NationalsProspects.com

Sunday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 4-2 vs. Syracuse, 1:05 p.m. Rutledge (1-1, 8.44) vs. Hamel (1-1, 5.16)
Harrisburg Won, 5-3 vs. Altoona, 1 p.m. Cuevas (1-0, 3.38) vs Solometo (0-1, 6.23)
Wilmington Postponed vs. Hudson Valley, 1:05 p.m. Lara (2-3, 2.28) vs. Schlittler (3-0, 1.29)
Fredericksburg Won, 3-1 vs. Down East, 5:05 p.m. Sthele (0-1, 4.50) vs. Curtis (1-1, 1.59)
FCL Nationals OFF DAY OFF DAY

Syracuse 4 Rochester 2
• Adon (L, 1-3) 5IP, 7H, 4R, 4ER, 4BB, 3K, HBP, BK
• Gsellman 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Dunn 2-4, R, HR, RBI
• Wood 1-4, 2B(10), 2K
• 0-5 RISP, 7 LOB

The Red Wings bats fell silent in the late innings in a 4-2 loss to the Mets. Joan Adon ran his streak of non-quality starts to 12 while giving up all four Syracuse runs on seven hits and four walks over five frames to lose for the third time in ’24. Jack Dunn broke up the no-hitter with a single in the 2nd and ended the shutout with a solo HR in the 4th. James Wood’s 10th double pushed Darren Baker to third before a sac fly plated the second Red Wings run. That would be the first of 13 batters retired until Carter Kieboom’s pinch-hit single with two out in the 9th.

Harrisburg 5 Altoona 3
• Luckham 5IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 5K, HR
• Powell (W, 1-1) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Schoff (SV, 2) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Hassell 3-5, 2RBI, SB
• Vega 1-3, 2R, BB, HR, RBI
• Crews 1-3, BB, 3B

It remains a tale of two cities in Central PA, with Harrisburg rallying in the bottom of the 8th for its seventh straight win while Altoona’s skid extended to 15. Robert Hassell’s two-sun single – his third of the game – was the killshot and made a winner out of Holden Powell, who worked around a single in the top of the 8th. Tyler Schoff cordero’d around two singles in the 9th for the save. Kyle Luckham gave up all three Altoona runs on three hits, including a two-run HR. Onix Vega hit his first HR while Dylan Crews his his second triple to pace the Senators offense.



Hudson Valley vs. Wilmington – PPD

Rain claimed the penultimate game of the Blue Rocks-Renegades series. It’ll be made up when Hudson Valley returns to Wilmington on June 4 &ndah; 9. Roster moves: LHP Matt Cronin reassigned from the FCL.

Fredericksburg 3 Down East 1
• Davis 3IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 4K, PO @ 1B
• R. Garcia (W, 1-0) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Schultz (SV, 6) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Quintana 1-3, BB, 2B, 2RBI
• Colmenares 2-3, R, HR, RBI, HBP

Roismar Quintana’s two-run double would prove to be enough but Jose Colmenares added an insurance run with a solo shot in the 8th as Fredericksburg won its third straight, 3-1. Marc Davis, recovering from… wait for it… Tommy Joghn surgery, tossed three no-hit innings before giving way to MLB Rehab Robert Garcia. Garcia struck out four over two perfect innings to pick up the win. Mikey Tepper gave up one run over three for the hold while Thomas Schultz struck out two in the 9th for his 6th save. Roster moves: LF Joey Gallo, LHP Robert Garcia assigned from Washington for MLB Rehab.

FCL Nationals – OFF DAY
Yesterday was the beginning of the 2024 FCL Season, but the F-Nats do not play until tomorrow.
Roster moves: LHP Dannel Diaz reassigned from Wilmington; CF Moises Gallardo placed on the 7-day I.L.

14 Commments

  1. Hassell is red hot. He’s hitting .455/.471/.697 over his past 8 games, with a fantastic .341/.434/.471 for the season. He was always supposed to have elite contact skills, but limited power, which is proving to be accurate. But I think this is the first time since he was acquired nearly two years ago that we’ve actually seen the good version of Hassell. He immediately hit a slump upon joining from the Padres, then broke his hand, and the rest was history. It’s really exciting to finally get a glimpse of the player he was hyped up to be. But this is also his 3rd season in AA, so let him enjoy a bit more time mashing in Harrisburg, but Rochester should be soon in his future.

    With Hassell’s reemergence and Young’s unexpected emergence, our OF situation has only gotten more crowded. Unfortunately, the established veterans are all playing themselves out of roles. Thomas’ 2nd half struggles in 2023 continued into this season. Over his past 100 games, he hitting a mere .226/.277/.387. Jesse Winker started the season hot going .373/.500/.608 in his first 16 games. But in his most recent 16 games, he’s hit .156/.236/.266. The less said about Rosario, the better. And Robles still can’t stay healthy, and Stone Garrett looks like that whatever lightning in a bottle he caught in 2023 might have disappeared with his leg injury. All that to say, there isn’t much blocking the raft of prospects increasingly quickly rising to the top levels.

    Young has been a revelation. Wood isn’t terrorizing AAA pitching, but he’s quietly been very good doing all the fundamentals right. His 142 wRC+ is currently the 17th best among all batters in the International League.

    I’ve already said enough about Hassell, but Crews and Pinckney are still struggling to find consistency, and Lile is playing well in A+ and could get a boost to AA soon to replace Hassell, putting him a step closer to the big leagues as well.

    Then there’s also the “non-prospects”, who like Jacob Young, could surprise. Jake Alu didn’t impress in his first stint, but shouldn’t be written off just yet. Darren Baker is primarily a 2B, but the Nats seem to like him in LF too, and he’s currently hitting a Young-esque .325/.406/.373 in Rochester. And Travis Blankenhorn is the posterboy of a AAAA player, who could always turn into a decent OF, not unlike Lane Thomas.

    Right now, there’s still time to see how this all shakes out. But I expect to see some trades at the deadline, to relieve some of the pressure that will begin to become problematic in 2025. But it’s the good sort of problem to have. Much better that than having too few prospects at a given position!

    1. Do you see any prospects at 1B who could reach the majors? Anything at all?

      1. the prospect ranking at 1B is Morales, White and Quintana with Yepez and Blankenhorn as AAAA players. of that list Morales is closest but not before ’26 at this point

        1. Where would Pimentel rank? The undrafted player began his pro career last year at 23 with 35 AB in Rookie League but is red hot right now.

          1. until he gets to a higher level and has success you have to be skeptical

    2. JR using his sinker / cutter heavy through 3 IP
      Blakenhorn strikes again !

  2. At some point in the near future, say June 1, DFA Rosario, bring up Wood, promote Hassell to AAA and Lile to AA.

  3. Within the five day cycle of schedule for each affiliate I always have my eyes on Lara’s progress , Cuevas stretching out to 6 IP despite not a high K production . JRs mechanics
    I was comparing Adon and Irwin last night
    Both had high pitched counts . Irwin had the Bennie of an error making his 4 runs unearned

  4. FCL Nats outfield : Tavares , Peoples Acevedo
    Wander Diaz grabs a 1 b glove for FCL until a guy comes out of the 24 draft ?

    1. And Joel Hanrahan is Rehab pitching coach, and Destin Hood also on the coaching staff.

      Blast from the past there…

Comments are closed.