Opening Day for AAA; Rochester Roster Revealed
| Team | Today’s Game (ET) | Pitching Matchup (’23 Stats at Level) |
| Rochester | @ Syracuse, 2:05 p.m. | TBD vs. TBD |
As of this writing it’s a balmy 36 degrees – beach weather for Alaska, but not so much for Syracuse, where the Rochester Red Wings will open the 2024 campaign. It’ll be 44 degrees at the 2:05 p.m. start per Accuweather, which is three degrees cooler than the outlook a year ago.
Unlike a year ago, the 2024 Opening Day Roster is in hand, and features eight current watchlist players:
| PITCHERS | CATCHER | INFIELDER | OUTFIELDERS |
| LHP DJ Herz | Drew Millas | Trey Lipscomb | Darren Baker |
| LHP Mitchell Parker | James Wood | ||
| RHP Jackson Rutledge | Jacob Young |
Former Nats prospects include Joan Adon, Tim Cate, Thad Ward, Amos Willingham, Jake Alu, and Carter Kieboom. Luis Reyes is back for his 11th season in the Washington organization. We’re back for our 14th season covering the Nationals minors (not counting 2020, natch).
As I said before, the Nats’ loss is the Red Wings gain! This team has more prospects (or recently former prospects) than our AAA team has had in a verrrrry long time. The rotation in particular will be very interesting to watch, though I can’t figure out who is the odd man out among Adon, Rutledge, Herz, Parker, Ward and Watkins. I’m assuming Watkins is injured? As I don’t recall him ever appearing in ST. That’s an exciting rotation, with no one older than Ward.
Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, they’ve stashed all the AAAA bullpen arms in Rochester, which will force all of the talent to remain in Harrisburg, even after most of them, Ribalta, Sinclair, Schoff, Cronin, Knowles and Collins, ended the season in AAA. And other rotation guys, like Dustin Saenz and Cuevas, will repeat at AA, after spending most (or all) of 2023 there.
I suspect a few early injuries and underperformance will partly unclog this jam at the upper levels, but it’ll be interesting to see how much patience management has with the AAAA guys, especially as the home grown talent begins knocking. It’ll be something to watch this season.
Where did you go , D.Garcia R/R
3b/1b bookend to J Yepez
But nowhere to be seen
Witness Protection aka Mexican League loaner ???
Ok
For some birthday fun on my day Sunday
ETA guesses on major top five prospects .
Yes once in a lifetime BD& Easter
Scratching my head that they list Baker as an OF, particularly when he would seem to be the odd man out in the OF for playing time. One would assume that Wood, Call, and Young will get most of the reps, with Blankenhorn playing his best defensive position: DH.
The infield is just as confusing. I guess Lipscomb will be at SS? Kieboom at 3B and Alu at 2B? This becomes a confusing game of “who plays where.” If/when Lipscomb gets called up, it would be to replace Garcia or Senzel, not Abrams at SS. Ideally, he would be getting reps at the position where they might need him most. He’s played a lot of 3B, so it would make sense for him to get reps at 2B.
We’ve sort of forgotten about Alu. He got 175 plate appearances in the majors last season and didn’t exactly set the world on fire. But he is still on the 40-roster, unlike Lipscomb, Kieboom, or Blankenhorn. This is just the first time he’s been optioned, so he could be with the organization for a while.
Due to Senzel’s injury, Lipscomb will be called up to the big club today (per mlb.com, mlb trade rumors)
Good for Trey! Make us proud! (And prove Keith Law wrong!)
I’m happy that Jack Dunn has stuck with the organization. while not a true prospect he is certainly a true ballplayer. playing every position on the field and always giving 100%.
stay true to your dream young man and good luck.
Yes Fred MD I concur on that Jack Dunn comment . Orgs thrive on multi versatile guys .
I said to a child hood buddy who lives now in Cincy snd was with his wife at Opening day : looking forward to the Kids alright arriving in DC . ( crossed fingers especially Cole Henry ). Plasma med beds do heal as does time
Wasn’t Nick Martini the name of the bar tender in Its A Wonderful Life ?
Nick was a bartender at Martini’s
Guys like that are why I’m in favor of a minor-league union. That guy should make a decent living as a professional baseball player when there’s no real chance he’ll ever get more than a cup of coffee.
I think the only position I never saw Jack Dunn play in Harrisburg was behind the plate. I even saw him pitch once! I remember thinking, near the end of the woeful 2022 season that the Nationals should have let Dunn play one inning of a game at each position and let the Senators advertise that game as such in advance as a draw.
I’ve always wondered. Is he any relation to Jack Dunn, the Baltimore Orioles minor league owner of a century ago, who signed Babe Ruth to his first professional contract? Or just a coincidental name?
I quite agree on Dunn giving his all. And he always seemed happy to be there.
Davey recalls many players who played infield / outfield .
Nobody did it Better than Robin Yount
For those with access to The Athletic, this is a must-read for followers of this site, the story of a former Giants’ farm hand and his struggle to transition to “real life” after somewhat involuntary retirement at age 27:
https://theathletic.com/5371371/2024/03/29/john-gavin-mlb-minor-league-players-giants/
Many of “our guys” are facing the same life crisis/transition right now.
Good read!
Great piece KW, thanks for the heads up.
The posted Harrisburg roster looks plausibly current:
https://www.milb.com/harrisburg/roster
Dermis Garcia facing a career shift being placed at FREd to mentor Ro Quintana ? Perhaps an early shift to player / coach or awaiting a position to open up on a roster later season up the ladder ?
FredMD I recall your Wilmington lineup a few months ago where you added brown and Gavin D to the infield .