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Monday’s News & Notes

Crews to Skip High-A for AA; Morales, Pinckney Bumped to Wilmington

Both hands on the keyboard – according to multiple online reports, the Nats’ #1 prospect is headed to Harrisburg. Meanwhile, Yohandy Morales (#7) and Andrew Pinckney (#20) will be decamping for Wilmington.

Longtime readers will recall that this has happened twice before, infamously in 2011 with Bryce Harper, then the next summer with Brian Goodwin.

As many have noted in the comments previously (and repeatedly), Crews probably should have started the season in Wilmington anyway. But with the Blue Rocks on the road the past two weeks, it’s possible if not probable that the Nats preferred to have him closer to home to evaluate and acclimate him.

Meanwhile, Morales and Pinckney should add some juice to a lineup that’s dead last in the Sally Lg. on offense, joining Daylen Lile and Jeremy De La Rosa, and displacing Yasel Antuna at the very least and perhaps sending Jared McKenzie back to Fredericksburg.

Corresponding moves have not yet been made, and given the Nats’ history of roster shenanigans, it would not be a surprise to see one or two sent to the I.L. with a case of the Hellenic Flu.

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 5-1 OFF DAY N/A
Harrisburg Lost, 6-4 OFF DAY N/A
Wilmington Won, 4-3 OFF DAY N/A
Fredericksburg Won, 7-0 OFF DAY N/A
FCL Nationals OFF DAY vs. FCL Cardinals, 10 a.m.
DSL Nationals OFF DAY vs. DSL Miami, 10 a.m.

Buffalo 5 Rochester 1
• T. Romero (L, 4-5) 2⅔ IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 2K, HR
• Banda 2⅓ IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 2K, 2-0 IR-S
• Mengden ⅓ IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 0K
• Blankenhorn 2-4, R, 3B, OF assist @ 3B
• Noll 0-2, HBP, SF, RBI

Rochester dropped its fourth straight to Buffalo, 5-1 and lost the series, 4-1. Tommy Romero got the start and the loss as he gave up two runs on five hits (one HR) and two walks over two and 2/3rds innings. The Red Wings were no-hit… except for Travis Blankenhorn, who singled in the 1st and tripled in the 4th. Jake Noll ended the shutout with a sac fly in the 4th to send in Blankenhorn and account for the 0-1 mark with RISP. Roster moves: IF Careter Kieboom recalled to Washington; RHP Cory Abbott optioned from Washington.

Richmond 6 Harrisburg 4
• Cuevas (L, 2-6) 1IP, 4H, 5R, 5ER, 0BB, 0K, HR, HBP
• Sinclair 2⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 4K, WP, PO @ 1B
• Lipscomb 2-4, R, BB, HR, 2RBI
• Vega 2-3, BB

The Flying Squirrels went, um, nuts on Michael Cuevas for a five-run 1st and held off the Sens to win the game, 6-4, and take the series, 5-1. Cuevas gave up four hits, including a three-run HR, and did not strike out a batter (though he hit one). He threw 33 pitches, 21 for strikes. Harrisburg got single runs on groundouts in the 1st and 4th before Trey Lipscomb hit a two-run HR in the 7th. The Senators were unable to capitalize on eight walks drawn and were a woeful 1-for-13 with RISP with 12 runners left on base.

Wilmington 4 Aberdeen 3
• Luckham (W, 4-6) 5IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 2BB, 5K
• M. Perez (SV, 2) 2IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K
• Stehly 3-5, 2B, SB
• V. Peña 2-4, 2RBI
• Antuna 2-4, 2RBI

It was another one-run game between Wilmington and Aberdeen, but the Blue Rocks were able to hold on for a 4-3 win. They lost the series, 4-2. Kyle Luckham picked up his fourth win with five innings of one-run ball on two hits and two walks while striking out five. Chance Huff and Marlon Perez both gave up a run over two innings, but that was good enough to get the hold and the save, respectively. Murphy Stehly led the Wilmington hit column with two single and a double, followed by Yasel Antuna and Viandel Peña, who both went 2-for-4 with two RBI.


• Sullivan 3IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 6K
• Amaral (W, 1-1) 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 7K
• Morales 3-5, 2B(10), 3RBI
• Quintana 2-3, R, BB
• Nuñez 2-4, 2R, BB, RBI, SB

Five FredNats pitchers combined to shut out the GreenJackets, 7-0 on one-hit and secure a 5-1 series win. Starter Liam Sullivan no-hit Augusta for three innings with one walk allowed and six strikeouts. Austin Amaral picked up the win but lost the no-no with a single in the 5th as he one-upped Sullivan with seven whiffs over three innings. Orlando Ribalta and Mike Tepper picked up holds while putting up a goose egg each while Marquis Grissom Jr. worked a 1-2-3 ninth while fanning two for nos. 15 & 16 on the afternoon. Yohandy Morales drove in another three runs while going 3-for-5 with his 10th double while Roismar Quintana and Elijah Nuñez both singled twice and walked once to power the Fredericksburg offense.



