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Tuesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester OFF DAY @ St. Paul, 8:07 p.m. TBD vs. Gossett (1-2, 10.65)​
Harrisburg OFF DAY vs. Bowie, 6:30 p.m. Fuentes (1-2, 4.50) vs. Peek (0-2, 3.97)
Wilmington OFF DAY @ Rome, 7 p.m. Parker (2-0, 2.27) vs. Dodd (4-4, 4.05)
Fredericksburg OFF DAY vs. Lynchburg, 7:05 p.m. Caceres (3-3, 5.18) vs. Denholm (2-2, 5.50)
FCL Nationals Won, 8-7
(10 inn.)		 vs. FCL Marlins, 12 p.m.
DSL Nationals Won, 10-3 vs. DSL D-Backs Red, 11 a.m.

Rochester Red Wings (35-19, 1st place, 3½ GA, I.L. East)
The Red Wings have won eight of their last 10 and head outside of the Eastern Time zone for the first time as a Nationals affiliate as Rochester heads to St. Paul for six. There’s still no word on the fate of Austin Voth, but if he has been outrighted he could replace the tireless “TBD” as the Red Wings starter tonight.

Harrisburg Senators (21-29, 5th place, 8½ GB, E.L. Southwest)
Conversely, Harrisburg has dropped seven of its last 10 to fall eight games below .500. This week last-place Bowie comes to City Isle to battle for seven games, including a doubleheader tomorrow night.

Wilmington Blue Rocks (25-23, 2nd place, 7½ GB, Sally Lg. North)
The Blue Rocks’ two-week southern sojourn continues with six against the Braves in Rome, Ga. No word on whether they took the midnight train to get there. Rodney Theophile is expected to make his High-A debut this week, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.

Fredericksburg Nationals (25-25, 4tg place,3GB, C.L. North)
Like the other ‘burg, fourth-place Fredericksburg plays host for seven games this week against first-place Lynchburg. The FredNats are on a three-game losing streak and have lost 16 of their last 24 games to fall to .500.

FCL Nationals 8 FCL Marlins 7 (10 inn.
• Aldonis 4IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• M. Gomez (W, 1-0) 4IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 5K
• A. Cruz 3-5, 2R, SB, CS
• Coutts 2-3, 2R, BB, 2B
• Geraldo 2-5, R, 3RBI, SB

Armando Cruz’s third single helped spark a two-run rally in the 10th as the F-Nats took the season opener from the F-Marlins, 8-7. Pablo Aldonis went the first four, allowing three runs on five hits (one HR) and no walks while fanning two. Miguel Gomez pitched the last four, picking up the win with an unearned run let in on three hits and two walks while striking out five. Cruz led the F-Nats hit column, followed by Angel Gerardo with two singles and Jackson Coutts with a single, double, and a walk.
Roster moves: RHP Karlo Seijas reassigned from Fredericksburg.

DSL Nationals 10 DSL Cardinals 3
• Moron (W, 1-0) 5IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 4K, HR
• Roman (H, 1) 3IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K, HR
• Vaquero 2-3, 2R, 2B, 3B, BB, SF, 2RBI, SB
• Ramirez 2-4, 3R, HR, SF, 4RBI
• Contreras 1-3, R, 2BB, 2RBI, SB

Christian Vaquero fans will not be disappointed to learn the Nats’ top IFA went hog-wild in his pro debut, reaching base three times with a walk, double, and a triple while scoring twice, driving in two, and stealing a base. Raynel Moron picked up the win with five innings of two-run ball on four hits (one HR) and two walks while setting down four on strikes. Oh, and if you care, the DSL Nats won the game, 10-3 over the DSL Cardinals.

15 Commments

  1. A couple of things about the FCL Nats. There are 40 players on the roster, so playing time is really a problem.
    Of the 15 teams that are located in Florida 5 of them are smart enough to have 2 teams in the FCL, which is a good way to develop your players.

