Friday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Matchup |
| Rochester | Won, 6-3 (8 inn.) | @ Buffalo, 6:05 p.m. | TBD vs. Dallas (0-0, 9.00) |
| Harrisburg | Postponed | @ Altoona, 6:30 p.m. | Alvarez (0-0, 0.00) vs. Chandler (0-0, 5.40) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 9-1 | @ Aberdeen, 7:05 p.m. | Caceres (0-0, 0.00) vs. Wells (0-1, 8.10) |
| Fredericksburg | Postponed | @ Lynchburg, 6:30 p.m. | Agostini (1st start of ’24) vs. Clemmey (0-1, 13.50) |
Rochester 6 Buffalo 3 (8 inn.)
• Rutledge 2+ IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 4BB, 1K, 55-26 PIT-K
• R. Garcia (W, 1-0) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 4K
• Bleier (SV, 1) 2IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 3K, HR
• Wood 4-5, 4R, 2B, 2HR, 2RBI, K
• Yepez 2-3, BB, 2RBI
• Dunn 1-2, R, BB, HR, 2RBI
James Wood fell a triple shy of the cycle, instead homering twice in a 6-3 Rochester win over Buffalo. Jackson Rutledge was literally knocked from the box in the 3rd as he was unable to get his left leg out of the way of a 110.6 mph line drive. He gave up two runs on two hits and four walks while striking out one in two-plus innings. The win went to Rico Garcia while Richard Bleier picked up the save. Jack Dunn also homered and drove in two, as did Wood and Juan Yepez while going 2-for-3 with a walk. The game was called with two out in the top of the 8th after a 32-minute rain delay.
Harrisburg vs. Altoona – PPD
The Senators and Curve were rained out on Thursday night. They’ll make it up tomorrow afternoon with a twi-night doubleheader.
Aberdeen 9 Wilmington 1
• Lara (L, 1-1) 5IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 8K, HR
• Lee ⅓ IP, 2H, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 1K
• V. Peña 1-3, R, 3B
• Nunez 1-3
Aberdeen strafed Andry Lara for three runs and the Wilmington ‘pen for six in a 9-1 strafing. Lara took the loss while going five innings, allowing four hits and two walks and striking out eight. Evan Lee took the brunt of the beating as he retired just one of six batters faced while giving up five runs on two hits and three walks. Viandel Peña broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff triple while Daylen Lile ended the shutout with an RBI groundout two batters later. Branden Boisserie and Elijah Nunez rounded out the hit column with singles in the 7th and 8th respectively.
Fredericksburg vs. Lynchburg – PPD
Same sh!t, different ‘Burg. The FredNats and Hillcats will make up last night’s rainout with twinbill tomorrow afternoon.
Wow. What a statement of a game from Wood! He literally showed off all skills in one game, with great contact (4 hits), power (2 HR and a 2B), fielding (a stellar diving catch), speed (a SB). I didn’t expect to see Wood in DC until like June at the earliest, but if he keeps his OPS anywhere near the 1.352 it currently sits at, then I don’t know if the Nats can delay for very long.
His instructions this season were pretty clear: 1. get his strikeouts down to a more manageable rate (and relatedly, make more contact), 2. prove he’s capable in CF.
Well, his strikeout rate currently sits at the lowest level ever, and half of the rate he posted last season in AA: 16.3%. Without having seen much of his play, it seems his defense in CF is solid, albeit not exceptional. I’ll be interested to see how he fares once this incredible hot streak fades, but he might force the issue before that happens.
Lara looked much more impressive than Rutledge. he seemed to be a little fastball heavy in the fourth and paid the price as they hit a few hard. overall good command on all his pitches where Rutledge was struggling mightily to find the zone. hope nothing is broken but we was able to limp off on it.
after a K in the first Wood was all over virtually every pitch thereafter. very impressive was flicking a two strike changeup foul then singling on the next pitch from the lefty that got him in the first. I know Crews gets solid defensive ratings but this guy is my CF choice. he’s a gazelle out there
Overlooked by the Wood hype, Juan Yepez is quietly having a very good start to the season. He too sports a >1.000 OPS, with a triple slash of .344/.500/.656. Thing is, he’s shown for a long time, he’s too good for AAA (career line of .275/.356/.520 in nearly 240 games), the problem for him has been translating it in the majors.
But the bigger question is how much longer Joey Meneses two-month hot streak in 2022 will carry him? Since then, Meneses has a .707 OPS as a bat-only DH (165 games), while Yepez’s mostly bust of a major league career OPS is…. .705. Thing is, Yepez is 6 years younger, and for better or worse, Meneses still has 3 options to be burned…
If there is another Journey song which could describe James Wood
Sweet and Simple
Lara is a nice spring surprise along with some of the other arms getting out of the gate with 5 by 5 outings
Cornelio , Alvarez etc .
How is JDL s swing so far this spring ?
Granted it’s early in the long marathon
Season
Todd you might have nailed Evan Lee spot on in your last blog writing
Expecting a jazzy outing by Jake tonight in Oakland
I had prepared myself for them to take it slow with Wood. In fact, had he not had such a fantastic spring, I would have thought that Harrisburg would be the right right place for him. But dang . . . is it too late to bring him up and be eligible for the ROY bonus? Whether or not they do that, it’s sure looking like he’ll get several months of seasoning in the majors this summer, and perhaps in CF. Fingers crossed that this isn’t an optical illusion.
It’s April 12, so every number must have a “small sample size” caveat. At the same time, BB rate and K rate find their levels more quickly than other stats. Given his history, I doubt Wood will live at these levels in AAA (much less MLB). But from a “scouting the stat line” perspective, I think we should be cautiously optimistic that these improvements are real.