NationalsProspects.com

Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 5-4 @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:35 p.m. Ureña (1-2, 6.03) vs. TBD
Harrisburg Won, 3-1 @ Erie, 12:35 p.m. TBD vs. TBD
Wilmington Won, 8-4 vs. Hudson Valley, 6:35 p.m. Lord (1-1, 9.45) vs. TBD
Fredericksburg Won, 5-1 vs. Salem, 7:05 p.m. Tolman (0-2, 3.50) vs. Jo. Ramirez (2-6, 3.82)
FCL Nationals Won, 10-6;
Losing, 4-1		 OFF DAY
DSL Nationals Lost, 10-8 OFF DAY

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 5 Rochester 4
• Rutledge 5IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K
• Peguero (BS, 2; L, 0-2) ⅔ IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 2K, 2-1 IR-S
• Nottingham 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI
• Mejia 2-4

Rochester kept the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre infielders cool as they whiffed 15 times in a 5-4 loss. Jackson Rutledge turned in five innings of two-run ball on five hits and two walks while striking out six. Joel Peguero suffered his second blown-save-loss as he let in one of two inherited runners and one of his own across the 7th and 8th innings. Jacob Nottingham led the offense with a single and a two-run HR.

Harrisburg 3 Erie 1
• Saenz (W, 1-4) 7IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 5K, HR
• Sinclair (H, 5) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Schaller (SV, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Lipscomb 2-4, R, 2B, 3B, RBI
• House 2-4, R, 2B(5)

The Senators plundered the SeaWolves, 3-1 for the fourth straight win. Dustin Saenz won his first AA game while pitching seven full innings for the first time as a pro. He allowed the lone Erie run on a HR and three hits total with no walks and three whiffs. Trey Lipscomb and Brady House both went 2-for-4 witj a run scored to power the Harrisburg offense.

Wilmington 8 Hudson Valley 4
• Alvarez (W, 6-3) 6IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 3BB, 5K, 2WP
• Huff 2⅔ IP, 4H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 0K
• Pineda 2-5, R, HR, 3RBI, PB
• De La Rosa 2-4, R, HR, RBI
• Boisserie 2-4, R, RBI

Wilmington doubled up Hudson Valley, 8-4 in the series opener. Andrew Alvarez won his sixth game with his fourth quality start, letting in two runs on five hits over six innings. He walked three and set down five on strikes. Israel Pineda homered and drove in three while Jeremy De La Rosa hit his 6th HR and also singled to lead the Blue Rocks’ nine-hit parade.

Fredericksburg 5 Salem 1
• Cornelio (W, 3-7) 6IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 4K
• P. González 2IP, 2H, 0R, ER, 0BB, 2K
• Pinckney 2-4, 2R
• Quintana 1-3, R, BB, 3B, 2RBI
• Morales 1-4, 2B, 2RBI

The new guys stepped up for the FredNats in a 5-1 win over the Red Sox. Riley Cornelio notched his third win with his first career quality start of one run on two hits and three walks over six innings while striking out four. Roismar Quintana drove in two with a 1st-inning triple while Yohandy Morales drove in two with a double and ground out to lead the Fredericksburg hit parade.



FCL Nationals 10 FCL Astros 6 – COMP.
• Polanco (W, 2-0) 7⅔ IP, 9H, 5R, 4ER, 2BB, 6K, 2HR
• N. Gomez 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Mota 2-3, 2R, BB, HR, 4RBI
• Antuna 2-5, 2R, HR, 3RBI
• Pettigrew 1-2, R, 3BB, 2SB

The FCL Nationals won the completion from last week, 10-6. Bryan Polanco picked up where he left off and went seven and 2/3rds innings across the two dates with five runs allowed on nine hits (two HR) and two walks to get the Jack Morris win. Jorgelys Mota reached base three times with single, walk, and a homer and drove in four while Yasel Antuna singled, homered, and drove in three.

FCL Astros 4 FCL Nationals 1 – SUSP.
• Leon 3IP, 6H, 4R, 3ER, 1BB, 1K
• Santana 1-1, RBI

Lightning once again stopped play betwen the F-Nats and F-Astros. They’ll finish this one when two tenants of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on the meet again on the Saturday of August 5th.

DSL Phillies White 10 DSL Nationals 8
• R. Ramirez 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Brito (BS, 1; L, 0-1) 4BF, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 4BB, 2-2 IR-S
• Liriano 3-5, RBI, SB
• Marcano 2-4, R, 2B
• Acevedo 2-5, R, 2B, 2RBI

25 Commments

  1. A whole bunch of really good starts.

    Dustin Saenz had a rough introduction to AA, with a 8.10 ERA through his first 5 starts, but he’s settled down recently, with his start yesterday being his best yet. Over the pas 3 games, he’s sporting a 3.18 ERA. Still, it’s worrying that his inability to miss bats has almost entirely disappeared in Harrisburg. He had 55 K in 50 IP in A+, but it’s dropped to only 21 K in 37 IP in AA.

    Andrew Alvarez continues to cement his case for Nats Pitcher of the Year. His 2.82 ERA is by far the best in the Nats system after Jake Bennett, who hasn’t been seen or heard from in 40 days now. Elijah Green had a similarly long and unexplained absence, only to hit the IL in the end. I’m increasingly suspicious Bennett is dealing with an injury and not just been shut down to limit his innings. After all, he threw 117 IP last year, so he doesn’t need to be carefully stretched out.

