1:05 p.m. TBD vs. Murphy (AAA Debut)
Harrisburg Lost, 8-3 @ Altoona, 6 p.m. Fuentes (1-5, 4.45) vs. Nicolas (0-2, 4.15)
Wilmington Lost, 4-1 vs. Jersey Shore, 6:35 p.m. Parker (3-1, 1.80) vs. Pipkin (1-2, 8.06)
Fredericksburg Won, 15-4 vs. Delmarva, 7:05 p.m. Caceres (4-3, 4.75) vs. D. Cruz (0-0, 3.00)
FCL Nationals OFF DAY vs. FCL Astros Blue, 12 p.m.
DSL Nationals OFF DAY @ DSL Twins, 11 a.m.

Worcester 6 Rochester 5 (10 inn.)
• Cavalli 3IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 5K, WP
• Baldonao 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Weems (L, 1-2) 1IP, 1H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K, HR
• Casey 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI, C
• Stevenson 2-4, R, RBI
• Gushue 2-4

Rochester scratched out runs in the 8th and 9th innings to force extras, where Worcester dealt a killshot in the 10th – a two-run HR that put the (ugh) Woo Sox up 6-4. Andrew Stevenson drove in the free runner with a one-out single but neither flyball that followed left the yard for a 6-5 loss. Cade Cavalli returned to the rotation but was dinged for three runs on three hits and two walks over three innings. Jordan Weems took the loss, giving up the aforementioned two-run HR in the 10th. Donovan Casey led the offense with a single, double, and a walk while Stevenson and Taylor Gushue both singled twice.

Altoona 8 Harrisburg 3
• Irvin (L, 0-3) 4IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 4K
• E. García 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Al. Rodriguez 2-4, SB
• Nogowski 2-5, R, HR, 2RBI

Likewise, Jake Irvin was brought out of cold storage and knocked around for four runs in an 8-3 Senators loss. Irvin struck out four, walked two, and gave up six hits over four innings for his third AA loss. Newcomer John Nogowski homered in the 1st for the first two Harrisburg runs while Justin Connell’s 10th double drove in Jake Alu in the 8th.

Jersey Shore 4 Wilmington 1
• Cate (L, 4-3) 5IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 1K, HR
• Chu 2IP, H, R, ER, BB, K
• Baker 1-4, RBI
• Jo. Sánchez

Wilmington barely avoided a shutout in a 4-1 loss to Jersey Shore. An error and two singles in the 7th did the trick with Darren Baker collecting the sole RBI with a two-out safety. José Sánchez doubled in the first for the sole extra-base hit. Tim Cate took the loss with three runs let in on six hits (one HR) and two walks over five innings. He struck out one.


• Saenz 4⅓ IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 8K, 2HBP
• Collins (W, 3-1) 2⅔ IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• J. Young 4-5, 2R, 2B, 3B, 2RBI
• Boisserie 3-4, 2R, BB, 2B, 4RBI
• White 2-5, 2R, 2-2B (11), 2RBI

The FredNats continued to assert their paternity in a 15-4 corporal punishment of the Shorebirds. Dustin Saenz fell two outs shy of qualifying for the win as he gave up three runs on six hits and a walk. He tied his season high with eight K’s while hitting two batters. The win went to Brendan Collins as the most effective reliever with two and 2/3rds scoreless to close out the game. Jacob Young led the Fredericksburg hit column with two singles, a double, and a triple, followed by Branden Boisserie with two singles and a walk, and T.J. White with two doubles.

FCL Nationals – OFF DAY
It’s a rematch of Monday’s tilt this morning against the last-place FCL Astros Blue before finishing out the week with two against the FCL Cardinals.

DSL Nationals – OFF DAY
It’s a road game today against the D-Angels, then home games tomorrow and Saturday against the D-Blue Jays and the D-Rockies.

22 Commments

  1. My topic for today is…what about the SPEED?
    Or…does stolen base ability matter within our minor league system?
    Of course, speed helps both offensively and defensively. I guess stealing in A or A+ ball is easier, but I’m not sure.

    NIce to see that Jeremy De La Rosa and his 882 OPS is also working on stealing bases:

    Men of Steal:
    1. De La Rosa FRE 24/29
    2. Jacob Young FRE 24/29
    3. Barley WIL 21/25
    4. V. Pena FRE 20/21
    5. Stevenson ROC 20/24
    6. Antuna WIL 19/25
    7. Lipka ROC 13/13
    8. Palacios ROC 13/16
    9. Daily WIL 11/11
    10. Freeman ROC 11/13

    Btw, Brady House is 1/1. Alu 8/9, Infante 8/10, TJ White 4/5

    1. Riggs … Bank .. money in the bullpen ..
      Bryan C coming along nice
      DeLaRosa .316 in the 3 hole .. nice

    2. Another shout to to Carlos Romero settling into his bullpen niche in Wilmington padding the K totals especially when Parker takes the ball

  2. I was in Altoona last night. Irvin looks like the typical Nats pitcher…tall, lanky and right handed. His fastball was consistently 94-96, but he could not throw his curveball for strikes. Gausch had 3 walks and a couple strikeouts where the 3rd strike got past the catcher. On the bright side, Nogowski hit a towering homer to LF.

