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AFL/Offseason Update: Nov. 12, 2022

A three-run 7th by the Desert Dogs proved to be the difference as Glendale defeated Peoria, 6-3 to end the Javelinas season.

Drew Millas was the sole National to appear in the game. He was the Peoria DH, batted fourth, and went 0-for-4, finishing the Fall with a .269/.313/.433 line.

This is the first time since 2016 that the Nationals’ contingent did not play in the AFL Championship game.

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2022 ROCHESTER RED WINGS

One of the advantages of the six-game series, almost-always-off-on-Monday schedule is that it makes it very easy to look back and figure out when the worm turned. And boy did it turn for the 2022 Rochester Red Wings.

After Memorial Day weekend, the Red Wings were 35-19, 3½ games ahead. By July 4th, they were 41-38. Come Labor Day, Rochester sank to 8th place in the I.L. East, which is where they would finish – 67-81, 18 games off the pace and just 3½ games ahead of 9th-place Syracuse.

Obviously, it’s not about winning in the minors, but even Stevie Wonder can see that the Nats view AAA as a taxi squad for the majors. It’s been six years since there’s been more than one prospect play significant time at AAA and eight years since they’ve fielded a winning team. Perhaps next year might be better, if Robert Hassell recovers from his injury and isn’t rushed to D.C.

But mostly that will depend on which free agents the Nationals populate the team with, and that’s not a priority for the big club. Guys they can move on and off the 40-man roster with ease seems to be the norm, if not the goal.

For the third straight season played, it’s a list of one:

1. Cade Cavalli – 6-4, 0SV; 20GS, 3.71/3.25/1.18, 9.65 K/9IP, 3.62 BB/9IP

If Cavalli is healthy [pause for laughter] he’ll spend most of 2023 in D.C., so my apologies in advance if I overlook or downplay him this offseason.

Folks interested in seeing the 2022 Red Wing Stats can find them here. Pitching data can be found here

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FREE AGENTS

On Thursday, minor-league free agency began. Here are some of the notable Nats minor-leaguers who have elected free agency:

  • RHPs – Andrew Lee, Steven Fuentes
  • LHPs – Gilberto Chu, Francisco Perez
  • C – Taylor Gushue
  • IFs – Gilbert Lara, Adrián Sanchez
  • OFs – Nick Banks, Andrew Stevenson, Daniel Johnson

As noted in the past, some of these guys will re-sign but most will not.

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Sad-Spickles With the end of the Nationals’ involvement in the Arizona Fall League, we are officially into the 2022-23 offseason. Somehow, I’ve been doing this for 12 seasons (13 years) and have been fortunate to have Lee provide us with his photographs for the past ten AFL seasons.

13 Commments

  1. Thank you Luke. You remain my favorite editor/journalist I’ve worked with. Your humor, professionalism and appreciation for the offbeat images makes that so.
    It’s ironic that this was the first season I can remember the Nats contingent not playing a more prominent role for their team and they didn’t make the playoffs.
    I also want to thank your readers for their continued support and kind words. I hope Mr. Phil Rizzo’s son can get things straightened out so the Nats can get back to some winning ways. They definitely need a lot of help.
    Be well all. I look forward to next Fall League and hope I can continue being a part of the coverage.

  3. I fancy myself a pretty good photographer but the best I could do would be as good as Lee.

    If Adrian Sanchez does not play anymore than the Nats should be hiring him as a coach.

    1. Thank you. Happy shooting. Once I figured out it was lens cap off, camera on and keep my fingers away from the front of the lens the rest was easy…..

  4. Here are the Peoria stats, although they don’t seem to reflect the playoff game:

    https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=e4afe2e9

    Our AFL excitement over Hassell, and maybe Frizzell and Baker, turned into a huge nothing-burger. Sigh. Millas’s regular-season numbers temper much excitement that we might be able to work up about his AFL performance. The massive Ribalta was quietly very good after promotion to A+, so there’s more reason to believe in his AFL numbers. He and Millas both will turn 25 before the start of next season. As with many others, the lost COVID season has the age clock ticking faster on them. Both will be candidates to be added to the Nats’ 40-man this week ahead of the Rule 5 deadline.

  5. Several long-long-time names among the minor-league free agents. Some will probably stick around, but maybe others will get the chance they need in another organization. For two or three, the phone may not ring.

  6. Late to the party, but a big thanks again to you Luke for yet another season of coverage! It’s essential morning reading, so the next few months are going to be dull with no box scores and summaries to wake up to. But it’s a much needed break for this farm system with well over half of our top prospects currently on the shelf with injuries. I can’t remember a time when we’ve experienced so many injuries to our best players at one moment.

    In other somewhat related news, the Nationals are recruiting a biomechanist: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/job-posting-washington-nationals-biomechanist/. As a regular reading of FanGraphs, I don’t remember the Nationals ever hiring anyone besides Interns that made it onto FanGraphs, so better late than never. I don’t remember the Nats ever having this position before, so it seems like another piece of the bigger puzzle of developing a proper player development set up. Hope it can start yielding benefits immediately! We’re gonna need it.

  7. Seth Romero was arrested AGAIN for DWI this weekend and the Nats have finally released the ‘Knucklehead’.

    About time the Nats admit a stupid draft pick.

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