    And finally a quality start for Riley Cornelio. Hope he can heat up to end the season and turn a relatively disappointing one into something promising.

  2. I know somebody like Will will say this soon as Luke does his Griswald road trip .
    No room in the City Isle staff for Alvarez or does brass think Alvarez absence would create chaos in Deleware ?

  3. Has there been any explanation why Crews is reporting so much later than everyone else?

    Wyatt Langford, the draft’s #4 pick and the loser to Crews’ LSU in the CWS, has already played in 3 games for the Rangers.

    I think I’ve just become pre-conditioned following the Nats system to suspect that any gaps in playing time are injury related, even when reporting (see that on Elijah Green re-tooling his bat but actually dealing with a wrist injury) says otherwise.

    1. Langford signed July 18 and debuted for Texas on July 28.

      Crews signed on July 23 so if that timeframe is similar, we should see him tomorrow with the FCL Nats.

  4. it appears that Alu will get some serious playing time, good start last night with an RBI. go get’em Jake!

    1. It’s almost cruelly ironic that Kieboom was starting yet another rehab assignment on a night when the 3B slot with the big club was finally open. Alu has earned this shot, though. He’s got a real chance over the next couple of months.

      That said, the way House is going, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that his MLB arrival date gets pushed up to 2024.

  5. Lipscomb got the start at shortstop last night, looked like something he can handle. definitely has the arm strength. both extra base hits down the right field line on pitches away.

    1. It would be huge for the Nats if Lipscomb can prove himself as SS-capable. They’re desperate for utility help. And Lipscomb seems to have a better bat than previous utility guys.

  7. I don’t usually pay a lot of attention to the FCL but Jorgelys Mota, who just turned 18 in June, has a .998 OPS. If he keeps it up, wow.

    1. The FCL bats have been pretty interesting this year. Besides the bunch of new draftees, fellow teenager, Everett Cooper (well, he was a teenager until 3 days ago), is hitting .386/.470/.421 through 21 games. Another 2022 HS draft pick, Nathaniel Ochoa Leyva (19 yo) is batting .284/.376/.370, and Cristhian Vaquero’s (18 yo) success has been widely commented on.

      The arms, on the other hand, haven’t been good. The team has a collective 6.12 ERA, and the best performers have tended to be very age-inappropriate guys (like Tolman and N. Gomez, both 24 yo).

    1. he’s the same guy that was a top five prospect in the Rays system. injury after injury later…

  10. So with the trading deadline past us, I’d like to see the Nats DFA a bunch of the flotsam and jetsam that’s not under contract for next year, is over 30, and/or has no real future with the rebuild and instead give some chances to the guys at AAA who are performing.

    Andres Machado, Rico Garcia, Michael Chavis, Ildemaro Vargas, Carl Edwards, Hobie Harris, and Corey Dickerson – none of these cats are gonna be with the team next year.

    Would much rather see Darren Baker, Blake Rutherford, Tim Cate, and Jackson Rutledge getting some looks to see if they have a part in the rebuild.

  11. Jesse Dougherty, the WaPo’s Nats beat writer, tweeted out that Matt Cronin just had back surgery to attempt to alleviate a herniated disc that had caused him pain for most of the past two seasons and had him shelved for much of this season.

  12. The Nationals announced after today’s game that they have requested unconditional release waivers on outfielder Corey Dickerson and optioned infielder Luis García to Triple-A Rochester. {MLBTR)

    wow!

      1. reports are Rutherford and Downs coming up. that second one is a little shocking, this appears to be more of sending a message to Garcia IMO

        1. I just do not understand the infatuation with Downs. His batting average since 2021 (at every level, including Venezuelan Winter Ball): .191, .228, .197, .154, .146, (joins Nats org) .175, .100, .111. Moreover, the power he showed in 2022 has completely disappeared. He has only 3 HR in 45 games this season.

          Luis Garcia has definitely played himself out of a starting gig, but Downs doesn’t deserve it in the slightest, especially when Darren Baker and his perpetual .300 bat is RIGHT THERE.

  13. Garcia. Wow. I wonder what he did to piss off the brass? He wasn’t an all-star this season but he wasn’t so bad to justify a demotion, I didn’t think.

    Shame they couldn’t get something for Dickerson but I’m glad his spot will go to a prospect while he’ll have a chance to latch on to a contender.

    1. A sub .300 OBP with mediocre defense is worthy of a demotion.

      Garcia needs to figure out how to translate his AAA power (career ISO of .248 in AAA) to the majors (his MLB career ISO is almost exactly half of that at .126). Worse, it’s trended downward in three successive seasons .169 to .133 to this year’s .103. I’d still much rather let Garcia try to figure it out in the majors ahead of Jeter Downs (who is two whole years older than Garcia and has been infinitely worse in the majors), but a demotion itself isn’t unjustified.

  14. My guess is that Downs isn’t going to play that much and they’re going to go with Chavis and Vargas. Baker wouldn’t come up unless they were planning to play him.

Comments are closed.