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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 12-8 vs. Durham, 6:05 p.m. Rutledge (1-0, 4.50) vs. E. Ramirez (2-1, 5.19)
Harrisburg Lost, 3-0 @ Bowie, 6:35 p.m. Saenz (0-3, 8.10) vs. TBD
Wilmington Lost, 12-0 vs. Greensboro, 11:05 a.m. TBD vs. TBD
Fredericksburg Lost, 6-2 @ Augusta, 7:05 p.m. Susana (0-5, 3.81) vs. TBD
FCL Nationals Won, 5-2 @ FCL Astros, 12 p.m.
DSL Nationals Lost, 1-0 vs. DSL Cardinals, 11 a.m.

Rochester 12 Durham 8
• Peralta 2IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K
• Machado (BS, 1) ⅔ IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 1K, HBP, WP
• R. Garcia 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 1-0 IR-S
• Hill 4-5, 3R, 2B, 2-3B, 5RBI
• Blankenhorn 2-4, 2R, BB, 2B(20), HR, 2RBI
• Millas 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI

Rochester rallied from a 5-3 deficit and blew an 8-5 lead before getting four in the 8th for a sportswriter’s win over Durham, 12-8. Wily Peralta got the start and went two innings, allowing one run on two hits, no walks, and striking out one. The win went to Rico Garcia, who got the last out of the 7th and threw a 1-2-3 eighth. Derek Hill’s second triple (and fourth hit) broke the 8-8 tie for two RBI and Travis Blankenhorn plated him with his 14th HR to put the game away. Jeter Downs and Drew Millas also went deep as the Red Wings gored the Bulls for 12 hits on the night.

Bowie 3 Harrisburg 0
• A. Hernandez (L, 2-5) 5IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 6K, HR, HBP
• Ruotolo 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Hassell 1-4, SB(10)
• Lipscomb 1-4

The Senators were shut out for the 8th time this seasn, 3-0 on two hits by the BaySox. The loss went to Alemao Hernandez with all three Bowie runs let in on six hits (one HR) and two walks while striking out six. Robert Hassell broke up the no-hit bid with a single in the 5th while Trey Lipscomb, the team’s DH, added the second hit with a single in the 9th. Brady House went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in his AA debut.

Greensboro 12 Wilmington 0
• Luckham (L, 2-2) 3⅔ IP, 6H, 5R, 5ER, 0BB, 2K, HBP, WP
• Donovan 2IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 2K
• V. Peña 2-3, BB
• Lile 1-3, BB, CS

Wilmington blocked two extra points while getting blanked for the seventh time, 12-0 on four hits. Greensboro hopped on Kyle Luckham for five runs on six hits over three and 2/3rds for his second loss. He walked none, hit a batter, and struck out two. Viandel Peña singled twice and walked once while Daylen Lile reached base twice with a single in the 1st and a walk in the 8th in his High-A debut.

Augusta 6 Fredericksburg 2
• L. Young (L, 1-4) 4IP, 8H, 5R, 5ER, 1BB, 3K, 3HR
• K. Rodriguez 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Thomas 2-4, 2R, 2B, 2K, 2SB
• Quintana 1-3, 2B

The force was not with Luke Young as the 21-y.o. was stung by the GreenJackets for four runs on three homers in a 6-2 FredNats loss. Young gave up five runs total on eight hits and a walk over four innings. He struck out three while taking his fourth loss. Johnathan Thomas scored both Fredericksburg runs while going 2-for-4 with a double and two stolen bases. Roismar Quintana also doubled while Blake Klassen singled to round out the FredNats hit column.



FCL Nationals 5 FCL Cardinals 2
• Leon 4IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 8K
• Guasch (W, 1-0) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Pineda 2-3, 2R, HR, RBI
• Ochoa Leyva 1-3, R, 2BB
• Ju. Garcia 1-3, 2RBI

The FCL Nationals were just 1-for-13 with RISP but took advantage of ten walks and four wild pitches to beat the FCL Cardinals, 5-2. Jefrem Leon tossed four no-hit frames with one walk and eight whiffs. Richard Guasch was the pitcher of record as he struck out the side in the 5th. Israel Pineda emerged from witness protection to single, homer, and score two runs while Juan Garcia drove in two with the aforementioned “1” of 13 to lead the F-Nats offense.

DSL Rockies 1 DSL Nationals 0
• Re. Ramirez (L, 0-1) 4IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 2K, BK, WP
• Oliveros 2IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• Acevedo 0-1, 2BB, CS
• Joaquin 0-0, 2BB

The D-Nats were no-hit, 1-0, with the deciding run scored on a two-out error in the 1st.

23 Commments

  1. 7 IP for a no no deserves an asterisk lol
    Oh ! Susana Wednesday .

  2. House at 3B, Lipscomb to DH. Something’s got to give there. Maybe they give Lipscomb a look at 2B or 1B?

    House was hitting well at A+, but his promotion after only 16 games there seems really aggressive, particularly with the struggles that Wood and Hassell have had at AA. We’ll see how it goes.

    With the House promotion, I do wonder whether they’re going to send Morales to Wilmington. Rizzo had said that Morales and Crews likely would go to F’burg because Wilmington isn’t a great hitters’ park.

    1. maybe they bump Lipscomb to Rochester once Alu get the call. I guess you have to figure out where Kieboom is in his rehab

      1. That’s my guess, but then why just not wait until Candelario is dealt? Given that both House and Lipscomb were promoted almost a month ago, it wouldn’t be stunting their development to play another week or so at their level. Either way, Jose Sanchez is at this stage a 3B, and can fill the void at 3B until Morales is ready.

        However, this could also signal that a Candelario deal is imminent?