FCL Nationals 23-25, 5th Place FCL East, 7½ GB
The FCL Nationals bullpen twice blew winnable games that ended any chance of finishing higher than 5th and seriously damaged their chances of even finishing at .500. The short season ends tomorrow on a short week of two games, with a handful of players expected to make the jump to Low-A (see above).

DSL Nationals, 10-39, 9th place DSL South, 29½ GB
It’s almost over.

29 Commments

  1. It’s both a surprise and not to see Crews get a promotion. I would have thought that he’d get sent to Wilmington first, even if for only a week or so, like Brady House. But as I mentioned before, we always have to have one pariah affiliate that management will keep the stars away from. At various times it’s been Potomac and Hagerstown. Now Wilmington gets that distinction.

    At least Blue Rockers will get to see Morales, who’s gone toe-to-toe with Crews offensively. Pinckney, at age 22, should also see a rapid rise, especially if he keeps posting a .947 OPS.

    I agree and don’t think we’re done with the movement yet. The FCL Nats season ends, and there’s a bunch of guys there that would benefit from another month of play, which can be broken into basically three groups.
    Lower-rated recently (un)drafted college guys:
    Phillip Glasser SS: .278/.426/.389
    Blake Klassen 1B: .339/.481/.597 (though he blew his first chance earlier in the season)
    Brandon Pimentel 1B: .406/.500/.688

    HS/young IFAs:
    Cristhian Vaquero OF: .279/.410/.393
    Everett Cooper 2B: .373/.460/.400
    Jorgelys Mota 3B: .325/.406/.470
    Nathaniel Ochoa Leyva INF (plays everywhere actually): .290/.371/.366

    “Rehabbing”:
    Elijah Green OF: .350/.500/.650

    I think the first group is more likely to get a promotion because of their advanced age, and Green too, just because of his hype. But the biggest obstacle will be how to find the playing time for everyone. It’s why I think we may see more liberal use of the Development List, or possibly a couple more promotions to Wilmington.

    In Fredericksburg, Elijah Nunez is looking like a Jacob Young clone, batting .360/.469/.380 with 10 SB in 14 G. Wilmington’s OF is dire, with Antuna, McKenzie and (less often) TJ White struggling mightily. Lile and de la Rosa haven’t been good either, but should keep their starting jobs. Roismar Quintana is also worthy of a promotion, batting .355/.484/.438 over the past almost 2 months, after a terrible start.

    My guess is one of Nunez or Quintana get promoted to A+, to make room for Green, who ends his “rehab” and goes back to Fburg, and Klassen and Glasser (and maybe Pimentel) get promotions too to replace Morales and add some offense to the Fburg Nats’ suddenly much weaker line up.

    1. Pimentel was primarily a LF’er in college so maybe Quintana finishes the season in Fburg, he’s only 20 so no need to (potentially) flatten a good ending to his first season at 1B

    2. Hey Will – just want to think you for the time and effort you put in to comments like these. Really brings some of these prospects to life and adds an incredible amount of context.

      2. That’s really kind of you to say. And I thought the only thing my comments elicited was eye rolls calling for X prospect to be promoted 😉

  2. Perhaps the caveat to the season for the
    Rebuild will be seeing Vaquero land in Fred but since we are used to behavior which can only be explained in August with the two full moons especially the Sturgeon blue moon upcoming Fred may just see McKenzie and Antuna
    Slipped there .
    Perhaps there is something special in Dawg Sullivan joining the collection of looney and non looney left handers on the farm .
    Yes , computer system I am human
    Lol!

    1. Sullivan had’em waving at his off speed stuff. Amaral equally as sharp and a couple of ticks quicker, he’s pretty slow to the plate with that delivery, both will probably be hurling for the Rocks in ’24.

  3. Agree with Will that Crews going straight to Harrisburg makes Wilmington officially a ‘Pariah’ affiliate.

    Potomac was that for years because of the terrible playing conditions and now Wilmington because of its slump inducing stadium.

    Keith Law wrote this morning that this was a slap in the face to the Wilmington owners.

    1. Take a look at when the last story was posted on Blue Rocks’ site. Or listen to one of Wilmington’s MiLB.tv broadcasts. Then tell me how the Nats’ front office is disrespecting a team that does nothing to promote the players or the organization.

      1. do you think there’s any chance they move the FNats back to A+ and move low A to Frederick? or do they even have any say in this?

