Friday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 12-6 | vs. Syracuse, 6:05 p.m. | Ward (0-1, 5.19) vs. Jarvis (1st AAA start of ’24) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 6-5; Won, 7-2 |
vs. Altoona, 7 p.m. | Lord (0-1, 3.06) vs. Chen (0-1, 7.98) |
| Wilmington | Won, 4-1 | vs. Hudson Valley, 6:35 p.m. | Theophile (1-1, 1.83) vs. Carr (0-1, 3.77) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 8-5 | vs. Down East, 7:05 p.m. | Susana (0-3, 6.57) vs. Gonzalez (0-1, 1.80) |
Syracuse 12 Rochester 6
• Herz (L, 0-2) ⅔ IP, 3H, 7R, 4ER, 4BB, 0K, HR, E
• LaSorsa 3⅓ IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K, 2-2 IR-S
• Alu 3-4, R
• Cluff 1-3, R, HR, 3RBI
• Lindsly 1-3, 2B
The Mets only scored in two innings, but eight runs in the 1st and four in the 9th was enough to double up the Red Wings, 12-6. DJ Herz lost for the second time, allowing seven runs (four earned) on three hits (one solo HR) and four walks over 2/3rds of an inning. He threw 43 pitches, 25 for strikes. Rochester got five back in the bottom of the 5th, highlighted by a three-run HR by Jackson Cluff and a solo shot by Travis Blankenhorn. The Red Wings collected nine hits total, led by Jake Alu with three singles in four trips to the plate.
Harrisburg 6 Altoona 5 – GM. 1
• Henry 3IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 2K, HR
• Alston (W, 1-2) 3IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Crews 2-3, R, 2B, 3B, 3RBI
• Hassell 2-3, 2R, RBI
• Pinckney 1-3, 2R
Harrisburg erased a 3-0 deficit with a four-run 3rd, then extended the lead to 6-3 and held off Altoona for a 6-5 win in the opener. Cole Henry turned in his obligatory three innings but was, um, railroaded for three runs on four hits (one HR) and two walks while striking out three. Garvin Alston picked up the win with three scoreless innings while Tyler Schoff was given credit for the save despite giving up a two-run HR in the 7th. Dylan Crews doubled, tripled, and drove in three while Robert Hassell singled twice, scored twice, and plated a run to power the Sens offense.
Harrisburg 7 Altoona 2 – GM. 2
• Knowles 1⅓ IP, 3H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 1K, WP
• S. Reyes (W, 2-1) 1⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 3-0 IR-S
• Powell (H, 2) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Arruda 2-2, R, BB, 2B, SB
• Vega 2-3, R, 2RBI
The Senators rallied for three in the 3rd to erase 2-1 deficit, then added three more in the 7th to extend the Curve’s franchise-record losing streak to 13 games by a 7-2 tally. Lucas Knowles got the spot start but didn’t make it out of the second, charged with two runs on three hits and a two walks. Samuel Reyes stranded three runners while getting out of the 2nd and put up a goose egg in the 3rd to earn the win. J.T. Arruda reached base three times on a double, single, and a walk while Onix Vega and Israel Pineda both singled twice to lead Harrisburg’s 10-hit parade.
Wilmington 4 Hudson Valley 1
• Cornelio (W, 2-3) 5⅔ IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 6K, WP
• Huff (H, 2) 2⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 3BB, 2K
• Witt 2-3, 2R, BB, 2B, HR, 2RBI
• Made 1-2, R, 2B, 2BB
The Blue Rocks stopped a two-game slide with a 4-1 win over the Renegades. Riley Cornelio fell one out shy of a quality start with the Hudson Valley run let in on five hits and two walks over five and 2/3rds. It was his second “W” of ’24. Paul Witt doubled, homered, scored twice, and drove in two while Kevin Made reach base three times with two walks and a two-bagger to pace the Wilmington attack.
