Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 8-7 | vs. Lehigh Valley, 6:45 p.m. | Troop (0-0, 12.00) vs. McGarry (AAA debut) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 4-3 | vs. Akron, 6:30 p.m. | M. Cuevas (2-4, 5.07) vs. Mace (3-2, 4.73) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 1-0 | @ Bowling Green, 7:35 p.m. | Luckham (3-4, 4.48) vs. Harney (1-0, 4.26) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 11-2 | @ Lynchburg, 6:30 p.m. | L. Young (3-4, 4.52) vs. Brito (0-1, 10.54) |
| FCL Nationals | OFF DAY | @ FCL Marlins, 12 p.m. | |
| DSL Nationals | Losing, 4-3 (Susp. Bot. 9th) |
vs. DSL Colorado, 11 a.m. |
Rochester 8 Lehigh Valley 7
• T. Romero 3⅔ IP, 1H, 2R, 2ER, 5BB, 3K, PTV
• Banda 2⅓ IP, 2H, 5R, 5ER, 4BB, 2K, 2HR, 2-2 IR-S
• Mengden (W, 2-1) 1IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Blankenhorn 1-3, R, 2BB, RBI
• Adams 1-3, 2RBI
• Kieboom 2-5, R
Jake Noll’s two-out, two-run pinch-hit single capped off a three-run ninth and a comeback from a 7-2 deficit as Rochester walked off Lehigh Valley, 8-7. Tommy Romero got the spot start and issued the first five of ten (10) walks by Red Wings pitchers over three and 2/3rds innings. Not clear who held the beer for Anthony Banda, walked the first two batters he faced to close the book on Romero, then gave up a grand slam. Rochester got two in the 7th on an RBI double by Erick Mejia and an RBI triple by Darren Baker, one in the 8th on a bases-loaded walk by Matt Adams. Richie Martin led off the 9th with a single, followed by a Baker walk. Travis Blankenhorn got the 5th run in on a two-out single before Noll stroked the gamewinner. Daniel Mengden, who cordero’d around three hits in the 9th, got his second “W.” Roster moves: IF Carter Kieboom activated from the 7-Day I.L.
Harrisburg 4 Akron 3
• Parker (W, 8-4) 6IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 13K, HR
• Walters (SV, 2) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Wood 2-3, 2-2B, 2RBI, HBP, CS
• House 2-3
• Tostado 2-4, R, 2B
Mitchell Parker struck out a career-high 13 batters while James Wood doubled twice and drove in two to lead the Senators to a 4-3 win over the RubberDucks.
Parker gave up all three Akron runs on six hits (one HR) and a walk over six innings for his eighth win and his fifth quality start. Jack Sinclair, Garvin Alston, and Nash Walters each put up a goose egg to earn the holds and save. Brady House singled twice while Frankie Tostado singled and doubled as Harrisburg marched to an eight-hit parade.
Bowling Green 1 Wilmington 0
• Lord (L, 1-3) 6IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 6K, 2HBP
• M. Perez 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Stehly 2-4
• V. Peña 1-3
Wilmington was shut out for the tenth time this season, 1-0 on four singles. Brad Lord threw his second straight quality-start loss, allowing the Hot Rods’ run on one hit, two walks, and two Robles while striking out six. Marlon Perez closed out the game with two scoreless to keep things close, but it was a moot point as all four Blue Rocks baserunners stayed at first base.
