Friday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 6-2 | vs. Buffalo, 6:45 p.m. | Watkins (1-0, 4.68) vs. Bash (1-0, 4.39) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 6-2; Lost, 4-0 |
vs. Erie, 7 p.m. | Lara (AA debut) vs. Melton (1-2, 2.88) |
| Wilmington | Won, 3-2; Won, 3-0 |
vs. Aberdeen, 6:35 p.m. | Cáceres (0-3, 6.00) vs. TBD |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 5-2 | @ Myrtle Beach, 7:05 p.m. | Susana (0-4, 7.58) vs. Dean (1-0, 2.95) |
| FCL Nationals | OFF DAY | @ FCL Mets, 12 p.m. |
Rochester 6 Buffalo 2
• Adon 3⅓ IP, 3H, 2R, 0ER, 4BB, 6K, HBP, WP
• LaSorsa (W, 1-2) 1⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K, 2-0 IR-S
• Wood 1-2, 2BB
• Lindsly 1-4, R, 2B, 2RBI
• Baker 1-4, R, BB, 2B, 2RBI
Back-to-back doubles in the 4th turned a one-run game in to the eventual 6-2 margin of victory for the Red Wings. Joan Adon got the start and needed 90 pitches to get 11 outs as he allowed two unearned runs on three hits and four walks while striking out six. The “W” went to Joe LaSorsa, who stranded two while getting out of the 4th and throwing a scoreless 5th. James Wood reached base three times with a single and two walks while Lindsly and Baker both doubled and drove in two to power the Rochester attack.
Erie 6 Harrisburg 2 – GM. 1
• Luckham(L, 2-2) 6IP, 8H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 2K, HBP, WP
• Pinckney 1-3, R, HR, RBI
• Crews 1-3, R, SB
• House 0-1, BB, SF, RBI
Erie got to Kyle Luckham for three in the 1st and added three more against Tyler Schoff as they took the opener, 6-2. Luckham went six full to notch his fourth quality start but lost for the second time. Andrew Pinckney homered to score the first Harrisburg run while Brady House drove in Dylan Crews with a sacrifice fly for the second tally as the Senators were held to four hits total.
Erie 4 Senators 0 – GM. 2
• Peterson (L, 0-1) 1⅔ IP, 2H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 1K, HR
• Acosta 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 3K, 2-0 IR-S
• Crews 1-3
• Wilson 1-2, HBP
The Senators were shut out in the nightcap, 4-0, on three hits. Todd Peterson made the spot start but was knocked from the box in the 2nd after giving up a three-run HR while walking two and fanning one. Dylan Crews and Cody Wilson both singled while Yoyo Morales hit his 5th double to account for the Harriburg hit column.
Wilmington 3 Aberdeen 2 – GM. 1
• Cornelio (W, 3-4) 6IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K, HR, WP
• Grissom (SV, 2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Glasser 2-3, 2R
• Made 1-3, 2RBI
The Blue Rocks stopped a seven-game slide with a 3-2 win over the IronBirds. Riley Cornelio turned in his first quality start with both Aberdeen runs let in on five hits (one HR) and two walks while striking out six. Marquis Grissom Jr. worked around a two-out single to get the save, his second. Wilmington mustered only six singles but two of them came in five RISP chances with Kevin Made deliverng two with single in the 3rd while Viandel Peña plated the game-winner with a safety in the 6th.
Wilmington 3 Aberdeen 0 – GM. 2
• Arias 3IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 5K
• Huff (W, 2-0) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 1K
• Collins (SV, 2) 2IP, 0H, 1BB, 2K
• Made 2-3, R
• Glasser 2-4, R, 2B
Three Wilmington pitchers combined on a one-hit, 3-0 shutout that returned the Blue Rocks to .500. Wander Arias made the spot start and retired nine of 10 batters faced, five by way of the K. Chance Huff went the next two, losing the no-hitter and walking two, but picked up the win. Brendan Collins bounced back from his last outing to earn the save, his first of the season. Kevin Made singled twice and scored a run while Phillip Glasser singled, doubled, and scored a run to lead the Wilmington offense.
