Thursday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Matchup |
| Rochester | Won, 7-4; Lost, 4-3 |
@ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:35pm | Lara (0-1, 12.91) vs. Woodford (0-0, 3.00) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 3-1 | vs. Richmond, 12pm | Saenz (0-1, 27.00) vs. Bertrand (0-1, 8.10) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 14-3 | vs. Hub City, 6:35pm | Clemmey (0-1, 6.00) vs. Bonzagni (0-0, 2.45) |
| Frdericksburg | Lost, 6-2 | vs. Salem, 6:35pm | Polanco (0-1, 5.40) vs. Clarke (pro debut) |
Rochester 7 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4 – G1
• Solesky 3⅓ IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 1K, HR
• Pilkington (W, 1-2) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Hassell 3-4, R, RBI, 2SB
• Millas 2-4, 3B, 3BRI
• Lipscomb 1-2, R, 2BB
Rochester evened it up with three in the 3rd and put it away with four in the 4th as they ended a five-game slide with a 7-4 win in the opener. Chase Solesky got the spot start again but was strafed for three runs on a home run and six hits totals over three and a 1/3rd. He walked one and struck out one. Konnor Pilkington stranded two runners in the 4th and pitched a scoreless 5th to pick up the win. Robert Hassell singled three times an stole two bases while Drew Millas singled and tripled to lead the Red Wings offense.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4 Rochester 3 – G2
• Alvarez 5IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 4K
• Adon (BS, 1; L, 0-1) 1⅓ IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 3BB, 3K
• Pinckney 1-2, R, HR, 2RBI
• House 1-3, 2K
In the nightcap, the Red Wings were unable to lock it down late, losing a 3-2 lead in the 6th and getting walked off in the 7th for a 4-3 loss. Joan Adon retired four of ten batters faced and was charged with the final two runs for the blown-save-loss. Andrew Pinckney’s homer following a leadoff walk and Brady House’s one-out single in the 6th accounted for the two (2) Rochester hits.
• Luckham 5IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Schoff (W, 1-0) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Grissom (SV, 1) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Schnell 2-4, 3B, 2RBI
• Morales 2-4, R, RBI
Nick Schnell’s two-run triple in the 6th proved to be the difference as the Senators held on for their first win of 2025. Kyle Luckham got the start and allowed a solo HR and five hits total over the first five innings. He walked none and struck out two for a no-decision. The win went to Tyler Schoff with two scoreless while Marquis Grissom cordero’d around two singled in the 9th with a game-ending DP. Schnell went 2-for-4 as did Yoyo Morales, who drove in the first run with a single in the 1st.
Hub City 14 Wilmington 3
• Tepper (L, 0-1) 3⅓ IP, 7H, 6R, 4ER, 1BB, 2K
• Arias 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 3BB, 1K, 1-1 IR-S
• Green 1-3, 2R, BB, HR, RBI
• Thomas 1-2, BB, 2RBI, SB
Hub City opened the Book of Genesis four times with big innings in the 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 9th en route to a 14-3 defenestration of Wilmington. Mikey Tepper got knocked from the box after six runs let in on seven hits and a walk over three and a 1/3rd. He struck out two. Johnathan Thomas ended the shutout with a two-run triple while Elijah Green went deep in the 7th to lead the Blue Rocks offense.
Salem 6 Fredericksburg 2
• D. Garcia (L, 0-1) 2⅔ IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 1K
• Bloebaum 2IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2K
• Ross 2-4
• Nunez 1-3, R, BB, 3B, RBI
A four-run 3rd would prove to be enough as the Red Sox tripled up the FredNats, 6-2. Davian Garcia took the loss, giving up the aforementioned four runs on six hits and three walks while striking out one. Jackson Ross singled twice while Elijah Nunez tripled in the first run and Nate Rombach followed with an RBI single to account for both runs and all four hits on the night for Fredericksburg.
Will Jackson Ross be the first player promoted this season? I know it’s early, but he’s hitting .545/.643/1.273, while being 4.5 years above league average. Methinks he needs a tougher test.
He’s positionally versatile too, already playing both corner infield positions this season, and he played a fair amount of corner outfield in college. Wilmington’s current incumbents there: Dugas, Pimentel, White and even McKenzie and Thomas shouldn’t be too much of an impediment.
Speaking of Wilmington, the highest batting average on the entire team yesterday was .167. There isn’t a single player within reach of the Mendoza line. Yikes!
Ross tidier in his play than most Ross department stores
Luke you might have made a Genesis music group reference
Pre Genesis . Steve Hackett .. Syd .. then Hub City hacked it to bits ..
I am glad to see the nice start by Hassell. The Nats might need to use him at some point. It was not that long ago, in spring training, that fans talked about how crowded the Nats’ system was with all this talent in the outfield. The chatter was to trade Hassell and maybe get a pitcher. I’m glad that Nats did not sell low.
Rizzo didn’t have the Trading Places line in his head this winter : “ Mortimer ! Sell ! Sell !sell !!
lol!
Jacob Young hit .305/.376/.418 in his final season before getting promoted to DC. Hassell is hitting .316/.366/.368 (in ten games, mind you). Why do we think Hassell is going to be a better option than Young (much less Alex Call, who’s hit an absurdly good .353/.436/.521 across a small sample in the majors the past two seasons)?
For Hassell to become a contributor in DC, he simply needs to hit for significantly more power than he is (more akin to what we saw from him in the AFL). We have the best light-hitting, speedy, defense-first CF there is in Young, and somehow despite his otherwise good performance, Hassell is displaying even less power than Young ever did in the minors.
But I love that people still think highly of Hassell, as it means he still has some trade value 🙂
The thing about Jacob Young that seem inexplicable is the loss of his base stealing game.
From the start of Young’s MLB career in 2023 through May 2024, Young stole 30 bases in 80 games and 281 plate appearances, while only being caught stealing 3 times (85%). That included a 25 SB to 0 CS streak to start his career. For those that remember an April 2024 series at the Marlins, Young was literally toying with opponents when he got on base. You could have made a legit argument that he was the best base stealer in the MLB.
Since the end of May 2024 through today, Young has 17 steals and 10 CS (63%) in 113 games and 395 PAs, and it’s trending worse. In 2025, Young has 1 SB (the back end of a double steal and 3 CS). Young has gone from the start of his career when he appeared to be an elite MLB base-stealer to really a non-factor in stealing bases (63% success rate essentially makes it a negative value play to run). The sample size is big enough on both ends (80 MLB games to start; 113 MLB games since) to have substance.
Something has happened with Jacob Young’s wheels. Given that he has no power, and it’s unlikely to develop, if JY is unable to return to elite base stealing form, he is just not an MLB player (and I hate to say that because I really root for him). Weird that this hasn’t gotten more attention, given the stark differences between the start of his career and the last 11 months.
Good point. I’d noticed Young was stealing less, but hadn’t realized it was so profound. This season been a bit of a disaster 1 for 4 in SB attempts!
All good comments and stats. At this point, we don’t know who is going to be the best centerfielder: Crews, Young or Hassell? Since we have very little idea at this point, keep them all. Let them show their stuff. And who could be the best OF reserve? It could even be someone else in CF, a position that sometimes you can get by with less power than the corner spots. The point is you just don’t dump somebody too early because they had a bad spring training or something.
Given the pitiful individual performances of our minor leaguers thus far, can someone remind me again we this org. decided to stand pat and make virtually no changes during the off-season to our PD team?
And don’t even get me started on the major league coaches whose expiry dates have ling since passed