    One of the reasons that the FCL Nats roster is overstuffed is because there are players in Fredericksburg that should be in Wilmington.

    1. To make matters worse, it’s populated by a majority of FCL repeats.

      Yesterday, 14 FCL Nats appeared in the game. Only 4 of them aren’t repeating the level (Armando Cruz, Eliesel Santana and Jose Colmenares were promotions from the DSL, and Pablo Aldonis skipped the DSL altogether). That’s really bad. Why keep guys like Quade Tomlin around, who wasn’t drafted and batted .100/.250/.167 in 22 games last year, or Landon Dieterich, another non-draftee, who batted .211/.295/.330 last year at age 23? These guys are just blocking younger players with potential (albeit limited) upside.

      Same story in the DSL. Only 5 of the 14 appearing players were new signees. The rest were repeating the DSL. I understand that the DSL level are much less refined than those in the FCL, so repeating levels is necessary, but I’d expect the the balance closer to even of new players vs. repeats. But maybe they’re intentionally giving opening day starts to the “veterans” on the team?

      Either way, great to see Cristhian Vaquero and Armando Cruz both start out with really good first games! If this franchise is going to be any good in the future, these two will have to play a role in it – sooner than later.

        1. Good to see Armando Cruz prove that the Nats are stressing bunting in their handbook today evidenced by his Sacrifice in game this am
          Game
          Tejada tater must have been a bomb

      2. And Dieterich apparently started over Will Frizzell, unless Frizzell is injured.

        Cruz was pretty feeble with the bat last year, so any improvement will be good news. I have no idea why Vaquero isn’t starting in the States. Yeah, they have eight OF on the FCL roster (including Lile who presumably won’t play), but none is a bigger deal to the organization than Vaquero.

        1. KW, Vaquero is only 17.
          Emiliani is blocking Frizell and Deterich and they are 23 and 24, get them to Fredericksburg ASAP.

          1. Coutts time clock ticking fast with June – scratch that – July draft upcoming
            Tejada needs his ABs too
            He can pick at 3 b too still?

      3. Folks might have forgotten that the Nats basically wrote off most of the 2019 DSL team for 2021 and the new group did fairly well (and was mostly age-appropriate).

        However, most of you DO recall that the Nats waited more than a month to have the 2021 picks play. I don’t recall an adequate explanation for that aside from the draft picks being younger than usual.

        If that’s the new normal, then get your voodoo dolls ready…

        BUT

        Both short-season leagues have begun earlier than last year, and one would think that by the time draft rolls around, they’ll have an idea as to which of the FCL repeats they want to keep. I’m sure there may be some phantom injuries to skirt the 180-player limit but I think we might see a series of releases next month. I doubt however they’ll be as high up the ladder as some want.

    2. Mark L even boss man might say that FSL is like an extended XST parking lot until the early spring competition weeds out the upper fringe
      And just when I was taking about Sammy Infante and Armando Cruz
      Cruz debuts nice like Christian V
      Thinking of Austen Williams from Texas State
      I turned on the Texas State / Stanford game where horse starter Tristan Schrieve(?) misspelled ?
      Looked good along with a cool beard
      Will Will the Thrill Frizzel
      Bump up to Fred fast leaving Coutts for FCL 1b?

    3. Mark L maybe Q Tomlin could earn a promotion once Watson decides to bump up somebody from Fred to replace a bumped up Baker

      1. Agree there is a lot of fringe at Wilmington and Harrisburg. Strong reason to move players up from Fredericksburg.

  3. The wait is over! Austin. Voth claimed off waivers by the Orioles. Wishing him luck with a new team!

    1. they might try him as a starter. in any event he’ll always have his ring and I hope he does well.

    2. The Nats haven’t traded with Orioles since Ryan Minor with Expos so these waiver claims are
      Touché responses from prior claims
      Rogers Burdi etc

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