  3. Well after a series of good starts, we got a stinker from most of them last night. Cavalli, Irvin and Cate, after some more masterful starts over the past few weeks, were pretty mediocre.

    I’ve been so impressed with TJ White. He’s actually out-performing his red-hot April in June. He’s hitting .338/.421/.636 in 22 games. More impressively, his walk rate has increased (12.5% in the month), and his 12 walks are more than his total combined in April and May, while his strikeouts have declined (21.6%). He’s also still 18 years old (turns 19 next month).

    The opposite could be said about Jeremy de la Rosa. His walks and strikeout rates have gone in the wrong direction this month, but it doesn’t really matter, because they’re still pretty healthy (12.8% BB% and 30.7% K%) and his stats have been great (.294/.385/.441 in June, .318/.398/.484 on the season). He has nothing left to prove in Fredericksburg, and nothing in Wilmington is blocking him (Strohschein is batting .239/.297/.277 and Jeremy Ydens .240/.322/.327)

    1. Here’s a legit question: if we ranked the top 10 bats in the organization right now, would White be #1? Or does House get a pass because of injuries? Do we give more credence to Infante’s homer spurts despite his Espinosa-like K rate?

      Based on what’s actually happening on the field right now, particularly with the June improvements that Will noted, White might be my #1 seed. That doesn’t mean that House and Vaquero might not have higher ceilings. But White certainly is stamping himself as someone with a future, and before he turns 19.

  4. Shout out to Jose Sanchez, who’s quietly having a (comparatively) fantastic season. At age 21, he’s perhaps a bit advanced for his age, and very much holding his own, batting .274/.363/.363. Now, if his defense is only good enough for 3B, then he’s a lot less interesting as a prospect. But it’s good to see his bat finally coming around. At his age, who knows, maybe some more power will develop. It happened with Luis Garcia…

    1. I’ll take credit for giving Sanchez a boost with my “fringy prospect” endorsement yesterday. ; ) I think a lot of his potential usefulness down the road in a utility capacity will depend on whether they still think he’s “SS-capable.” He’s been completely moved off of SS this season.

      But right now, he looks more like a “prospect” than Antuna does.

      1. Sanchez of .221 batting average in 1316 at bats, none higher than A+? Do not expect him to be a part time ML player, but one never knows!

        1. two problems with this analysis, he was playing at a very young age, way below league average early on when he had the majority of his at bats. and he has now put on 40 lbs from when he started and grown into an adult body.

          no question he needs to continue to progress.

        2. I was shocked with Adrian Sanchez became a go-to shuttle player for the big club. Weirder things have happened. Jose Sanchez is hitting .274 this summer in his first A+ season, with .363 OBP. He turns 22 in a couple of weeks. One would think that he will be a good AFL candidate, although if they’re hyping Darren Baker, he might get first dibs. (BTW, Baker is a year and a half older than Sanchez.)

    2. Sanchez is a solid player, plays good defense, hits the ball where it’s pitched, up to recently taking his walks. Not sure he has shortstop range but he has the glove and arm. Anxious to see how he handles AA.

      1. I don’t know that one actually has to be good at shortstop, someone just has to deem him as “capable.” See Difo, Wilmer.

  5. The worst part of Cavwlli’s start is it took him 77 pitches to make through 3 innings.

    Jake Irvin will figure it out.

    1. Jake Irvin needs someone to teach him a changeup. his curve is has some bite and he did get two strikeouts on it in his last inning. he was also down a couple ticks on his fastball velocity after a long third inning where they barrelled him up.

  6. Apparently the Nats themselves aren’t even aware of T. J. White, not to mention Infante or de la Rosa. This from Jesse Dougherty:

    At the moment, the system feels like Cade Cavalli, Brady House, Cole Henry and then everyone else. In theory, the fifth pick could soon add another bat to that mix. And since last July, the club has often pushed Darren Baker as one face of their youth movement.

    https://twitter.com/dougherty_jesse/status/1542537323165925376?cxt=HHwWgICygbrhmOgqAAAA

    1. There are players languishing in Fredericksburg, only the f.o. doesn’t seem to notice.

      1. I wouldn’t necessarily say that — promotions are just coming much closer than what we want or are used to

        1. Luke, has a single batter been promoted yet?

          I can’t come up with any, but concede I may have forgotten someone. But that’s pretty extraordinary after 3 months and definitely not coincidental.

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