Monday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Matchup |
| Rochester | Lost, 3-2; Lost, 8-0 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Harrisburg | Won, 8-6 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Wilmington | Won, 7-1 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Frdericksburg | Won, 5-4 | OFF DAY | N/A |
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 3 Rochester 2 – G1
• Ogasawara 5IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 4BB, 4K
• Adon (BS, 2; L, 0-2) 1⅔ IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 0K, HR
• Lipscomb 2-3
• Cluff 1-2, BB, RBI, SB
• 1-for-8 RISP, 8 LOB
Rochester was walked off by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the third straight game, 3-2. Shinnosuke Ogasawara gave up the first RailRiders run on two hits and four walks but left with a 2-1 lead. Joan Adon lost that lead with a two-out solo HR in the 6th, then the game on a shallow popup that CF Robert Hassell lost in the sun followed by a relay throw up the first base line from 2B Darren Baker that forced C Drew Millas to make a diving-stab tag that justmissed the runner. The Red Wings were held to three singles (two by Trey Lipscomb) and doubles by Millas and Andrew Pinckney.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 8 Rochester 0 – G2
• Choi (L, 0-2) 2IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 1K, 2HBP
• Sinclair 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Knizer 1-2
• Lipscomb 0-2, BB, SB
It was all RailRiders in the “aftercap,” as the Red Wings were shut out, 8-0, on one hit to extend their losing streak to four and drop the series, 4-1. Hyun-il Choi lasted just two innings, giving up three runs on five hits and a walk while striking out one and hitting two batsmen. Trey Lipscomb walked and stole second to end the perfecto while Andrew Knizer broke up the no-hitter with a single to lead off the 3rd. Jackson Cluff walked in the 6th for Rochester’s third and final baserunner. Roster moves: RHP Cole Henry recalled to Washington.
Harrisburg 8 Richmond 6
• Shuman 4⅓ IP, 10H, 5R, 5ER, 0BB, 3K, HR, 2HBP
• Armstrong (BS, 1; W, 1-0) 2IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0K, HR
• J. Santos (SV, 1) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 0K
• Lile 3-4, 2R, BB, RBI, 3SB
• De La Cruz 2-4, 2R, HR, 2RBI
• Morales 2-4, R, HR, RBI
The Senators scored in five of eight ups, rallying from two deficits, blowing a 6-5 lead, then getting single runs in the 7th and 8th to win the game, 8-6 and the series, 4-2. Seth Shuman was strafed for five runs on ten hits (one HR) over four and a 1/3rd innings. He walked none, hit two batters, and struck out three. Ivan Armstrong lost the lead on a leadoff HR in the 7th but got the blown-save-win when Phillip Glasser singled in Daylen Lile in the bottom of the 7th. Junior Santos loaded the bases with one out on a double, single, and a walk but rolled the double play to earn the save.
Wilmington 7 Hub City 1
• Sthele (W, 1-0) 6IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 2K
• Davis 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• McKenzie 3-5, R, 2B, 2RBI
• Cox 3-5, 2B, RBI, CS
• Lomavita 2-3, 2BB, SB
Travis “Sunday” Sthele spun six shutout innings while the Wilmington offense marched to a 14-hit parade as the Blue Rocks earned a series split with a 7-1 win over the Spartanburgers. Sthele allowed one hit, one walk, and struck out two to earn his first High-A win. Jared McKenzie and Brenner Cox both went 3-for-5 with a double while Chad Lomavita walked twice and had two safeties to lead the Blue Rocks offense.
• Roman 3IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 3K, HR
• Bruni (W, 1-0) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 0K
• Baldo (SV, 1) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• R. Diaz 2-3, R, BB, RBI
• Peoples 2-4, 2R, HR, 2RBI
• Rivero 1-3, R
The FredNats overcame a 4-1 deficit to take the finale, 5-4 and the series, 5-1. Angel Roman struggled again, giving up all four Red Sox runs on five hits (one HR) and three walks over three innings. With a rainout on Friday and off day today, Fredericksburg emptied the bullpen with six relievers pitching a single innning. Meanwhile, the FredNats offense got one in the 3rd and two in the 4th to tie, then Nick “Power to the” Peoples homered in the 6th for what proved to be winning run. Gavin Bruni picked up the win, Matt Bollenbacher and Adam Bloebaum got holds, and Merrick Baldo struck out two in the 9th to get the save.