Fredericksburg 8 Down East 5
• Atencio (W, 2-1) 5+ IP, 12H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 4K
• Rodriguez (H, 1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 2K
• Dugas 3-4, 2R, HR, 2RBI
• Vaquero 1-3, 2R, HR, RBI, 2K
• Cooper 1-3, 2R, BB
Jose Atencio had just one clean inning in five-plus innings but allowed only four runs on 12 hits as the offense gave him six runs to work with in an 8-5 Fredericksburg win over Down East. Elijah Green was the beer man in a ten-hit barrage led by Gavin Dugas with two singles and a homer. Crithian Vaquero also went deep while Brenner Cox racked up his fifth assist on a blooper to shallow left, catching the runner who was halfway between first and second base.
Herz has now convincingly seized the Jeykll-Hyde mantle from Mitchell Parker.
Speaking of inconsistent players, Dylan Crews is another great example. In 4 games, including yesterday, he is 10 for 16 with all 5 of his XBH and 0 Ks. In the other 9 games, he’s 3 for 36 with 0 XBH and 20 Ks. It would be nice if he could find some consistency and get a hot streak going.
Sticking in Harrisburg, it might be too early to call judge, but Morales might finally be breaking out of his awful start to the season. In his past 6 games, he’s 8 for 24, with a solid line of .348/.375/.391. Obviously the power is still not there, but most impressive is that he’s only struck out once in those 24 ABs, whereas in his first 16 games, he struck out 25 times in 56 ABs.
Atencio has now pitched 22.2 innings with 25 Ks and no walks. he’s given up 35 hits but 28 of them are singles. he gets a good percentage of ground balls and yesterday they let him throw 94 pitches. who is this guy? I don’t think we’re going to find out as long as he’s in Fredericksburg.
The obligatory OH Henry ! No wonder Nats looking to reload in 2024 draft lead off by Demon Deacon Chase Burns. Possibly . Stay tuned .
Let’s see what Rodney T does this Friday night .
Beautiful morning in DEnver . I bet Florida Gator 1 b slugger will help out Rox in future
Can the Avs be stopped from Lord Stanley ??
I will be stunned if Burns makes it to 10. I know there has been a couple of mocks. Brad Ciolek was almost all college bats with the O’s. If that is what they want, I hope the pitchers, HSers, and/or underslots push some like Kurtz down to 10.
MLB mock drafts are cropping up with increasing frequency. MLB.com did one yesterday, which I found interesting (https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-pipeline-2024-mock-draft-may-2). There, they have the Nats taking Chase Burns, arguably the best arm of the draft. That would be a coup, and based on other reporting, I’d expect Burns to be off the board before #10. There’s a couple other college arms, though, that are a tier above the rest, and at least one of whom would be available: Hagen Smith (who Mayo has going at #7, but generally is rated lower than Burns) and Trey Yesavage. After that, there’s a pretty big gulf between the next college arm (Mayo’s next Col. SP pick comes in at #23).
While I’m generally for choosing the best player available, we might be reaching a critical mass of prospect oversaturation in the OF. And our high-end pitching talent in the minors is basically non-existent. It helps that neither Burns nor Smith would be a reach at #10. But it would definitely be interesting to see if the Nats took a bolder approach, and drafted someone underslot to increase their later round pick value.
If not an arm, there’s some good middle infield prospects that would certainly be a boon for the org.
Think that the most recent collective bargaining agreement massively over-corrected the draft order to prevent tanking. Get that MLBPA didn’t want teams to tank for years (e.g., Orioles and Astros) to get top picks, but the way the draft works now is a perversion of the principle that the point of the draft to help the worst teams improve.
The Nats tied for the 5th worst record in 2023. They won 71 games. Washington had the #22 payroll in 2023. This wasn’t a team that overtly tanked. The Nats pick 10th in 2024. There is a huge difference between picking 5th and 10th in this draft.
Who has the first pick in the 2024 draft? The Guardians. They went 76-86 in 2023, and tied for the 9th worst record in baseball. Their 2023 payroll was less than the Nats, among other teams with a worse record and a higher payroll. Don’t understand why Cleveland should be rewarded with the top pick. The Reds have the #2 pick, and they had a winning record last season, and were in the playoff race for most of the season. Makes zero sense for the Reds to pick ahead of half of the MLB franchises that had a worse record last year. Just stupid.
They weren’t rewarded – they won the draft lottery. Same deal with the Reds. It may seem unfair, but the rule preventing “payor” teams (of which the Nationals are one) from getting back-to-back Top-6 picks is designed to make it less attractive to forego free agent spending.