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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 3-1 @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:35 p.m. Javier (0-0, 10.38) vs. Spence (1-2, 7.97)
Harrisburg Postponed @ New Hampshire, 11:05 a.m. Rutledge (1-1, 4.57) vs.
Tiedemann (0-0, 5.00) Schultz (0-2, 4.08)
Wilmington Won, 5-2 @ Hudson Valley, 6:05 p.m. Alvarez (1-1, 4.30) vs. Aguilar (1-0, 4.50)
Fredericksburg Won, 4-3 vs. Down East, 7:05 p.m. Susana (0-1, 4.66) vs. vs. Le. Lopez (2-1, 4.82)

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 3 Rochester 1
• Adon (L, 1-3) 6IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 4K
• Moreno 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 0K, PO @ 1B
• Alu 2-4, 2B
• Plawecki 1-3, BB, RBI

Joan Adon turned in his first quality start of the season but was rewarded with his third loss as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre downed Rochester, 3-1 in the series opener. Adon gave up two runs in the 1st then, um, got on track against the RailRiders for five shutout frames. He allowed six hits and one walk and struck out four. The Red Wings marched to a seven-hit parade, led by Jake Alu with a single and a double. Kevin Plawecki drove in the sole run with an RBI single in the 2nd. Roster moves: RHP Tyler Danish assigned from Washington (MLFA); C Ivan Murzi activated from Developmental List and reassigned from Wilmington.

Harrisburg vs. New Hampshire – PPD
The Senators got an extra day off for the second time this week due to the rain. They’ll try to make it up tomorrow with a twi-night doubleheader. Roster moves: Robert Hassell activated from the 7-Day I.L.; RHP Richard Guasch placed on the 7-Day I.L.

Wilmington 5 Hudson Valley 2
• Huff (W, 2-1) 6IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 2K
• Pogue (H, 2) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• J. Young 2-3, R, BB, 2B, RBI, 2SB(11)
• Lipscomb 1-3, R, BB, HR, 2RBI
• Vega 1-3, R, BB, RBI, SB

Wilmington came out of the gates strong, scoring four in the 1st and one more in the 2nd as they won their third straight, 5-2 against Hudson Valley. Chance Huff recorded his first career quality start, letting both Renegades runs on three hits and a walk. He fanned two will winning his second game. Nick Pogue (2IP) and Jack Sinclair (1IP) combined for three scoreless to earn the hold and save, respectively. Jacob Young singled, walked, doubled, and swiped two bases while Trey Lipscomb hit a two-run HR to power the Blue Rocks offense, which scored five times on just five hits with the help of… wait for it… five stolen bases.

Fredericksburg 4 Down East 3
• Bennett 6IP, 6H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 8K
• Yankosky (W, 1-0) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Thomas 2-5, 2RBI, CS
• Cox 2-3, R, BB, HR, RBI

The FredNats rallied for two in the 8th and two in the 9th to erase a 3-0 deficit and take the opener, 4-3 from the Wood Ducks. Jake Bennett went six innings for the first time as a pro and gave up two runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk while striking out eight. The win went to Tyler Yankosky, who worked around a one-out triple with a pair of strikeouts in the top of the 9th. Johnathan Pettigrew walked them off with a dying quail to shallow left field with the bases loaded and one out in the 9th for the game-winner. Brenner Cox reached base three times with a single, walk, and a home run to power the Fredericksburg offense.

17 Commments

  1. It’s pretty funny how we went from having too many catchers in the system in 2021 to being in a catching crisis at the moment. Remember when we had Barrera, Reetz, Read, Adams, Swihart, Dunlap, Lindsly, and Berrios available to catch just in Harrisburg and Rochester?

    Now poor Ivan Murzi, who hasn’t played above Rookie ball in the FCL, is being forced to catch in AAA (like Onix Vega earlier in the season). Paul Witt, a utility infielder who never caught a game in college or the minors, is now being forced to catch in Fburg to pretty disastrous results (recently allowed 9 SBs in a single game).

    Then the one catcher that is hitting in the system, Drew Millas, is struggling to get regular starts. He’s played in only 13 of Harrisburg’s 21 games this season. I understand the need to not overwork your catcher, but resting him 40% of games is needlessly cautious. Why not DH him on those off days? He’s sporting a Ruthian 1.071 OPS at the moment.

