Two Nationals appeared in the game.
● Maxwell Romero Jr. started behind the plate and batted sixth. He doubled once, scored once, drove in one, and walked twice. Defensively, he had 12 putouts (the caught stealing was on a pickoff)
● Phillip Glasser played third base and batted ninth. He was one of two Rafters not to get a hit, though he walked and scored a run, and had no defensive chances.
The two teams switch venues and rematch this afternoon in Scottsdale. Chase Solesky (0-1, 5.73) is expected to start for the Rafters.
2024 WILMINGTON BLUE ROCKS
Do we have to? I guess we do.
Disappointment is the word once again, though, it probably shouldn’t be. The team supplying many of Wilmingtons’s players (the 2023 FredNats) were barely a .500 team and High-A is often the separation of prospects from suspects. It’s not unusual or uncommon for guys to light it up at Low-A, get the long-awaited bump, and then turn into the NBA players in Space Jam.
From that perspective, there were some success stories for the Blue Rocks in 2024: Andry Lara early and Rodney Theophile later got the call to Harrisburg and swam instead of sank. Daylen Lile, too, though he had the usual drop in production with the promotion.
And then there were the T.J. Whites and Jeremy De La Rosas, neither of whom showed much progress from 2023.
Wilmington went from league-average age to the oldest set of bats (23.6 vs. 23.0) but remained dead-last on offense at 3.85 R/G (4.56) in large part because they were shut out eighteen (18) times.
The pitchers were the second-oldest in the league – 22.9 (vs. 22.1) – but a shade worse than Lg. Avg. (4.7 R/G vs. 4.56) and were dead last in strikeouts and hit the fewest batters. Defensively, they were league-average in terms of FPct (.972) and threw out 26% of would be basestealers, allowed the fewest passed balls, and third-fewest wild pitches, all of which are surprising given what we’ve seen in the AFL this fall.
Without further ado, here are the obligatory Top 5’s in terms of production:
| TOP 5 BATS | TOP 5 ARMS |
| 1. Philip Glasser, UT .289 GPA, 40BB, 14SB in 75G |
1. Jarlin Susana, RHSP 2.25/4.18/1.25, 14.71 K/9IP in 47⅓ IP (10GS) |
| 2. Daylen Lile, OF .261 GPA, .353 OBP, 14SB in 57G |
2. Andry Lara, RHSP 2.35/2.74/1.04, 11.45 K/9IP in 30⅔ IP (6GS) |
| 3. Kevin Made, SS .241 GPA, 17 2B, 11SB in 72G |
3. Rodney Theophile, RHSP 4.44/3.36/1.28, 2HR in 50⅔ IP |
| 4. Viandel Peña, 2B/SS .241 GPA, 20SB in 75G |
4. Miguel Gomez, RHRP 2.89/3.51/1.20, 7.91 K/9IP in 46⅔ IP |
| 5. Murphy Stehly, 3B .224 GPA, .644OPS in 61G |
5. Wander Arias, RHRP 3.79/3.70/1.19, 9.32 K/9IP, 4.11 BB/9IP in 57IP |
I gave some serious thought to only doing Top 4’s or a combined list, which I try not to do until AA – especially now there’s only four full-season teams. The better news is that only half of these guys were definitively old for the level, which is unusual, as the Nats have historically drafted older players and signed older IFAs and tend to keep guys in High-A longer.
Folks interested in viewing the team stats can find them here. Pitching data can be found here.