Monday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 6-1 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 6-2 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Wilmington | Postponed | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Fredericksburg | Lost, 6-4 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| FCL Nationals | OFF DAY | @ FCL Mets, 12 p.m. |
Rochester 6 Syracuse 1
• Rutledge (W, 2-1) 6IP, 3H, 0R, 1BB, 6K
• Bleier 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Blankenhorn 2-4, R, HR, 3RBI
• Millas 2-4, 2B, 2RBI
• Baker 1-4, 2R, BB, SB
Rochester led this one from start to finish, losing the shutout in the 9th but taking the game, 6-1 to secure a series split. Jackson Rutledge spun six scoreless innings with three hits and one walk allowed to earn his second win. He struck out six and notched his first quality start of ’24. Travis Blankenhorn drove in three with solo HR and two-run single while Drew Millas plated two with an RBI single and an RBI double to lead the Red Wings’ offense.
Altoona 6 Harrisburg 2
• Cuevas (L, 1-1) 5IP, 6H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB, 3K, HR
• Acosta 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 0K, 1-0 IR-S
• House 2-3, BB
• D. Garcia 2-4
In the series finale, the sun shifted from the canine prosterior of the Senators to that of the Curve, which won 6-2 to end a 15-game losing streak. Michael Cuevas took the loss, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits (one HR) and a walk while setting down three on strikes. Braady House and Dérmis Garcia both singled twice while the rest of the Harrisburg lineup went 2-for-24.
Hudson Valley vs. Wilmington – PPD
SSDG – Wilmington and Hudson Valley were rained out again. It will be made up at a later date, most likely when the Renegades visit next month.
Down East 6 Fredericksburg 4
• Sthele (L, 0-2) 1⅔ IP, 6H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 3K
• M. Diaz 2⅓ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 2-1 IR-S
• Denaburg ⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K, 3-0 IR-S
• Cruz 2-4, 2R, 2B, BB, RBI
• Quintana 2-4, R, BB, 2B
The FredNats’ modest three-game win streak came to an end with a 6-4 loss to the Wood Ducks. Travis Sthele, working on six days’ rest, was sent packing after 13 batters as Down East paddled him for five runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three in his second loss. Five relievers combined for a near shutout until Merrick Baldo gave up a homer in the 9th and loaded the bases before Mason Denaburg came on to end the threat. Rehabbing Joey Gallo homered while Armando Cruz and Roismar Quintana both went 2-for-4 with a double to pace the Fredericksburg offense.
FCL Nationals – OFF DAY
So far, no more transactions to pass along as the FCL Nationals start their tour of the FCL East with trips to Port St. Lucie today, Jupiter on Thursday, and home games tomorrow, Wednesday, and Saturday.
About a month into the season, there’s been the usual amount of ups-and-downs among prospects. Just take the top 10 to illustrate this: Good (Wood, Hassell, Susana), Bad (Morales, Green, Vaquero), Mixed (Crews, House, Lile), Unrated (Cavalli). But what’s most impressive is how successful the affiliates have been. Each team is above .500, and cumulatively 19 games above .500. Without doing the research, I’m pretty confident we have never come close to a season with all 5 full season teams being above .500. I think this is partly showing a healthy dose of luck (Wilmington has no right being 15-10, their pythag suggests they’re a 11-14 team), but also a significant improvement to the quality of depth to our system. The emergence of “non-prospects” like Dugas, Pimentel, Glasser and Dunn with the bat, and quality arms like Alvarez, Lord, Ribalta, Schoff and Grissom has played a big role. Forget our inability to develop bluechip prospects, we’ve also for a long time been unable to develop these depth/role player types either. All the aforementioned guys were drafted (or in the case of two, not drafted at all) before the 10th round, except Glasser and Dugas, who both were overdrafts and signed for massively underslot (both for a mere $20k).
Now, if we could get more consistency from the bluechips, then that would make things all the more easier. Hope Rutledge, Denaburg, Cruz and Green’s solid outings yesterday are the start of these former highly bluechip prospects getting back on track. We’re going to need at least a few of them have things click to make this rebuild smoother.
Oops, that should read “drafted AFTER the 10th round”. It’s early.
As of yesterday the Nats system is # 1 in all the majors with a 59.6% winning percentage.
watching Rutledge yesterday was a preview of what he can be, Tanner Roark 2.0. throwing primarily his cutter/sinker he did not have a ball hit out of the infield until the sixth inning. he has also reintroduced his curveball as well as going back to his original delivery. now if he can string together some more of these starts he might find a way into the big club rotation before seasons end. that’s a big if.
Here’s the OPS leaders in the system. Nice to see Robert Hassell here. Also Daylen Lile at age 21 doing well in WMT . There are some “too-old-for-the-level” people at the top end.
(70 AB)
1. Dugas FBG 1039
2. Glasser FBG/WMT 992
3. Blankenhorn ROC 980
4 Pimintel FBG 937
5 Dunn ROC 923
6. Hassell HRB 905
7. Wood ROC 895
8. House HRB 840
9. Lile WMT 804
10. Yepez ROC 779
Drew Millas has for a pretty long while seemed like an MLB catcher to me. He is 26. He’s just stuck behind two other guys at the MLB level. How would you rate defensively the three catchers, 1-2-3: Ruiz, Riley Adams and Millas? Maybe Rizzo is thinking about packaging Adams or Millas for a promising pitching prospect. Given how scarce and valuable catchers are at the MLB level, you could get a good one. I would keep the better catcher defensively. Of course, keeping all three is a nice luxury too.
Of those three catchers, Millas is – by some margin – the best defensively. Adams and Ruiz are both below average, but in the past couple seasons Ruiz has been very bad, while Adams has only been below average.
Ruiz was meant to have – by some margin – the best bat of the three, but that hasn’t really materialized. He’s had some hot spells, but an equal share of terrible spells (this season included), while Adams and Millas have been surprisingly good, so the big advantage Ruiz had offensively, doesn’t meaningfully exist anymore. Here’s their career lines in the majors:
A: .250/.304/.381
B: .224/.305/.391
C: .265/.342/.412
Millas is C, Adams B and Ruiz A. Coupled altogether, Ruiz has the worst bat and the worst glove. That’s really disappointing, but the big problem (besides the $50m sunk cost) is that Ruiz is out of options, so for better or worse, we’re stuck with him working things out in the majors. But will Riley Adams pay the price for Ruiz’s struggles? He at least still has an option remaining. In retrospect, I wonder if the Nats milked Ruiz’s bout with the flu, to try and give him a reset and rehab, and if his struggles continue, I wonder if they’ll “find” that he’s been carrying an injury that will also require an extended rehab period.
Millas was always rated a superior defensive catcher.
The Athletic after being drafted by Oakland
Outlook: Millas is considered one of the top defensive college catchers in this draft. An excellent athlete with decent speed for a catcher, Millas moves well behind the plate and has a strong throwing arm. He calls his own game and is advanced enough defensively that he might be able to jump right to full-season ball.
Baseball Prospectus
Glove 60 Smooth and athletic behind the plate; good lateral quickness helps to block pitches well, soft hands, receives well.
Arm 60 Strong, accurate throwing arm; Transfers the ball quickly, making it tough to run on him.
if the team was seriously contending right now I’d guess Millas would be the number two catcher right now behind Ruiz. I think they’re hoping that Riley gets hot and they can flip him for something if not a promising return. I still see a future for Ruiz here along with improvement
Literal blast from the past last night in Giant-Philthies game: Jakson Reetz 1st ML homer
Another blast from the past: Eddy Yean, former Nats farmhand, was credited with the win for Altoona yesterday against us.