  3. Catching up on signing news – I think most have probably read that our 2nd and 3rd round picks have both signed (for considerably over slot), but the article below confirms: (a) 11th rounder “punt” is going to college, unsurprisingly, and (b) Crews is expected to sign for slightly above slot and has a physical this week.

    My guess is that as soon as 2nd and 3rd rounders signed, 11th round was given a £150k take it or leave it offer…

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/07/17/nationals-draft-signings-yohandy-morales-travis-sykora/

    1. landing the top three alone made the draft a success thou Pickney has received some favorable reports. with the trade deadline approaching the other shoe is about to drop. I don’t expect any highly rated prospect(s) to come over but overall the final 45 days of the season could prove interesting

    2. I’m really puzzled if Adams, the 11th rounder, doesn’t sign. They had nearly a whole day to gauge his signing demands between draft day 1 and 2. It sounds like someone didn’t do the math right, thought they could sign one of the top 10 picks for $100k less than in reality, and then their unofficial deal with Adams for like $250k fell apart.

      Frankly, I’m amazed our 4th and 5th rounders, Pinckney and Brown, signed for what they did. Pinckney was a college senior. He better give his agent a huge bonus for not only managing to extract more than a 5 figure bonus, but for $500k!! The guy had no leverage still got a fantastic deal. Same for Brown, he signed for the slot value of an early 6th rounder, but wasn’t high on any draft watcher lists.

      1. draftees in rounds 1-10 still have the leverage of the Nats losing the entire slot value if they don’t sign them

      2. I had the same thought about Adams. The Nats had the first pick of the 3d day of the draft so had time to find out what guys’ demands were. They knew at that time how much they were going to have to come up with for Sykora and Morales. I see that three guys taken in the 11th round have already signed for $150, so there were guys to be had. Not a significant whiff by the Nats, but perhaps a missed opportunity.

      3. Pinckney was redshirt junior so he had one more season to leverage.

        But I agree that he and Brown signed for more than expected and that money would have been better spent on Adams. Why burn an 11th rounder on a player you can’t sign, especially, as Will says, they had a full day to talk with him to gauge his price.

        1. and maybe the kid changed his mind. a lot of speculation in the above so add this to the list

      4. Have you considered the possibility that the Nats drafted Adams in the 11th round as a fallback option if some of the other negotiations didn’t go the way that they planned? Knowing that, if the other negotiations went through (which they did), they wouldn’t be able to sign him?

        If looking to the 11th round pick is what it takes to get riled up about this draft, that speaks well of the draft IMNSHO.

        1. I’m not riled up. I’ve posted before and will post again that this was generally a very good draft for the Nats. Still, it’s weird to use your 11th rounder on a flyer, especially in a privileged position of drafting first. Back up plan picks are typically reserved for picks like the 19th (Ellwanger) and 20th rounds. As someone else pointed out there were still a bunch of very signable guys around at that point. Still, this matters little because they nailed their first 3 picks.

  4. Kirkie are you British or sinking an ale in
    UK?
    Lipscomb has played 2 b before memory serves right
    Let’s see what Brown and Glasser bring to the table

    1. Let’s see, Lipscomb has only played 3B as a pro. He appeared at 2B for one game in college. He made nine collegiate appearances at 1B, four at SS (plus six more in a summer league), and three in LF. Seems to have some super-utility possibilities.

      1. Unless one of the reasons that Lipscomb played so few games at those other positions was because he struggled at all other spots except 3B.

        Agree that the move to promote House was “aggressive”. Further agree that the more logical path would’ve been to wait until Candelario was traded and Alu promoted. Seems like the jump from High A to AA is the toughest for most prospects. Even James Wood has taken time to adjust to stepping up from A+ to AA.

        Appears to be a growing possibility that Wood, House and Crews all make their MLB debuts sometime in 2024.

    2. British born and bred (but with Canadian family – hence a fan of the Expos from the old days!) 😉

  5. Yet another day of WIlmington getting atrocious pitching and yet another day of Jake Bennett being nowhere to be found.

    Since being drafted a year ago, Bennett has thrown a grand total of 56 innings, all of them this year. (He threw 117 as a Junior at OU so shutting him down last season made some sense.)

    Since being promoted to Wilmington in early June, he’s thrown 14 innings, none since June 24. I understand being careful, but this is kinda ridiculous. Unless he’s hurt…

  6. My apologies if this has been posted here already (I haven’t seen it) but per MLB Pipeline’s draft tracker, the Nats have now signed 12th rounder Travis Sthele (RHP, Texas), 14th rounder Elijah Nunez (OF, TCU), 15th rounder Mikey Tepper (RHP, Liberty) and 16th rounder Austin Amaral (RHP, Stetson).

    Like previously signed 13th rounder Liam Sullivan (LHP, Georgia), all of them are juniors who gave up their final season of college eligibility and signed for 150K.

    1. It’s not the signing announcement we were hoping for, but it’s not nothing.

      This leaves as unsigned Crews; 11th rounder Gavin Adams who already said he’s going back to school; 17th rounder Merrick Baldo (RHP, Loyola Marymount) and 18th rounder Rombach (C, Dallas Baptist), both seniors; 19th rounder James Ellwanger (RHP, HS), who has already said he’s going to go to college because there’s no pool money left to entice him to sign; and 20th rounder Isaac Ayon (RHP, Oregon).

      Ayon is an interesting one to watch. He was supposed to be OU’s Friday night starter, which is not insignificant for a big program like the Ducks, but didn’t pitch this season because of injuries. He may go back to school in hopes of moving into the Top 10 of the draft and getting a much bigger bonus, but if Rizzo & Co. can convince him to sign for 150K, it might turn out to be a steal.

    2. In an interview yesterday Rizzo said that the reason that Bennett hasn’t pitched since June 24 is that it was a planned move as they are closely monitoring his innings this season.

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