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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 2-1 vs. Syracuse, 1:05 p.m. Herz (0-1, 3.12) vs. Vasil (0-2, 10.91)
Harrisburg Won, 5-4 vs. Altoona, 5:05 p.m. Henry (0-1, 2.53) and Knowles (1-0, 1.59) vs.
Ashcraft (0-1, 6.91) and TBD
Wilmington Lost, 13-10
(11 inn.)		 vs. Hudson Valley, 6:35 p.m. Cornelio (1-3, 6.00) vs. Keane (1-2, 5.63)
Fredericksburg Lost, 6-3 vs. Down East, 7:05 p.m. Atencio (1-1, 2.04) vs. Drake (0-0, 1.08)

Rochester 2 Syracuse 1
• Watkins 6IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 5K
• R. Garcia (W, 4-0) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 3K, WP
• Millas 3-4, R, 2B, HR, RBI
• Garrett 1-3, BB

Drew Millas walked ’em off with a solo HR in the 9th as the Red Wings clipped the Mets, 2-1. Spenser Watkins allowed the lone Syracuse run on four hits and two walks over six innings. He struck out five. Rico Garcia won for the fourth time as he cordero’d around a single and a walk in 9th. Millas also singled and doubled while Stone Garrett and Carter Kieboom both reached base twice on a single and a walk.

Harrisburg 5 Altoona 4
• Alvarez 6IP, 5H, 0R, 1BB, 5K
• Tice (BS, 1) 4BF, 3H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 0K, HR
• Sinclair (W, 1-0) 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, HBP, 1-1 IR-S
• D. Garcia 2-3, R, BB, SB
• Hassell 2-5, 2R, 2B, HR, RBI
• House 1-4, R, HR, RBI

The Senators followed the same script on Wednesday as Tuesday: Waste a stellar start, blow the lead, cover for poor RISP hitting with the longball. Andrew Alvarez shut out Altoona for six innings on five hits and a walk while striking out five. He left with a 1-0 lead. Ty Tice put on four consecutive batters with a homer, walk, and two doubles and all four scored. He did not retire a batter. Harrisburg got two back in the 7th, one in the 8th, and Brady House sent the fans and dogs home happy with a walk-off homer on the second pitch he saw in the bottom of the 9th.



Hudson Valley 13 Wilmington 10 (11 inn.)
• L. Young 5⅓ IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 3K, 3HR
• Grissom (L, 1-1) 1IP, 2H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 0K
• Boisserie 3-5, R, BB, HR, 4RBI
• Lile 2-4, 2R, 2B, 2BB, RBI, CS
• White 1-5, R, BB, RBI
• Made 0-2, R, 4BB

Branden Boisserie’s Earl Weaver special with one out in the tied the game at 7-7 and sent the game into extras. Alas, the Blue Rocks batters couldn’t keep pace with the throw…er, relievers who were torched for three runs in both the 10th and 11th innings to lose, 13-10. Luke Young gave up four runs on three homers and six hits total over five and a 1/3rd innings for a no-decision. The loss went to Marquis Grissom with three runs let in (two earned) on two hits and two walks in the 11th. T.J. White also homered while Kevin Made drew four of the 13 Wilmington walks.
Wilmington

Down East 6 Fredericksburg 3
• Sykora (L, 0-1) 2+ IP, 4H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB, 3K, E, 52-30 PIT-K
• Polanco 5IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 2K, HR, 2-1 IR-S
• Farmer 1-2
• Green 1-4, R, HR, RBI, 2K

Travis Sykora’s pro debut was less than stellar as the 20-y.o. Texan was knocked for three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk. He struck out three and threw 52 pitches, 30 for strikes. Bryan Polanco followed with five inning of two-run relief, which should have been good enough but the Fredericksburg offense was limited to two singles and an Elijah Green homer. Two walks and an error led to two runs in the 8th, but they could not repeat the feat in the 9th and went down in order.

18 Commments

  1. nice article on Parker in the WaPo by Andrew Golden, 2nd day in a row they’ve focused on the prospects.

    I guess Jared Serna of the Renegades missed the memo on Frawley Stadium, going deep three times.

  2. Let’s hear it for young joining the 5 club Wednesday .
    Today feels like Friday .

  3. With all the catching instability, Millas has only played 10 games in the minors so far this season, but he’s hitting a solid .267/.313/.533 so far. Maybe injuries will avoid having to make tougher decisions, but the Nats’ two catchers are currently hitting .143/.222/.265 and .218/.274/.400. If the Nats hadn’t committed $50m to Keibert Ruiz, would he still be guaranteed a starting job?

