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Tuesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester OFF DAY vs. Lehigh Valley, 6:05 p.m. Murphy (2-3, 5.66) vs. Skirrow (0-0, 0.00)
Harrisburg OFF DAY @ New Hampshire, 6:35 p.m. Troop (7-4, 4.44) vs. Kloffenstein (1-5, 6.53)
Fredericksburg OFF DAY vs. Lynchburg, 7:05 p.m. Rutledge (8-6, 4.90) vs. Denholm (5-5, 4.79)
Editor’s note: The probables are based on last week’s usage, as none of the press notes on Sunday listed today’s starters.

Rochester Red Wings, 59-76, 8th Place, 16GB
The Red Wings broke even last week against the S-Mets but were also eliminated from the playoffs. This week, it’s the last six-game series at home as Rochester hosts Lehigh Valley.

Harrisburg Senators, 21-41, 6th place, 14½ GB (51-80 overall)
Harrisburg finishes the 2022 campaign with six in the Manchester not by the sea, a.k.a. New Hampshire. As noted in the comments, there may be some “promotions” this week to move up players from Wilmington and/or Rochester for further evaluation, a practice that was common when the NYPL would go a week longer than Low-A.

Fredericksburg Nationals, 42-22, 1st place, 7½ GA (75-55 overall)
The FredNats host their first playoff game since the franchise relocated from Woodbridge, having dominated in the second half despite promotions and because of the influx of new talent from the FCL and The Trade.

On paper, this looks to be a rout – the Carolina League’s top-scoring offense against a slightly better-than-average team batting and pitching. But with a best-of-three, the pressure is actually on Fredericksburg to win tonight because if they don’t, Lynchburg can return home with not one but two chances to win. That may not seem fair, but that’s the way it works – first-half winner gets HFA.

Should the FredNats win the Battle of the ‘Burgs, they’ll likely face a very tough opponent in the Riverdogs, which lost the first half by game despite winning 46 and won the second half by the same 7½-game margin. Charleston also has the top pitching staff, allowing nearly a full run less than the league average (4.32 vs. 5.01). Conversely, despite being 13 wins worse than the Riverdogs overall, the FredNats would get the benefit of being the home team in the Mills Cup Finals, thanks to the predetermined “North in the even years, South in the odd” playoff format.

10 Commments

  1. Totally agree with Luke’s earlier opinion that a best of 3 dimishes these playoffs when it should be best of 5.

    So. later today is when we find out if any of Wilmington’s players to Harrisburg? If it’s not done already it’s too late as this is the last week of AA.

    Luke, your tech staff needs more kibbles as tonight’s game is listed as an away and a home fame.

    2. Justin Connell, Onix Vega, and Amos Willingham all make some amount of sense to move up. Maybe Cody Wilson, too.

      Oh, and Zack Burdi, although I’m confused about what a 27-year-old with major league experience has been doing at High-A (for more than a month!) at all.

      1. Now with Jack Dunn moving up to Rochester, that opens the door for Paul Witt to get his third promotion of the season, if the Nats choose to go that route. Witt turns 25 in late October, so he needs to keep moving.

        1. Jack Dunn a nice development in Harrisburg this season with the outfield chorus in shambles .until
          The deadline ..

    1. The impatient fan in me wishes that Rutledge and Denaburg, as 1st round picks in 2018 and 2019, were already starting to contribute at the MLB level rather than pitching in the Carolina league playoffs. Hopefully their talent will eventually win out.

      1. That’s a kind way to put it re Rutledge and Denaburg. I do think there’s talent there, but whether the Nats have the staff to harness it, and whether those guys can stay healthy, will remain to be seen. I still have more hope for them than I do for Romero.

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