Thursday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 5-1 | @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:35 p.m. | Rutledge (4-8, 7.06) vs. Gomez (2-4, 3.97) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 3-1 | vs. Portland, 6:30 p.m. | Shuman (0-0, 3.60) vs. Gonzalez (3-2, 5.17) |
| Wilmington | Won, 6-1 | vs. Aberdeen, 6:35 p.m. | Cáceres (3-8, 5.18) vs. Portes (5-4, 3.49) |
| Fredericksburg | Lost, 5-1 | @ Kannapolis, 6:30 p.m. | Roman (0-0, 3.38) vs. Sinibaldi (0-0, 6.00) |
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 5 Rochester 1
• Alvarez (L, 4-4) 5⅔ IP, 6H, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 3K, 2HR
• Brzykcy 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 0K, BK, 1-1 IR-S
• Baker 2-4, R, SB
• Lipscomb 1-3, BB
An early 1-0 lead for the Red Wings went buh-bye with a four-run, two-homer 2nd as the RailRiders chugged to a 5-1 win. Andrew Alvarez took the loss, giving up all five runs on six hits (2HR) and three walks over five and 2/3rds. He struck out three. Darren Baker extended his hit streak to 17 games with his 101st single, stole base #38, and scored run #70 ahead of Brady House in the 1st. Trey Lipscomb rounded out the Rochester hit column of four with a single in the 2nd. Roster moves: RHP Orlando Ribalta recalled to Washington..
Harrisburg 3 Portland 1
• Solesky (W, 2-4) 5⅓ IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K, HR
• Cronin (H, 1) ⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 2-0 IR-S
• Cuevas (SV, 2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• De La Rosa 1-2, R, 2BB, HR, RBI, 2SB, CS
• Hassell 1-3, R, BB, HR(5), RBI
The Senators went 0-for-7 with RISP but outhomered the Sea Dogs 2-1 and outscored them 3-1 to win their third straight. Chase Solesky gave up a run on a home run with one out in the 6th and then issued a walk. Catcher’s interference put the tying runs on base, but Matt Cronin came on to put out the fire with whiff and groundout. Solesky gave up four hits total and struck out two as he won his second game, with Jack Sinclair, Daison Acosta, and Michael Cuevas each putting up a goose egg in relief. Robert Hassell and Jeremy De La Rosa both hit solo HRs to power the Harrisburg offense.
Wilmington 6 Aberdeen 1
• Tepper 4IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 5K
• Amaral (W, 1-1) 2IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 1K, PO @ 1B
• McKenzie 3-5, 2B(10), RBI, CS(5), OF assist @ HP
• White 1-3, 2R, BB, HR, RBI, 2K
• Cruz 2-4, RBI
Like Irving, the 142nd fastest gun in the West, Wilmington found #143 as they beat Aberdeen, 6-1. Mikey Tepper went the first four, giving up the IronBirds lone run on two hits and two walks while striking out five. Three relievers combined to shut down Aberdeen for five innings with Austin Amaral picking up the win. Jared McKenzie singled twice and doubled once while Aramndo Cruz had two safeties to lead the Blue Rocks’ ten-hit parade.
Columbia 5 Fredericksburg 1
• Sthele (L, 6-8) 5IP, 7H, 5R, 4ER, 2BB, 7K, HR, E
• Bloebaum 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• Mota 2-3, 3B, RBI
• Bazzell 1-3, BB, E
The Fireflies jumped out to a 3-1 early and cruised to a 5-1 win over the FredNats. Travis “Sunday” Sthele gave up all five runs on seven hits (one HR) and two walks over five innings. He struck out seven while losing his eigthth game. Jorgelys Mota tripled in Brandon Pimentel and late singled while Kevin Bazzell singled to lead the Fredericksburg batters. The rest of the lineup went 2-for-25 with 11 strikeouts.
Congrats to Ribalta getting a second chance. Hope he seizes the opportunity!
And I hope one of our bevy of extremely talented relievers in Harrisburg will get a chance in Rochester. You have Matt Cronin, Daison Acosta, Jack Sinclair, Marquis Grissom, or Tyler Schoff to choose from.
Hassell went opposite field again for HR last night. Maybe he’s finally 100%.
with Angel Roman getting the start this has the look of a bullpen game. only his second start this year and he’s only gone more than 3 innings once. he’s shown pretty good strikeout numbers in the Carolina league but now he get the league’s best hitting team.
good luck kid, go get’em!
Bryan Caceres registers 3 outs tonight he will reach 100 IP logged in 2024
Anyone hear why Polanco out on the “ take the rest of the calendar season off “ list ? Draftees want to be looked at ?
Darren Baker has put together a good year at AAA.
TJ White 2025 should be an interesting year and stat line .
This latest re – incarnation. Lineup for Delino after promotions and DL guys returning very interesting .
What is it with Nats facing Yanx affiliate clubs always a test .
Clarke Schmidt making his way back for Yanx who could use him in the playoffs .
Dusty’s kid does everything good but nothing great. I would love to see him rewarded with a September call up, he’s been a credit to the organization.
Gratuitous September call-ups are few and far between these days with the September active roster limited to 28.
And with the AAA regular season almost the same length as the MLB season, there’s even less of a reason to call someone up who might not play every day.
Back to TJ White . Can we use the
Numerical theory of analytics on his improvement looking at his walks , lowered strike outs , doubles and HRs since a certain date? Same with JDL in Harrisburg since the promotion of Lile and Hassell 3 return ?
all the guys mentioned have one thing in common, still young (or very young) for their level.
On TJ White, we already knew he was one of the streakiest hitters in the minor leagues, and he’s proving it yet again. After a very hot July, where he hit .293/.341/.488, he’s somewhat turned back into a pumpkin in August, hitting .188/.300/.400 (and has been especially bad the past 17 games – .123/.215/.333). But you’re right, the peripheral stats suggest some improvements. His K% is down to the lowest level of any month (24%), the walks are up (13%).
Nothing needs to be said about Jeremy de la Rosa, who’s hitting .164/.246/.300 in Harrisburg.
Hassell’s recent surge is certainly a surprise, but he’s only been back in Harrisburg for 7 games. If you add in his 8 in Wilmington during his rehab, he’s hitting only .255/.283/.418 since his two month absence. There’s some good things (his strikeouts are way down- only 15% in this period, but his walks have almost completely dried up – only 5%). It’s a small sample size, so it’s risky to draw too many conclusions. But one thing that’s encouraging is the power. It was his wrist that was bothering him before, so if he’s hitting for power that’s definitely a sign that it’s not bothering him so much anymore.
Meanwhile, Daylen Lile has been the picture of consistency this season, quietly plugging away with mediocre results. His OPS by month is (chronologically) .779, .812, .636, .721, .731. In fact, he’s had a very similar season to last (2023: .269/.355/.452 vs 2024: .262/.348/.386) with one obvious difference: the power has dried up. But it’s not all that surprising. He uncharacteristically hit for loads of power in Fredericksburg, and hasn’t been able to replicate it in either Wilmington or Harrisburg (two parks known to be bad for hitters).
I’ll also lump in Andrew Pinckney to this group, as I see him as a pretty comparable player. Pinckney’s story is the same as Lile’s. He’s been unable to replicate the power he displayed in Fredericksburg at the higher levels, but I’ll be curious to see if it spikes again in comparatively hitter friendly Rochester. Pinckney is older than the others (23), but now that he’s at AAA, he too is young for the level.
Lots of outfield depth working its way up the ladder! It won’t surprise me to see the Nats trade a couple of these guys away next season (or this winter) to fill holes in the infield.