Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 18-10 | vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:45 p.m. | Peralta (1-4, 5.48) vs. Vasquez (1-6, 5.13) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 7-3 | vs. Erie, 6:30 p.m. | Troop (3-4, 4.66) vs. Madden (0-1, 4.35) |
| Wilmington | Won, 7-0 | vs. Jersey Shore, 6:35 p.m. | TBD vs. Osterberg (2-3, 3.98) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 6-4 | @ Myrtle Beach, 7:05 p.m. | Caceres (3-0, 5.31) vs. Arias (1-4, 3.03) |
| FCL Nationals | Tied, 5-5 | @ FCL Mets, 11 a.m. | |
| DSL Nationals | Lost, 3-0 | OFF DAY |
Rochester 18 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 10
• Banda 2⅓ IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 3K
• T. Romero (W, 3-3) 3IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 2K, HBP, WP
• Noll 4-4, 3R, 2B, 2RBI, E
• Robles 3-3, 4R, 2B, 2HR, 5RBI
• Alu 2-5, 4R, HR(GS), 4RBI, SB
• F. Reyes 2-5, R, 2B
No word on when Rochester will be holding tryouts for a new placekicker after three missed extra points in an 18-10 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Victor Robles avoided his eponym and instead racked up 10 total bases on two HRs and a double, driving in five, while the two Jakes combined for six hits, six RBI, and seven runs scored as the Red Wings collected 16 hits and drew six walks. Anthony Banda made his second start, throwing in-game B.P. for four runs on five hits and two walks over two and a 1/3rd innings. Tommy Romero was awarded the win despite two runs allowed over three innings, though in the official scorer’s defense, the only two effective relievers pitched the 8th and 9th innings, which earned Amos Willingham his second hold and Gerson Moreno a mention in this space.
Erie 7 Harrisburg 3
• Ale. Hernandez (L, 1-2) 6IP, 9H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 2K, HR, HBP, WP
• Lee 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 2-0 IR-S
• Lipscomb 1-3, R, BB, HR, RBI
• Casey, 1-4, RBI, SB
Malvin Peña got dinged twice for the longball in the 8th to turn a 4-3 deficit into the eventual 7-3 loss for the Senators. The “L” went to Alemao Hernandez, who let in the aforementioned four runs on nine hits over six innings. He walked non and struck out two. Three of the four Senators hits came in the fourth, as J.T. Arruda and Blake Rutherford had back-to-back singles to open the frame. The SeaWolves tried to catch Rutherford straying off second base and threw it away, enabling Arruda to score and Rutherford to take third. Donovan Casey sent in Rutherford on a single. Trey Lipscomb accounted for the third run and the fourth hit with a solo HR, his first at AA.
Wilmington 7 Jersey Shore 0
• Alvarez (W, 4-1) 5IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 2K, HBP
• Zinn 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 3K, WP
• Jo. Sánchez 3-4, 3R, 2B, RBI
• Frizzell 2-5, R, 2B, 2RBI
• McKenzie 2-5, 2B
Five Wilmington pitchers combined to shut out Jersey Shore, 7-0 on four hits. Andrew Alvarez went the first five with two hits, one Robles, one walk, and two whiffs to win his fourth game. Jaren Zinn, Carlos Romero, Marlon Perez, and Todd Peterson each put up a goose egg, allowing two hits and four walks while striking out five. José Sánchez led the Blue Rocks’ 14-hit parade with a double and two singles while Will Frizzell, Jared McKenzie, and Brady House each went 2-for-5, with Frizzell driving in two and House stealing a base.
Fredericksburg 6 Myrtle Beach 4
• Lord 4IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 1K, HBP
• M. Gomez (W, 5-4) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Grissom (SV, 2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 1K
• Lile 2-4, R, BB, 3B, 2RBI, SB
• Ge. Diaz 1-3, BB
• Thomas 1-4, R, BB, HR, 2K
Daylen Lile’s two-run triple highlighted a four-run 3rd as the FredNats took the opener from the Pelicans, 6-4. Brad Lord got the start and muddled through four innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks while hitting a batter. Miguel Gomez picked up the “W” with two scoreless innings while Marquis Grissom Jr. worked around a two-out single for his second save. Lile also singled, walked, and scored a run while Johnathan Thomas and Paul Witt both hit solo HRs to power the Frederickburg offense.
FCL Mets 5 FCL Nationals 5 – SUSP.
• Ogando ⅓ IP, 3H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 0K
• Dyson 2IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 3K
• Mojica 1-2, R, 2B, 2RBI
• Cox 1-3, 2R, BB, SB
• Klassen 1-2, SF, 2RBI
Rain suspended play in the bottom of the 7th as the FCL Nationals were hoping to effect the third and final lead change. The FCL Mets jumped on starter Adrian Ogando for four runs in the 1st. The F-Nats got one run back in the 1st and four more in the 2nd to take a 5-4 lead. The F-Mets tied it up against Jose Ulloa in the 3rd. Neither team scored over the next three and a 1/2 innings. They’ll complete the game today in Port St. Lucie, then play ther regularly scheduled game afterwards.