        1. Perhaps in 2031 when the PDLs come up for renewal, but affiliates no longer negotiate with individual organizations but MLB as a whole. Another possibility for a team to get dropped is failing to meet facility standards, but I haven’t seen anything about this from his highness at Ballpark Digest since the takeover. I suspect it’ll be status quo for at least least another 5-6 seasons until MLB decides it wants to exert pressure. Also, we haven’t seen much in terms of the unionization of the minors, which is another factor to consider.

      2. Hahahaha, August 6th! Did they just lay off the entire media team?? They seem to have been doing daily updates before then.

        1. What media team? As best as I can tell, it’s been interns or relatives of the owners. If it’s the former, then it would appear they’ve gone back to (high) school; if it’s the latter, maybe this was their week for the timeshare?

          Either way, it’s embarrassing and yet not unusual — Aberdeen still operates as if it’s still in the NYPL (zero coverage when the team is away). IIRC, same for Jersey Shore.

  4. Lost in all the Crews hype is Jacob Young getting a much-deserved promotion to AAA. Not sure where he fits long-term in the organization but if he keeps grinding like this, he’ll play somewhere.

    1. they have given him more ABs than anyone else the last two years. they must see something but there’s so much more pizazz in his way, he may be the second coming of Andrew Stevenson

  5. When does the affiliate agreement expire? If the Nats are unhappy with Wilmington, to the point where they are intentionally avoiding putting players there, they should seek arrangements elsewhere.

    I’d also like to see them have their AAA team a tad closer to DC, but that may not be a realistic goal.

  7. From Keith Law:

    “I don’t see much reason to jump Crews two levels already, although I infer from the move that they’re at least considering having him see the majors this year (otherwise it makes absolutely no sense). If Crews is coming to the majors in 2023, which I could justify from a baseball perspective and also view cynically from a job-preservation perspective, then getting him to Double A now makes that much easier, assuming he produces there, and allows time for an interim assignment to Triple A (which runs another two weeks past other minor-league levels in September).

    “There’s a Peter Principle at work in prospect promotions — you can never actually know if a player is ready for the next level until he goes there, so players get moved up until they fail. Going level by level in a player’s first pro summer minimizes risk with no real loss of upside.”

    And yes, he does some whining about Wilmington being skipped. For those with an Athletic subscription: https://theathletic.com/4791924/2023/08/20/dylan-crews-nationals-double-a/

    1. The thing that really doesn’t make sense is starting Crews at A instead of A+. If they had, then promotion already to AA would make perfect sense. Despite what the Angels did, promoting their 1st rounder to the majors, I’m surprised that Law mentions it as a possibility for Crews. (Although I would bet that he’d hit better right now than Alex Call does.)

      Definitely good times in Harrisburg, though, with what may end up being one of the all-time great Senator lineups, if only for a few weeks.

      1. I suspect the move to Fredericksburg was for the reasons opposite to why he skipped A+. Fredericksburg is a new team/stadium that they’re invested in building a fanbase for. Sending the best prospect since Harper there does them a favor. Because there weren’t good sporting reasons for sending him there.

  8. I hate to label anything a “last chance,” particularly for a 1st-round pick, but when that pick was seven years ago, you really do wonder how many more opportunities Carter Kieboom is going to get. The big club has playing time available at both 3B and 2B. He’s never been very good defensively at 3B. With Alu already in the majors, Lipscomb blowing up at AA, and House lurking at AA as well, it seems like now or never for Carter K to make a statement that he can be a major-leaguer.

    1. I think it’s worth noting that the nature of the team has changed a bunch since Carter first came up. I think that will work in his favor.

      1. Yes, there was a lot of pressure on Kieboom at the time of previous promotions. Very different now.

        FWIW, I think Kieboom will be out of options after this season, so that will be a different kind of pressure.

    2. It may be a last chance. But I also think the bar for “success” is pretty low right now. I mean, the competition until House/Morales/Lipscomb arrive is Vargas and Alu. That’s not gonna take too much to outperform. I don’t think he’ll emerge as the everyday 3B in 2025, but I think he could play there a lot this season and next and be a pretty good utility guy (he’s played 3 IF positions) going forward.

      1. Kieboom’s AAA stats: .281/.392/.457
        Alu’s AAA stats: .308/.365/.481

        I don’t think the competition is as light as you’re making it out to be.

  9. I doubt the Sens organization will do much to promote the arrival of Crews. Previously this year, they didn’t advertise/promote the fact they had 3 of the top 5 Nats prospects playing on the island.

  10. Sens just sent out an email about the arrival of Crews, but I couldn’t find anything on their website.

  11. Minor league ball is about the ballpark experience
    Promotion nights
    Beer consumption
    Food sales
    Let the children run the bases after the game some nights

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