Fredericksburg 11 Lynchburg 2
• K. Rodriguez 3IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 0K
• P. González (W, 5-2) 2⅓ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 2-2 IR-S
• Crews 4-5, 2R, BB, HR(GS), 4RBI
• Quintana 4-5, 2R, BB, 2B(10), RBI
• Brown 3-5, 2R, 2RBI
• Pinckney 2-4, 2R, 2HBP, 2B, HR, 3RBI
Dylan Crews’s grand slam in the 7th broke open a 4-2 games as the FredNats vivisected the Hillcats, 11-2 for their eighth win in nine games. Kevin Rodriguez, um, stepped in for Erik Tolman and turned in three scoreless innings with two walks allowed. Pedro González lost the shutout bid by letting in his two inherited runners while getting out of the 5th and put up two goose eggs to get the win. Crews and Roismar Quintana both went 4-for-5 with two runs scored, followed by Marcus Brown with three singles, two runs, and two RBI, and Andrew Pinckney with a double, a homer, two runs scored, two Robles, and three RBI. Roster moves: RHPs Thomas Schultz, Travis Sthele reassigned from the FCL.
FCL Nationals – OFF DAY
Roster moves: RHP Miguel Gomez, 1B Blake Klassen reassigned from Fredericksburg.
DSL White Sox 4 DSL Nationals 3 – SUSP.
It’s not clear when (or if) they’ll finish this one, which was called with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 9th. It’s the second time in less than a week that a game was suspended with the visitors taking the lead in the top of the final inning before the D-Nats had a chance to respond.
The benches cleared on City Island last night. House was HBP in the helmet and after ensuring he was OK, DeShields started jawing with the Akron dugout. Both teams “mingled” behind home plate for a few minutes. No punches or shoving or ejections. Great night for Parker, House and Wood.
Which starters on farm could use another pitch learned ?
Let’s see , Jose Urena your ERA in Charlotte AAA from this moment forward
White Sox kicking tires now ..
OPS of 2023 draftees:
Crews: 1.307
Morales: .905
Pinckney: 1.481
Brown: .599
Dugas: 1.167
Snell: .530
Glasser: 1.255
Nunez: .535
Rombach: MIA
The splits are pretty hilarious, either they’re the second coming of Babe Ruth or Mario Mendoza with no in between, but still this can’t be construed as anything but a spectacular start for our 2023 bats.
On the bright side, even the guys struggling don’t seem to have been coached into the swing-and-miss tendencies of so many other Nats prospects. Marcus Brown has a 19 K%, Ryan Snell 17 K%, and Elijah Nunez somehow only 9 K% (he’s getting killed by a .167 BABIP in Fburg).
Crews putting up those numbers despite an 0-for-5 in his first F’burg game.
Granted, his minor league career is only 4 games so far.
What a gauntlet any AA pitcher has to navigate with Lipscomb, Wood, and House. As good as it gets.
The best part about Wood’s performance yesterday is zero strikeouts. In his previous 6 August games, he’d struck out 13 times in 27 plate appearances, a worrying uptick from already higher swing-and-miss tendencies in July.
On the brightside, he’s still crushing the ball when he does make contact. 14 of his 20 hits from July 1 were XBH.
Wood also went the other way on both of his hits. Left center and down the LF line. Both balls were smoked.
Imagine if Hassell returns to form… and the rookies join them.
What’s going on with Miguel Gomez? The Nats have been jerking him around all over the place for two seasons now. His career started normally, had a good 2019 in the DSL. MILB was interrupted in 2020, and he returned to a full season in the FCL in 2021. In 2022, he started again in the FCL, got a promotion after a very good start to A ball, then had a solid month in Fburg, and got surprisingly promoted to Wilmington, pitched two games and was fine (3.00 ERA) and was sent back down to Fburg to end the season. In 23, it’s been the same story. He started the season in Fburg, and struggled a bit (6.75 ERA) but with very good peripherals, and strangely got promoted to Wilmington. Again, was fine (didn’t allow a run in 2 games), and then got demoted to Fburg. He got hit around (6.97 ERA) but had solid peripherals (9K to 1 BB in 10 IP, with an unlucky .419 BABIP), and then got demoted another level back to FCL. There it was the exact same story (7.88 ERA) with solid peripherals (9 K 2BB, .409 BABIP), and then he got promoted back to Fburg. Now, he’s been pretty good in 3 games (3.00 ERA), 7K, 1BB, 1.50 WHIP, and he just got demoted again!
