Thursday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 5-3 | @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:35 p.m. | Ward (1-1, 4.24) vs. Tully (0-2, 4.60) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 4-0 | @ New Hampshire, 6:35 p.m. | Lord (1-1, 2.28) vs Macko (0-1, 4.70) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 2-1 | @ Jersey Shore, 6:35 p.m. | TBD vs. Jimenez (1-4, 6.17) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 4-2 | @ Charleston, 7:05 p.m. | Atencio (2-1, 3.18) vs.Nichols (1-2, 3.93) |
| FCL Nationals | Won, 5-4 | OFF DAY |
Scranton/Wilkes Barre 5 Rochester 3
• Herz 2⅔ IP, 1H, 2R, 2ER, 7BB, 2K, 70-32 PIT-K
• Gsellman 3⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 4K, 3-0 IR-S
• Willingham (BS, 1; L, 1-2) 1IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 0K, HR, 2-0 IR-S
• Wood 2-3, 2R, BB, 2HR, 3RBI
• Dunn 1-4, 2B
James Wood homered twice and drove in all three runs, but Amos Willingham gave them all back in the bottom of the 9th for a 5-3 Rochester loss. DJ Herz walked seven of 15 batters faced, leaving after two runs let in over two and 2/3rds innings. Until the meltdown, the Red Wings relievers kept the RailRiders off track, led by Robert Gsellman with three and a 1/3rd scoreless and three stranded in the 3rd. Jackson Cluff and Jack Dunn both doubled while Brady Lindsly singled to round out the five-hit attack. Roster moves: RHP Matt Barnes outrighted from Washington.
New Hampshire 4 Harrisburg 0
• Knowles (L, 1-1) 3IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 4K
• S. Reyes 3IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 3K, HR, WP
• Hassell 2-3, BB
• D. Garcia 1-3, BB
Harrisburg was shut out for the second time this season, 4-0. Lucas Knowles made the spot start in place of Cole Henry and gave up the first two New Hampshire runs on five hits and a walk over three innings. Robert Hassell singled twice, Dérmis Garcia singled once, while the rest of the lineup went 0-for-23, including 0-for-5 with RISP.
Jersey Shore 2 Wilmington 1
• Lara (L, 2-4) 7IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 2K, HR
• Collins 1IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• Lile 1-3, SF, RBI, HBP, SB(10)
• Suggs 1-3, 2B, BB
• 0-8 RISP, 10 LOB
Andry Lara turned in a quality start and threw a career-high seven innings but took the loss as the BlueCLaws pinched the Blue Rocks, 2-1. Lara gave up both Jersey runs on five hits (one HR) while walking one and striking out two for his fourth loss. Daylen Lile and Terone Harris both singled while Matt Suggs and Kevin Made doubled, with the lone run scoring on a Lile sac fly in the 3rd.
Fredericksburg 4 Charleston 2
• Sykora 3⅔ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 2K, HR
• Polanco (W, 4-0) 4⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 3K, 1-0 IR-S
• Baldo (SV, 1) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, HBP
• Brown 2-4, R, 2K
• Quintana 1-4, R, HR, 3RBI, 2K
Fredericksburg got four in the 1st and five and 1/3rd scoreless inning from the bullpen to double up Charleson, 4-2. Travis Sykora made it to the 4th but let in both RiverDogs runs on a two-run HR and four hits total over three and 2/3rds. The win went to Bryan Polanco, who stranded one in the 4th and put up four goose eggs. Merrick Baldo loaded the bases after getting two outs but not before he struck out the last batter to earn the save. Roismar Quintana drove in three with his first HR while Caleb Farmer added a solo HR to account for the four FredNats runs.
FCL Nationals 5 FCL Cardinals 4
• B. Romero 3IP, 4H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 4K, HR
• A. Roman (W, 1-0) 3IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 6K
• Ju. Garcia 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI
• Arias 1-3, R, 2B, RBI
• Mota 1-5, 2B, RBI, 3K
The F-Nats dug themselves out of a 4-0 hole with a four-run 6th to clip the F-Cards, 5-4. Brayan Romero got the start and was charged with two runs (one earned) on four hits (one HR). He struck out four. Juan Garcia went 2-for-4 with a two-run HR while Jorgelys Mota and Luis Arias both doubled to lead the FCL Nationals offense.
The “promote Wood” drumbeat grows louder.
Arguably as impressive as Wood is Hassell, now batting .344/.435/.462. Whenever Wood finally gets the nod, Hassell is the logical replacement. Or, if Garrett continues to struggle, Hassell and Wood could find themselves teammates again soon.
I was saying Herz is the new Jekyll-and-Hyde pitcher on our team, but he’s been all Hyde so far this season. I know his control has always been an issue, but this is a whole other level (10.45 BB/9). It’s quite a surprise given how good he was in both AA and the AFL…
When to call up James Wood is an interesting question. At this point, I don’t think service time is driving it. He still has things to work on (e.g., his 2024 numbers against lefties are bad: .185/.267/.333 BA/OBP/SLG; yesterday’s two taters were his first HR’s since April 11; his defense is up and down), and I don’t think the Nats want to yoyo him between Rochester and DC. Would guess that if he rakes, he will be up before July, but think there are valid reasons to let him thrive at AAA for a little longer before the call up.
Perhaps the timing of Woods promotion followed by Hassell heading up to ROCH coincides with Lile being ready for a bump and JDL 100 pct
Maybe, though I think that kind of thing makes more sense when the “more important” prospect is forcing promotion from the lower level. You might slow walk it a bit while you figure out how to rearrange the less important pieces that are blocking him. Like Lipscomb getting pushed up by House last year. The last thing I’d do is include JDLR, or even Lile, in the calculus for Wood and Hassell. You can always just temporarily fill in with an org guy, and at worst lose a few games in the minors that you don’t really care about.
I’d say there are only three factors controlling the timing of Wood’s promotion: (1) maximizing his long term development, (2) what the team believes gives us the best chance to win games in the majors this season and (3) playing service time games around team control, super-2, and/or wanting him to be PPI eligible next season.
As to how to allocate influence among those three buckets, well, I suspect we each have our opinions.
Luis Reyes has been in the Nats organization for 12 years now, quite amazing. He’s having a good year so far too.
Luis Reyes should be a future pitching coach for somebody .
I read the Barry Svrluga article on James Wood with interest. The article said that there is no service time manipulation involved, and that Wood will be under Nats control in 2030 whether he promoted now or later.
But Super Two still exists, right? If so, it’s possible that bringing him up will get him to arbitration a year early. (Super Two allows top 22% in service time after two years to get arb, I think).
As far as baseball reasons, his relative lack of power this season (until the latest 2 home runs) and the numbers against lefties were cited as reasons to keep Wood where he is.