    Kevin Made has cooled off mightily. Yes, he had 4 BB yesterday, but he’s now 2 for his last 20, and his line has dropped to .263/.406/.329. The jump in an already solid walk rate is a very nice surprise, but the power has still not developed as prospectors had predicted. Still, a big improvement on last season.

    Is Robert Hassell quietly rebuilding his prospect status? His current line of .314/.422/.471 is better than any previous stint at any level, which had merited his inclusion in most top 50 prospects lists. Despite all the ups and downs, he’s still only 22 and a year and a half younger than AA average, and only 6 months older than uber prospect and outfield mate, Dylan Crews. Very exciting to see what a healthy Hassell can do!

    Speaking of Crews, any word on why he sat yesterday? Is the hamstring still bothering him? Is he getting the same fragile treatment workload as House last season? Was it the weather again (though 75 and sunny shouldn’t be)? Or something else?

    1. Drew Millas should be in the MLB. He has produced at every level, and he is a + defensive catcher (unlike Ruiz).

      1. I would replace Adams with him today, I always favor defense for backup players, even more so for catcher

        1. Unfortunately, the back up catcher is both currently the better hitter and the better defender.

          Martinez has talked about using Ruiz more at DH. Unfortunately, it’s largely just been talk, as Ruiz has DH’d only one game so far this season. If Meneses continues to slug .250, it could be a win-win for everyone. I still struggle to understand why Meneses has become untouchable. He still has 3 unused options, and could really work on making better hard contact in the hitter-friendly International League.

    2. I haven’t heard anything on Crews.
      Maybe day game after a night game? He is in the game 1 lineup tonight.

  4. I said it before and I’ll say it again, that the Nats remaining “haul “ from the Sherzer/ Turner trade is Gray and Ruiz is utterly pathetic,

      1. That saved Rizzo’s job – but it still has nothing to do with the Sherzer/Turner trade. It was terrible

        1. That’s the nature of projection MLB production on prospects. When the trade was made, MLB pipeline rated Gray and Ruiz as the #1 and #2 prospects in the Dodgers system (and the #56 and #57 overall prospects in MLB). Among the prospects each was rated higher than:

          – Shane McClanahan
          – Josh Jung
          – O’Neil Cruz
          – George Kirby
          – Cade Cavalli

          Sometimes even the most highly rated prospects don’t work out (the #1 rated prospect in baseball then was Wander Franco… Yikes; everyone coveted Sixto Sanchez who the Phillies eventually traded to the Marlins, and he is now awful).

          Not fair to judge the Turner/Scherzer trade (which didn’t really workout for the Dodgers) without including the Soto trade or the Jon Lester for Lane Thomas trade too. It was a massive sell-off, and a net gain for the Nats overall.

          1. Also, fair to point out that Gray is now hurt (which is impossible to project), and he was an all-star in 2023 (admittedly a questionable one).

            While its tiresome to watch Keibert Ruiz groundout to 2nd base AGAIN, would not completely give up on him yet.

          2. Eh, I don’t think it’s fair to say it didn’t work out for the Dodgers just because they failed to win the world series those years. Both players performed well for them. Averaging FG and BR, Max and Trea produced about 11 WAR for the Dodgers. (And Max was good in his only postseason with them. Trea was very good in 22 but not great in 21.)

            By the same method, the Nats have gotten about 4.5 WAR from Ruiz and Gray so far. Using $8M per WAR, and subtracting out salaries, that’s about $50M in surplus value for the Dodgers and about $25M in surplus value for the Nats. By the standard of Rizzo’s trades, it’s worse than most and, if you had to pick a winner right now, it would be the Dodgers.

            That said, I think we agree that many fans are way too down on Ruiz and Gray (especially Ruiz) and I expect the trade will end up around even. (Still not a top 10 Rizzo trade though…)

    1. I want Konnor Griffin if the new scouts like his hit tool. Power and speed combo is off the charts and he can play SS at least in the video I have seen. If not him I hope one of Smith or Burns drops, although Ciolek likes bats better.

  6. FCL is saying “Don’t you want me baby” Starting Monday. It will be interesting to see if anyone plays well enough to join Fburg later in the season. Mota and five 18-year olds from last years DSL squad. Is there enough time for Hurtado or Feliz to impress enough to get the call from the DSL? I hope we can “keep feeling fascination” after we see these guys in action.

    1. the big International signees rarely come stateside in the same year they sign. I’ve read it’s due to taxation of their bonus

      1. Not true. Over the years there have been plenty. Recently, Ethan Salas and Anthony Gutierrez staryed in the DSL and came over during the season.

        The bonus tax thing was a rumor about Vaquero, but not confirmed.

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