Friday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 8-6 | @ Syracuse, 6:35 p.m. | Watkins (4-2, 4.43) vs. Buttó (3-2, 3.45) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 5-4 (11 inn.) |
vs. Hartford, 7 p.m. | Lara (3-1, 3.06) vs Albright (3-4, 3.99) |
| Wilmington | Won, 4-2 | vs. Aberdeen, 6:30 p.m. | Cavalli (MLB Rehab) vs. Wells (0-4, 6.92) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 4-2 | vs. Down East, 7:05 p.m. | Susana (1-6, 6.10) vs. Gonzalez (1-3, 1.41) |
| FCL Nationals | OFF DAY | vs. FCL Mets, 12 p.m. | |
| DSL Nationals | Won, 6-5 | vs. DSL Arizona Red, 11 a.m. |
Syracuse 8 Rochester 6
• Adon 4⅓ IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 3K, 2HR
• Ribalta (BS, 2) 1⅔ IP, 1H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 2K, HR
• Willingham (BS, 2; L, 1-3) 1⅓ IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Lindsly 2-3, R, RBI, SAC, E
• Ramírez 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI
• Baker 2-4, R, RBI
The Rochester ‘pen gave up runs in three of the four innings in which it appeared as Syracuse overcame deficits of 3-1 and 6-5 to beat the Red Wings, 8-6. Joan Adon muddled through four and a 1/3rd innings, giving up three runs on two home runs and four runs total on five hits. He walked on and struck out three. Orlando Ribalta and Amos Willingham both fell victim to the longball and blew their second save, with Willinham losing for the third time. Harold Ramírez walked, doubled, and singled while Brady Lindsly, Darren Baker, and Carter Kiebook each had two singles in Rochester’s ten-hit parade. Roster moves: RHP Brad Lord promoted from Harrisburg.
Hartford 5 Harrisburg 4 (11 inn.)
• Luckham 8⅓ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 4K, HR, HBP, WP, 79-61, PIT-K
• S. Reyes (L, 4-2) 1IP, 1H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K, HR
• Lawson 2-5, 2R
• Lile 2-5, 2K
For the second straight game, the wheels came off the bus in the 9th as the Yard Goats erased a 2-0 deficit to force extras, homered in the 11th to go up 5-3, and held on for a 5-4 win. Kyle Luckham was on pace for the rare, nine-inning shutout when he gave up a leadoff HR, hit batter, threw a wild pitch that Raudy Read Onix Vega couldn’t handle, then gave up a single to lose the lead. The loss went to Samuel Reyes, who served up the aforementioned two-run HR in the 11th. Cortland Lawson and Daylen Lile both singled twice while Dérmis Garcia and Cody Wilson collected doubles and J.T. Arruda tripled to lead the Sens offense.
Wilmington 4 Aberdeen 2
• Cáceres (W, 1-3) 5IP, 3H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Cronin (SV, 2) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 4K, 1-1 IR-S, E
• De La Rosa 1-2, 2R, 2BB, HR, RBI
• Thomas 1-2, R, BB, RBI, SB
The Blue Rocks got two-spots in both the 5th and 6th innings and held on for a 4-2 win to close out the first half. Bryan Cáceres picked up his first win with five scoreless innings with three hits, no walks, and one whiff. Matt Cronin got the last five outs to earn the save, his second of ’24. Jeremy De La Rosa homered, walked twice, and scored twice while Johnathan Thomas reached base twice with a walk and a safety while stealing his 13th base. Roster moves: RHP Luke Farrell rehab assignment transferred from the FCL.
Fredericksburg 4 Down East 2
• Sykora 5IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 8K, HBP
• M. Diaz (W, 3-1) 1IP, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 1K
• Vasquez (SV, 3) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• Infante 2-4, R, RBI, CS
• Quintana 2-4,
The FredNats rallied for three in the bottom of the 8th to double up the Wood Ducks, 4-2 and secure a 4th-place finish in the 1st half. Travis Sykora spun five innings of one-run ball on one hit, two walks, and a hit batsman. He struck out eight. Sammy Infante and Roismar Quintana both singled twice while Marcus Brown and Nate Ochoa had one saefty apiece to account for the six-hit offense. Moises Diaz got the win despite giving up the go-ahead run in the topf of the 8th.