Congrats to Cole Henry! It’s an unbelievably good story of how he bounced back from TOS and being basically written off by every Nationals fan (seeing the consequences of TOS first hand from Strasburg), to now pitching in the majors.
That weird COVID draft with only 5 rounds (and 6 picks) has turned into the Nationals’ most successful in over a decade. 3 of the 6 picks have reached the majors (Cavalli, Parker and Henry). By comparison, only two of the Nats first 16 picks in 2019 reached the majors (Rutledge and Ribalta), and only 4 of 40 picks (Alu and Willingham).
A couple other highlights:
Morales went deep again. Really hoping this is the start of him living up to that power reputation!
Phillip Glasser just keeps hitting. He went 2 for 5 to bring his average DOWN to .533. Do others remember that he also started 2024 red hot like this, which saw him get promoted after 3 weeks? KW is right that he’s Jake Alu 2.0, even down to getting jerked around the field. This season, he’s only played LF and 2B, but last year appeared at every position except CF and C. With such extreme positional versatility, there’s no reason the Senators can’t find some more frequent playing time for him, having played in fewer than half of their games so far (JT Arruda and Cortland Lawson shouldn’t be blocking him for playing time).
Randal Diaz looks like a real interesting player. He’s hitting .345/.424/.414 so far with 5 SBs and a very modest 15 K%. One I’ll be watching this season.
Lastly, with Henry and Rutledge already in the majors, the only two pitchers still on the 40 man not injured or on the 26 man are Ogasawara and Lara. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of roster machinations take place if we lose another arm to injury, and that’s not even getting into what to do with Sims and Poche. Seems like retroactively adding Cavalli to the 60 man is an obvious choice, since he’s still weeks away from throwing.
We’ve had a couple of Cavalli updates. He’s throwing now. On Apr. 9: “Cade Cavalli threw two innings against hitters Wednesday at the Nationals’ spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Martinez said he threw 35 pitches and his fastball velocity was between 94 and 97 mph.”
On Apr. 11: “Cade Cavalli threw a bullpen on Friday at LoanDepot Park, about an hour away from the team’s spring training facility in West Palm Beach, where Cavalli has been rehabbing. So far, Cavalli has pitched in two games on back fields. He will make his third start Monday and expects to pitch three innings. Cavalli said he’s treating his throwing program as if he was in spring training.
‘I don’t even feel like I’m on rehab anymore,’ Cavalli said. ‘Just feels like back to normal. Let’s build up and get going. It’s awesome to be in this spot. I’m very grateful.'”
Sorry, I didn’t phrase that well. I should’ve written “still weeks away from returning”. As later in the same article, “If Cavalli continues to clear the hurdles, he could rejoin the Nationals after the All-Star break.”
Let’s put aside that this seemingly contradicts what Cavalli is saying (“I feel fine!”), and that his rehab schedule is a comically long time for someone that – if we are to believe what Nats management has been telling us – has been fully healthy since August/September 2024.
In any case, a retroactive addition to the 60 day IL wouldn’t actually have any impact on Cavalli’s timeline to return (if the ASB is the goal). It would only prevent him appearing in DC before late May and his minor league rehab could only begin at earliest in late April (less than two weeks from today).
Maybe they’re going to declare him healthy sooner than that and let the clock tick a bit with him in Rochester. I think it’s around 50 days to reclaim a year.
If Cavalli was fully healthy at the end of the season, why didn’t he appear in the AFL? The evidence does not fit this delusion. It’s been more than two years since he’s had the UCL replacement (3/22/23) and nearly 10 months since he’s appeared in a game that non-Nationals personnel have witnessed (6/21/24). Occam’s Razor suggests he was hurt in some other capacity.
I certainly hope he’ll be back this season and live up to the hype, but I’ll believe it when I see it. And, no, I do not have lying eyes.
Glasser’s had a hot start at an age appropriate level but it’s way too early to give much weight to it. If he’s over a 130 wRC+ after 150 PAs or whatever, then we can start to take him seriously.
My fingers are crossed on Randal Diaz. He had a monster season last spring for Indiana State, which went to the NCAA tournament: .360/.437/.632, 18 HRs, 15 doubles, K% of only 11.9. Guys who make contact are quite welcome!