DSL Angels 3 DSL Nationals 0
• D. Perez 2IP, 0H, 0R, 3BB, 4K
• Familia (L, 0-2) 3BF, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 0K
• L. Acevedo 3IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 4K
• E. Soto 1-3, BB
• D. Tejeda 0-2, BB, CS
That’s seven straight losses for the D-Nats.
I missed Willingham’s activation, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him back in action! His sparkling 1.00 ERA this season has played him into contention for a big league cup of coffee later in the season, which is pretty impressive, as he’s really set himself apart from the other batch of Wilmington’s very good arms last season, who are all still in Harrisburg or (in Alvarez’s case) Wilmington. Speaking of home, Alvarez dropped his ERA to 2.65. He has to be nearing a promotion, as he’s the last of the bunch still stuck in A+.
I remain highly impressed with Jaren Zinn. He was an undrafted FA, and for good reason. He had a career college ERA of 7.96. Give whoever saw some potential there a raise, because he’s now sporting a 2.60 ERA and allowed only 8 hits in 17.1 IP. His control needs to be worked on (16 BB in that time). But for his background, he’s already been a success.
Keeping the Wilmington story alive, Will Frizzell keep hitting well. He’s batting .307/.453/.493 in 22 games in A+. That’s coincidentally the exact same number of games he played in Harrisburg, where he hit only .155/.302/.225, which makes his season so far a bit of a mixed bag. If he keeps this up, I wonder how long it’ll be before the Nats give him another shot. If someone thought he could handle AA in April, it shouldn’t take too much convincing again, especially with an OPS just shy of 1.000.
Jared Zinn makes Nuke Laloosh look like Greg Maddux. live arms are worth a look but walking a batter in every inning won’t play at higher levels
Seven games to forget for the DSL Nats. The team is currently batting .168/.283/.191, which is .130 OPS points lower than the next worst team (of 50 total teams. The Nats remains one of an increasingly rare group of teams to not field two DSL teams).
As best as I can gather, the guys to watch are:
Andy Acevedo, OF: .111/.172/.111
Dashyll Tejeda, OF: .177/.333/.177
Carlos Batista, OF: .438/.471/.625
Edwin Solano, C: .067/.250/.067
Elian Soto (if only because of his pedigree), 1B/corner OF: .227/.346/.273 worrying 12 K in 26 PA
So at least unlike previous years there should be more than 1 or 2 hitters to watch, but it’s been a slow start.
Very young DSL
Add Tavares the NY kid at first base to watch list to watch follows
Pray upon
I assume that Wilmington now has cameras since their Facebook post says “Undefeated on MiLB.TV at home!”
Totally football scores for Rochester, Harrisburg, and Wilmington. Darren Baker is about the size of a kicker, so maybe he can handle extra-point duty when he comes back.
your assumption is correct! early report shows pretty good quality and production. just in time for House and Bennett scouting as well as a look at Dyson once his rehab wraps
I echo what Will says about Frizzell, he has mastered High A and should be more ready for AA this time.
I’m one of the early members of the T. J. White fan club, but man, at .159/.276/.276, he may need to step down and regroup. He’s only 19, so there’s still plenty of time.
On the fan club flipside, Alu has 13 hits in his last 8 games and really seems to be finding his groove. Should we read anything into the fact that he filled in at SS last night when Mejia went out? If they would deem Alu as “SS-capable,” it certainly would increase his MLB utility viability.
Good catch on the Alu at SS thing. However, I wouldn’t read into it. Alu has never played SS, in the minors or college, before last night. And given he didn’t start there, it feels more like an emergency move than intentional. But what happened to Richie Martin? Is he also injured?
Still, Alu is still doing Alu things. Since his “demotion” he’s hitting .293/.344/.476 in AAA. I really hope we can find a way to give him a string of starts in DC at some point, because those 2 stints and 4 games wasn’t a fair shake, and with him capable at 2B, 3B and LF (and presumably RF if his arm is good enough to play 3B), it shouldn’t be hard to find time for him. But maybe we’ll have to trade Candelario before the dominoes fall into place. I just fear Kieboom’s pedigree will beat out Alu’s results.
Onix Vega is quietly doing very well after his promotion to Harrisburg, hitting at a .950 OPS rate.
Catching depth is a strength now for the Nats, and this is with Israel Pineda being out all year so far.
Is it fair to say that the Nats have either reduced their commitment to the DR or at least aren’t keeping pace? The 0-7 start in the DSL is not particularly significant (FWIW, you would think that the MLB teams fielding one team might have an edge because all of their top young international players would be on one team instead of split onto two teams), but add in the fact that the Nationals are one of the few MLB teams with just one DSL entity, and it seems like a sign that the Nats are less invested in developing DR/Latin talent right now. Would be shame as the Nats previously touted the DR Nats Academy as a key component of franchise building.
Still no Jake Bennett siting. When do we start to worry?
Willingham has to be in town sooner rather than later they way he’s pitching.
Promote Blake Rutherford, dammit! (And have him learn 1B, too.)