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Thursday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester ALL STAR BREAK ALL STAR BREAK N/A
Harrisburg ALL STAR BREAK ALL STAR BREAK N/A
Wilmington ALL STAR BREAK ALL STAR BREAK N/A
Fredericksburg ALL STAR BREAK ALL STAR BREAK N/A
FCL Nationals Won, 4-3 @ FCL Astros, 6:35 p.m.
DSL Nationals Won, 7-2 @ DSL Mariners, 11 a.m.

Rochester Red Wings, 13-5, 1st Place, 1GA, I.L. East – 51-40 Overall
With less than two weeks until the trade deadline, it’s important to consider how, when, or if the Nationals will shuffle the decks. The CW is a terrible MTV-wannabe network that relievers Dylan Floro and Kyle Finnegan will be the next relievers dealt, which means Washington will have to dip into the Red Wings bullpen – a move that may enable “stuck” relievers at AA and A+ to go George Jefferson. In the meantime, it’s another three-game I-90 series to open the post All-Star Break for the Red Wings.

Harrisburg Senators, 6-12, 6th place, 7GB, E.L. Southwest – 44-43 Overall
Harrisburg hosts New Hampshire for three before heading to the lovely confines of the Connecticut capital.

Wilmington Blue Rocks, 9-11, T4th Place, 6½GB, Sally Lg. North – 42-43 Overall
SSDY: It’s three games against the Ironbirds in Aberdeen this weekend for the Blue Rocks.

Fredericksburg Nationals, 16-5, 1st Place, 5GA, C.L. North – 51-36 Overall
This weekend the first-place FredNats head west to Salem for three games against the (tied for) second-place Red Sox.



FCL Nationals 4 FCL Cardinals 3
• B. Romero 4IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 7K
• R. Ramirez (BS, 2; W, 2-2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 2K, 3-1 IR-S
• Bloebaum (SV, 2) ⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Maricuto 3-3, R, BB, PB
• E. Ramirez 2-4, R

The F-Nats lost a 3-0 lead in the 8th but got in back on a single, error, and two walks to edge the F-Cards, 4-3. Six pitchers appeared for the FCL Nationals, starting with Brayan Romero with four scoreless, Jose Ferrer one goose egg, and Mikey Tepper for two donuts. Aldo Ramirez retired just two of seven batters faced in the 8th and allowed the first two runs before leaving with the bases loaded. He was lifted with two out and one on.

Reilin Ramirez walked in the tying run before getting a whiff to end the 9th. He went back out there in the 9th but was lifted after a two-out single. Adam Bloebaum ended the game with a whiff to get the save, his second. Jermaine Maricuto led the eight-single parade with three, followed by Enmanuel Ramirez with two. Roster moves: LHP Jose A. Ferrer reassigned to the FCL for MLB Rehab.

DSL Nationals 7 DSL Cubs Blue 2
• De La Cruz 4IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 6K, HR
• Reynoso (W, 1-1) 4IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 3K, HBP
• Requena 2-4, 2R, 3B, RBI
• Marmolejos 2-4, BB, RBI
• Tejeda 1-3, R, 2BB, 2SB(25), CS

The DSL Nationals scored six times in their final three “ups” to turn a 2-1 deficit into 7-2 win. Marlon De La Cruz went the first four and allowed by DSL Clubs Blue (Da Ba Dee) on five hits (one HR) and a walk. He struck out six. Franniel Reynoso went the next four, shutting out the D-Cubs Blue on two hits, two walks, and a Robles. He struck out three.

Angel Requena singled, tripled, and scored twice while Eddy Marmolejos reached base three times on two singles and a walk. The D-Nats were just 1-for-13 with RISP, the denominator inflated by nine walks and four steals. .

14 Commments

  1. Dashyll Tejeda is quietly having the best DSL Nats season in a decade. His OPS sits at .995 (.343/.461/.534) with almost as many walks (13) as strikeouts (14). He’s also nabbed 25 bases in only 89 plate appearance (that’s well over a 100 SB rate in full season ball). The last guy to hit as well as Tejeda was Davinson Pimental, a part of Robles’ 2014 class, who had a .993 OPS, who then put up a .411 OPS the following year stateside in the GCL, so who knows what we’ve got in Tejeda, but the fundamentals look solid. Will be watching him closely next season in Florida.

