Mets Double Up Nats, 4-2 in Spring Breakout
In between the endless prattling from the SNY broadcasters, former college coaches, sideline reporters, and the Mets front office, there was a game yesterday afternoon in which the Mets’ top prospects beat their Nationals counterparts, 4-2.
As was feared/loathed in comments, the Nats trotted out seven pitchers over seven innings. Jackson Rutledge was the first and let in an unearned run on an error by James Wood and a two-out double.
The Nats took Rutledge off the hook with a Trey Lipscomb single, steal of second, and a two-out double by T.J. White in the top of the 2nd.
In the 4th, Yohandy Morales and Drew Millas both singled to open the innings. After Lipscomb hit into a double play, White delivered the second (and final) Nats run with a two-out double off the RF wall.
From kirkie, our U.K. correspondent, via the comments:
Herz came on to pitch 4th – and yep, his issue is command. Missed low; straight fastball; swings and miss on the change. ropey curve that he couldnt throw for strikes. Not helped by a PB from the new catcher [Max Romero]. Solid single let in a run, but balls were missing low or were up. My take? If he gets command, and maybe a 3rd pitch – Tyler Clippard upside.
The blown save went to Herz. The loss went to Jarlin Susana, who hit 103 on the stadium gun, but the fastball remains straighter than a western starring John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Sam Elliot (damn right I’m gonna reuse that one). Susana gave up the last two runs on three hits while walking one and striking out two.
The Nats went down in order in both the 7th and 8th innings.
Other notes 𝆕♪𝅗𝅥
𝅘𝅥 Dylan Crews and Brady House rounded out the singles in the 1st and 5th, respectively
𝅘𝅥 Cole Henry struck out the side in his inning, using both his mid-90s sinker and low-80s slider
𝅘𝅥 Travis Sykora emerged from witness protection to get three outs on seven pitches, including a backwards K on an ABS challenge
𝅘𝅥 Andry Lara worked around a walk and fanned one as the final Nats pitcher of the game
I know it’s only one game, and against not-ready-for-MLB pitching, but if any player needed a confidence-boosting opportunity, it was T. J. White. Good for him.
Also good turns by Henry and Lara (another guy in need of a positive). Sykora’s first appearance in a public game also went well. Makes you wonder if they’ll start him out at Fredericksburg if they think he’s ready to face this level of competition.
And kudos to Luke on his Western analogy. I’ve always feared that the same description could be used on Cavalli as well.
So the Nats probably won’t add Jordan Qsar to Rochester roster until Winker decides about opting out of pact on z Friday ?
Todd your angle about Ward and Oh Henry ! Ramping up at AA makes sense seeing Shuman on DL and Delino with that skeletal starting staff on a long season granted with April and May rain outs .
Just saying : Ryan Pranger lefty for Texas A&M only a sophomore .
Wow ! The kid has a good idea of how to pitch especially with the Aggie coaching staff .
Pink slip weekend
No surprises
Zion Pedigrew
Blake Klassen ( 1st baseman with power and batting avg strokes tough to find )
Leo later on .
Looks like Cole Henry is the new Mitchell Parker, with his Jekyll and Hyde performances. Henry has appeared 4 times this Spring. Twice, he had one inning 3 K appearances. The other two times? He walked 4 batters and gave up 3 hits in only 1.2 IP (miraculously somehow only 1 ER), and gave up 3 ER and 4 H in only 2 IP in the other game.
One last look at Y Rivero and V Peña before a pink slip decision ?
John McHenry too or Grand Canyon bound ?
Well Qsar never got an AB in a game proving the old adage is at play : play the kids .
Even JDL will be given much rope to mature at AA.
I’m hungry for a game in City Isle even in damp April .
Like a Louis L’Amour novel title .
Let’s see how the Nolan Ryan meeting sinks in with Sykora .
T J White can hit a fastball, Jarlin Susana throws hard, Travis Sykora is a big kid and Christhian Vaquero needs to get bigger.
a fun day in the FLA sun but now on to two weeks of back field work for our boys while we speculate on who goes where.
Just to fill in for the Nats, they beat the Mets 7-3 in the “regular” ST game. Of note for this site:
Morales 0-1 with a BB, K, and a run scored
Yepez 0-1 with a BB and a run scored
Green 0-0 with a BB.
Young 1-1 with 2 RBI
Vaquero 1-1 with a 2b and a run scored
Diaz, Nunez, Cruz, and Lindsly each went 0-1.
On the pitching side Tyler Schoff, a guy that I had never heard of, pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning. Out of curiosity I looked him up. He was a NDFA signed after the 2021 draft. #2 starter for the Bryant Bulldogs of the NCAA Northeast Conference converted to a relief pitcher by the Nats. As a player not among the 612 players selected in the 2021 draft, he’s already done very well to get himself to AAA in his 3rd minor league season (really 2nd, after a brief look in 2021). After a shaky 2022 he was solid in 2023 in A+ and AA ball.
he faced three lefties and threw a nice 93-94 cutter than ran into them. mixed in a looping high seventies curveball. a mid reliever for sure but a big kid who made a few of the prospect lists. good pull!