    Though there may be fewer opportunities for Millas to DH with Hassell finally ending the longest rehab ever and rejoining the Senators.

    Jacob Young is very quietly having perhaps the best start to the season among our wealth of OF prospects, batting .310/.369/.414 in Wilmington. Young turns 24 in 2 months, so I’d hope they’ll be a bit more aggressive with him than, say, James Wood (who’s 3 years younger).

    Finally, on a similar note, Jake Bennett seems to have little to prove in Fredericksburg. For a polished college pick in the 2nd round, he’s too good to still be in low A.

    1. Well, Paul Skenes used to be a catcher. Maybe he can pull double duty on the days he’s not pitching (NOT!). He caught 18 games at Air Force in 2021 and 12 in 2022. Crazy. He also had 24 homers across those two seasons.

      1. Davey Martinez on 1988 Expos who benefited from a revitalized
        Pasquel Perez under Buck Rodgers ( pitching coach Larry Bearnearth ) age 31 .
        Jose Urena age 31 just signed to kick the tires on .
        Ureba wA something for Marlins six years ago .

    2. Too bad Mike Coffey isn’t pitching anymore to pickup to go with Danish . Arrrr arrrr ( Robin Williams voice )
      Adon QS even more QS since it was AAA Yanx lineup . Bravo , Joan !

    3. Plaweki hitting some speaking of catching
      Kieboom and Hassell might be a nice addition to the Sens
      LeCroy has a decision to make for that starter today

      1. I would much rather see Adams playing every day in AAA then part time in DC. still not sure he’s a capable backup as he’s only hit .258 in his minor league career. better chance of finding something playing more

  2. Richard Guasch was injured last week. He entered the game in relief and hurt himself tossing his warmup pitches. It appeared to be his lower back.

  3. One last comment: is Nick Pogue the most underrated arm in the system? An undrafted FA, he has still not allowed a single earned run in his minor league career. He’s up 17.2 IP now split between this season and last, with equally strong other stats: 0.57 WHIP, 18 K and only 1 BB.

    While maybe Pogue could use a little more seasoning in Wilmington, having skipped Fburg altogether. I think a bullpen carousel may be coming soon, but it’s disappointing to see Guasch go down to injury yet again. He was looking revitalized this season.

    1. he’s a big kid who doesn’t appear to throw very hard but has 3-4 pitches that he can control. missed a year at FL due to (wait for it) TJ surgery. looks like a classic long/middle reliever though he did start for the Gators.

  4. word on the street is that Irvin is getting the start in DC tonight. good luck young man!

    1. Wow. That seems rushed a bit for Irvin, albeit not as rushed as what they did to Adon. I promise not to jinx him by saying that Kuhl is a low bar to be better than.

      (Looks at stats.) In his five AAA starts, Irvin has a 5.64, 1.52 FIP, and is surrendering 9.3 hit and 4.4 walks per nine innings. Fingers crossed, but it’s very hard to look at those stats and say “he looks ready.”

      1. It is a strange one. Having apparently broken Adon last year, I’d have figured they’d have stuck with him, especially because Adon himself has been superior to Irvin in Rochester this season. But for whatever reason they didn’t pull Adon from his start, so here we are…

    3. Taking to the Streets , Fred MD!
      Listen to the Doctor ( Doobie Bros !)

  5. On the Nats Chat podcast this morning, in the discussion about tonight’s MLB debut Jake Irvin, it was mentioned that the last Nats’ prospect to win his first MLB start was… Stephen Strasburg almost 13 years ago.

    While acknowledging that getting a win is not the most accurate stat to determine the quality of a start (e.g., Joan Adon had a great MLB debut against the Red Sox in a game which the Nats’ lost late — something Davey massively overrated), pretty telling and sad that 34 year-old Stephen Strasburg is the last Nat to get a win in his MLB debut. Another sign that the organization has not developed talent.

    1. Yes, that’s a staggering detail. But let’s also note that there hasn’t been a Nat home-grown pitching prospect who has been a solid MLB starter since, um, Mr. Strasburg. Ross before injury was very good, but he wasn’t home grown. Fedde has a career 5.41 ERA. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any others who have even made 25 starts for the Nats.

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