    1. Adon
      Ferrer
      Too bad Zach B s injuries railroaded his progress
      Blakenhorn should get promotion
      With Winkler traded

      1. Blankenhorn… why should he be promoted? He should not promoted if the Nats trade both Winker and Thomas.

        Blankenhorn is a 27 year-old non prospect, and his AAA numbers at Rochester have regressed: .223/.309/.459/.768. Blankenhorn has 98 Ks in 361 ABs. On top of those tepid AAA numbers, he is a below average defensive player.
        He is AAA roster filler. No reason to promote TB.

    3. Worth watching him next season for sure. DSL stats can be meaningless. Case in point: Davinson Pimental

  2. Speaking of Florida, can someone explain the logic to me of why the FCL/ACL season was moved forward? The developmental side of MILB was already dealt a crippling blow by eliminating short season ball in the NYPL and others. Moving the FCL forward now blocks all the draftees from playing the season they were drafted, which goes directly against the efforts to reduce the negotiation time after the draft a couple seasons back, thereby allowing draftees to see playing time sooner. So what’s the deal?

    Luke Dickerson, for example, now has no path to playing in 2024. As a HSer, he’s still likely far too raw for A ball (at least immediately – at least before, there was a few weeks/one month for HSers and collegians to get a few ABs in the FCL to give an indication of where they were at). But there’s now no platform for him to demonstrate readiness for A ball. So why has MLB voluntarily knee-capped the ability for themselves to make best use of the talent they’ve just spent millions of dollars on? I really don’t understand it at all, and frankly don’t really understand what the purpose of the FCL is anymore, except just an extension for the best of last season’s DSL. But is that really something that was needed?

    1. I’ve forgotten the exact context, but Keith Law recently mentioned how detrimental contraction of the minors is to player development, particularly to high schoolers and international signees. It’s never been easy for the very young players who have to ascend a lot of levels, but now it’s even harder.

      All in all, the situation seems like a disincentive to draft high school kids. As Will says, where is Dickerson going to play? He turns 19 next month, so he won’t make his pro debut until the summer when he’ll turn 20.

      1. Hate MLB contraction. That said, each team sends its draft picks to their Spring Training facility after the draft and they do play games/scrimmages in the late Summer/early Fall (I believe that includes playing games against other local MLB teams’ e.g. against the Astros prospects). It’s not like HS signees aren’t working on their skills at all after the draft. It’s just really hard for prospects wonks, like us, to follow.

        1. If we follow this logic a few steps further, that scrimmages and extended spring training are as effective or more effective than competitive games at developing players, then we begin to question the value of the minor leagues altogether.

          I guess we’ll need MLB to figure out where “too far” is in their strangling of minor league baseball before we see them try to correct course.

  3. I gotta think Ferrer is #1 on the callup list since they sent him to FL to stay active during the break.

    1. Agree. The Nats also need (and have needed) another lefty out of the pen. Amos Willingham does not belong on a MLB roster.

  4. The Nats sign OF Fransesco Barbieri from Ave Maria University (an NAIA school in FL). While the quality of baseball is unknown (and probably poor), Fransesco put up crazy numbers for Ave Maria this past year (1.340 OPS; .828 SLG; 25 out 26 steals). Barbieri is a 5th year senior from Canada. He is listed at 6-1 180. To this point, Barbieri is the Nats’ only post-draft UDFA signee.

  5. Don’t count the chickens of trade acquisition, and of slots for guys to move up into, until the trades are actually made. There was buzz last summer that the Nats would be trading a bunch of guys, but the Candy trade ended up being the only one of any significance. Since Herz has already made his MLB debut, that one has already paid off in a certain respect.

    If the Nats do go big with the trades and bring in 10-12 new minor leaguers, space will have to be cleared for them, so some difficult cuts may be dead ahead as well.

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