Robert Hassell was the only National in the starting lineup. He batted fifth and went 2-for-5 with a double, a triple, three RBI, and a run scored. Defensively he played in center and made three putouts.
Chase Solesky was the first man out of the Salt River ‘pen but was touched for three runs on four hits, including a double and homer. He pitched the 4th and 5th innings without a walk and four strikeouts.
Luke Young pitched the 9th and worked around a two-out double for another scoreless inning.
The Rafters finish up the week with an afternoon road game in Glendale
THE 2024 FCL NATIONALS
A year ago in this space, I wrote about how the minors may be settling into a new Normal. Then the MLB decided that the FCL would begin in early May instead of early June. That may not seem like a big difference, but coupled with the First-Year player draft happening a month later, the net effect is that most of this year’s draft picks did not play in regular-season games this past summer.
While this year that may have benefited the players making the leap stateside, it remains to be seen what will happen next year. In theory, you could have some 2024 draft picks that never appear in a regular-season game because they will have been cut after instrux, accelerated camp (if that’s still a thing), and spring training. But given that teams seem to be drafting more college juniors than seniors, that may be unlikely since the proverbial clock is still roughly the same.
What does seem less likely: International signees skipping the DSL. That’s because the 165-player limit doesn’t apply to foreign leagues and thus there’s an incentive to keep them there until they’re positive they’re ready.
The 2024 edition was never in contention despite having the second-oldest pitchers (21.5 vs. 20.7) and batters (19.9 vs. 19.3) in the league. Much like the full-season teams at AA and A+, the F-Nats had trouble hitting water after falling off a pier with a 4.22 R/G (vs. 4.9). The pitchers were nearly as inept, giving up 5.56 R/G, but the fielders were only a notch below the average (.956 vs. .960FA).
With that, we close out with the obligatory Top 5’s:
| TOP 5 BATS | TOP 5 ARMS |
| 1. Carlos Tavares, 1B/LF .299 GPA, .409 OBP, 13 2B in 30G |
1. Brayan Romero, RHSP 2.52/3.26/1.02, 2.1 BB/9IP in 39⅓ IP |
| 2. Nate Rombach, C .284 GPA, .475 SLG% in 29G |
2. Angel Roman, RHRP 2.97/3.28/1.17, 7.6 H/9IP in 33⅓ IP |
| 3. Winder Diaz, CF/SS .246 GPA, 2XBH in 28G |
3. Doimil Perez, RHRP 4.97/4.10/1.76, 12.1 K/9IP, 4.97 BB/9IP in 29 IP |
| 4. Enmanuel Ramirez, RF .228 GPA, 15BB in 42G |
4. Reilin Ramirez, RHRP 4.68/4.78/1.32, 1.9 BB/9IP in 25 IP |
| 5. Elian Soto, 1B/OF .208 GPA, 27BB, 51K in 41G |
5. Camilo Sanchez, RHSP 5.82/4.82/1.38, 11.45 K/9IP, 4HBP, 9WP in 43⅓ IP |
As has been the case for most of this decade, the sample sizes are very small – only 11 batters had more than 100PA; eight pitchers surpassed 20IP, 13 had more than 10IP. Just two of the batters were above the league average for GPA, and one of them (Romnach) was 23. Likewise, only two of the pitchers had FIPs below 4, even when this year’s FIP constant was on the high side (3.82).
Folks interested in seeing the full teams stats can find them here. FIP data can be found here.