Fredericksburg 5 Myrtle Beach 2
• Sykora 4IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 6K
• K. Rodriguez (W, 1-0) 1IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 1K
• Hall (H, 2) 2⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 5K
• Pimentel 2-4, 2B, RBI
• Brown 2-4, R, 3B, RBI
• De La Rosa 1-4, R, HR, RBI, 3K
The FredNats broke up the Star Trek convention on the scoreboard with a three-run 6th and added single runs in the 8th and 9th to take this one, 5-2. Travis Sykora put on two baserunners (double, walk) in the 1st, then retired the last nine batters he faced, striking out the side in the 4th for a total of six. Kelvin Rodriguez let in both Pelicans runs in his single inning of work but that was good enough to get the cheap win. Bubba Hall and Thomas Schulz combined for three scoreless to earn the hold and save, respectively. Brandon Pimentel singled, doubled, and drove in a run for his 12th multihit game while Marcus Brown tripled and singled and plated a run to power the Fredericksburg offense.
I’d like to think I conjured Dugas after commenting on his 13 day absence yesterday.
A very good outing from Wander Arias, one of our 4 Rule 5 Draft pick from the minor league portion. He’s now sporting a 2.30 ERA with 15 K in 15.2 IP, and a 1.02 WHIP.
But it isn’t just Arias who’s playing well. The other two healthy picks (Moises Gallardo, the other, remains injured). Samuel Vasquez has been solid in Fredericksburg with a 2.55 ERA, which is slightly deceptive, with 12 BB and 13 K and a 1.47 WHIP in 17.2 IP. But still a solid start.
But perhaps best among them is Daison Acosta, who’s been playing in Harrisburg. He has a 2.25 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and 22 K in only 16 IP.
After not making use of the minor league portion for several years, it looks like it’s paying dividends.
On looking at the success of our recent R5 picks, it made me realize there’s a pretty big traffic jam in the advancement of our relief pitchers at the moment. The emphasis on signing AAAA MILB FAs in Rochester has really had downstream effects on the entire state of our pitching farm system. I know AA is now where the real player development occurs these days, but we have a bunch of watchlist guys in Harrisburg who are repeating the level from last season, partly because they’re blocked by other arms in Rochester, which has blocked the promotions of players in A+ and then again blocked players in A-. Let me explain.
Here is a list of arms that are both 1) relief pitchers 2) pitching well and 3) repeating the level they finished 2023, i.e. players whose development has stalled at the moment. It’s a surprisingly big list.
In Fredericksburg:
Bubba Hall – 2.08 ERA, 0.58 WHIP (!), 21:1 K:BB (!)
Thomas Schultz – 1.47 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 22:8 K:BB
Moises Diaz – 0.00 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 10:4 K:BB
Marc Davis – 3.38 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 20:10 K:BB
Kevin Rodriguez – 1.96 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 13:8 K:BB
Samuel Vasquez – 2.25 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 13:12 K:BB
In Wilmington (this is after several arms were just promoted, including Miguel Gomez, who got his 2nd promotion of the short season!), you have:
Wander Arias – 2.30 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 15:9 K:BB
I’d normally include Marquis Grissom here too, but he isn’t repeating the level.
In Harrisburg:
Daison Acosta – 2.25 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 22:6 K:BB
Jack Sinclair – 1.62 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, 17:3 K:BB
Tyler Schoff – 2.87 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 18:4 K:BB
Orlando Ribalta – 1.29 ERA, 1.07 WHIP; 25:5 K:BB
Samuel Reyes – 3.38 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 15:8 K:BB
Overall, this is a “good problem”. We could easily have a long list of player repeating – and failing – at their level. But we need to make sure that the older players who have demonstrated mastery of their level quickly advance up the farm ladder, and that’s not really happening at the moment. Like what is Thomas Schultz, a relatively polished college arm out of Vanderbilt and a 9th round pick, still doing in low A ball at nearly age 25? He has a 2.73 ERA and sub 1.00 WHIP across nearly a full season there.
Hope we’ll see some more movement soon!
Sykora has a unique delivery as he steps back and rocks once then goes home. however sometimes he rocked twice and occasionally skipped this move entirely and basically quick pitched home. he got a couple Ks from that last move. he was also getting more than a few strikes on the outside that the RH hitters were not happy with as well as a significant number of non-competitive pitches. FB was mid-nineties and slider got a lot of strikes. progress will be interesting to watch
There also seems to be a traffic jam of position players. There are a few guys in Fredericksburg who are 24, and were either drafted last year or were NDFAs. They’re killing it, but not getting promoted:
Gavin Dugas, 2B/3B/LF from LSU (6th rd) with an OPS of 1.001
Brandon Pimintel, 1B/LF/RF from MSU (ndfa) with an OPS of 837
Phillip Glasser SS/2B/LF from Indiana (10th rd) had an OPS of 1032 and got called up to A+ a week ago.