I’ve never seen a player bounce around so much and without any logical explanation. Gomez is 21, and still very firmly in the “unexceptional prospect” tier. Why jerk him around so much? There’s no shortage of wash ups/burn outs in Fburg and FCL that would be less developmentally impacted by such erratic handling.
let’s hope that Kieboom can play every day the rest of the season, it’s way to early to write him off
Kieboom still a component asset for rebuild FredMD
I fully expect him to get a look with the big club in September, provided he stays healthy.
Subject matter with prospects
Vision strengths coupled with ball park lighting and sight optics
We know Dylan Crews just went off the LSU eye chart . Maybe some guys don’t have eyes like Crews , the late Tony Gwynn and Ted Williams .
I’ve never seen a more Jekyll & Hyde pitcher than Parker.
You literally don’t know who’s gonna show up each time he takes the mound.
He’s either dominant or terrible – no in between
Mitchell Parker: 13Ks with 1BB is not fluke. That is elite stuff. Duly impressive.
Especially when you’re a 6-4 lefty, those are the kind of performances that will get you on an escalator.
It seems pretty clear that Crews and Pinckney don’t have much to learn at the A level, and maybe Morales either. At the time of the draft, Rizzo seemed very reluctant to send Crews to Wilmington, a notoriously difficult park for hitters (which Riz acknowledged). I don’t know that there’s going to be much choice, though. Do they dare skip them on to AA? Or at least Crews? The Twins moved Brooks Lee up to AA last summer after the draft, at least for a couple of games, and basically every scout would rate Crews as a better hitter than Lee.
Honestly, it’s really strange Crews is in Fredericksburg at all. Just looking at the other first round college bats’ current placement:
Langford: A+
Jacob Wilson: A+
Nolan Schanuel: AA
Tommy Troy: A+
Matt Shaw: A+
Kyle Teel: A+
You have to go all the way to Jacob Gonzalez, the 8th college bat picked to find another player not already at A+ or above. He’s also in low A.
It’s annoying but not the least bit surprising. The Nats are habitually conservative in their handling of prospects.
Give it a little time. Geez.
Crews has played all of three games in F’burg. It’s not like he’s been parked there for a season. He will move. At the slowest, Crews will start next year in Harrisburg, and if he hits, he will be in DC by June 2024. Playing a few weeks in F’burg versus Wilmington is not going to retard his development.
Rather than be happy that Crews is raking there are complaints that Crews has played all of three games at F’burg? Really?
Scroll up for my post praising Crews. He’s doing his job exceptionally well.
I know they want to give them some confidence before they get to the hitters’ black hole so many claim Wilmington is, but it seems like it would be a good test, especially if it appears the SEC is more challenging than the Carolina League.
In Florida, Cristhian “Sonny” Vaquero appears to be injured in a play at the plate. I didn’t see it, and am just going off the box score feed, but he was thrown out at home to end the first (he’d had an RBI single to score Elijah Green) and was replaced to start the bottom of the first.
Not good. But hopefully just a precaution and it’s nothing too serious. I’m sure the Nats crack minor league PR staff will have a timely update on Vaquero’s status soon.
Is Kieboom part of the rebuild plans: No. He can’t be a part of any plans, both because he’s struggled to stay healthy and because he has yet to show that he can hit at the MLB level. At this stage, it would just be value added if he turns into something. I’m not saying that he can’t or won’t, just that no one can/should bank on it.
The presumption right now is that House is the future at 3B (if he can stay healthy). But House won’t be ready for the show at the beginning of 2024, so there’s a chance for Kieboom and/or Alu to get a look there until House is ready. The real opening for someone may be at 2B, since they’ve advertised that they’re not sold on Garcia. Kieboom could be an alternative option there (and that’s a better fit for him defensively), along with Alu and Lipscomb. As good a story as Baker has been, it’s still difficult to see him as an everyday player. And Downs is doing nothing to convince anyone that he’s a major-leaguer.