DSL Nationals 6 DSL Cardinals 5
• Reynoso 2⅔ IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 5BB, 1K, WP
• Robles 2⅔ IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB, 2K, 2-1 IR-S
• Familia (W, 2-0) 2IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• Liriano 2-4, R
• Feliz 2-4, 2R, 3B, RBI, SB, E(5)
• Solano 1-3, R, 2B, RBI, CS
The DSL Nationals blew an early 4-0 lead to fall behind 5-4 but got two in the 8th to clip the DSL Cardinals, 6-5. 17-y.o. Franniel Reynoso made his first start but was flapped for three runs on three hits and five (5) walks over two and 2/3rds innings. Jeffrey Familia blanked the D-Cards over the last two frames to get the win. 17-y.o. Angel Feliz singled, tripled, scored two runs, stole his sixth base, and committed his fifth error while Hector Liriano singled twice and scored once to power the D-Nats attack.
through eight innings Luckham threw 65 pitches, 54 of which were strikes. I haven’t watched his performance but I will, it shouldn’t take long.
Wow! That’s an ambitious promotion for Lord. Not underserved in the slightest, but it’s an incredibly impressive rise for a player who had a perfectly mediocre 4.04 ERA season last year. We need really need a bunch of these unexpected breakout prospects, like Jacob Young and Mitchell Parker. Maybe Lord is next in line.
Matt Cronin, another outing, another dominant performance. Why is he in Wilmington?
Sykora, another outing, another very good performance. Looks like a promotion is in store at some point in the not too distant future.
Lastly, for the first time in several years, there’s a batter worth highlighting (for good reasons) in the comments. Dashyll Tejeda is repeating the level, but he hit his first HR yesterday to bring his line up to a very impressive .318/.412/.545. Not reflected here is that he’s also managed to steal 16 bases in only 12 games (19 times reaching base and 44 ABs). If you factored the extra bases he’s advanced via running into his SLG, it would jump to 1.091, lol.
*A batter worth highlighting *in the DSL* in the comments
when I watch Lord I see Craig Stammen. last year his stats back this up with a lot of ground ball outs. this year his results are a lot better but he seems to have transitioned to working higher in the zone. whether that plays at higher levels remains to be seen. a good story nonetheless for an 18th rounder.
All systems go with Sykora so far. Just keep that elbow happy!
On the flip side, bonus baby Victor Hurtado is off to a very slow start in the DSL, hitting .146 after 11 games, with 12 Ks. Maybe he turns into a good player on down the road, but the prospect lists that put him in the current Nats’ top 10-15 are truly laughable.
And yes, kudos to Brad Lord. He’s certainly making the most of his opportunities.
It’s interesting. Certainly, if there was a system-wide draft for a 4 team Nats farm version of the AFL, Hurtado would be like the 100th person drafted. But that’s not what the prospect lists are trying to measure.
Pipeline has him 13th and I have him 16th using their rules with the 45 days. Bennett, Rutledge and Lara are the three I move over him, and I honestly think the value of those four are all pretty close. Looking at the next 10-15 on the list, I’m struggling to see anyone who could be argued as clearly better.
Who else do you have ranked over Hurtado? Would you be happy if we traded Hurtado for a prospect like Alvarez or Made or White? I don’t think that’s clear at all.
I actually think Hurtado is pretty correctly ranked. Certainly less glaring than Green being so high, or Lara so low. I’d also nitpick on Herz being too low; he should be in the “just outside the top 100” range given his upside despite his command-related bust risk, but I’ve been the high guy on him since the Candy trade.
While not a Nats prospect, the third pitcher from the 2023 draft will be starting an MLB game tonight. The first is obviously Paul Skenes; the second was another 1st round pick Thurston Waldrep, who started against the Nats, got hammered and is on the IL.
The third is Jake Bloss. Who was a senior at Georgetown last year, and the Astros took in the 3rd round to save money. Bloss signed for the smallest bonus of any third round pick. Now, less than a year after getting drafted Bloss starts against the Orioles (the highest scoring team in MLB).