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Monday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 12-7 OFF DAY N/A
Harrisburg Lost, 2-0 OFF DAY N/A
Wilmington Lost, 10-1 OFF DAY N/A
Fredericksburg Cancelled OFF DAY N/A
DSL Nationals OFF DAY vs. DSL Giants Black, 11am

Rochester 12 Charlotte 7
• Alvarez 3IP, 3H, 2R, 1ER, 4BB, 5K, WP, 80-47 PIT-K
• Shuman (W, 4-4) 1⅓ IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Lipscomb 3-5, 3R, 2-2B
• Crews 2-4, R, 2B, HR, 3RBI
• Franklin 2-4, R, 2BB, 2RBI
• Cluff 1-3, R, HR, 2BB, RBI

The Red Wings blew leads of 3-1 and 4-3 before breaking out for five in the 5th en route to a 12-7 win. Andrew Alvarez labored through three innings and let in two runs in three hits and four walks. It was the first time he went less than four innings in nearly three months (May 4). Seth Shuman was credited with the win despite giving up a run on two hits. Trey Lipscomb led Rochester’s 13-hit parade with two doubles and a single while Dylan Crews doubled, homered, and drove in three.

Binghamton 2 Harrisburg 0
• Bennett 5IP, 0H, 0R, 3BB, 2K
• Choi 1⅔ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 0K, HR
• Glasser 3-4, 2B, CS(10)
• Boisserie 2-3, BB
• S. Brown 2-4, 2B

Harrisburg outhit Binghamton 8-4 but the Rumble Ponies shut them out, 2-0 to take the series, 4-2. Jake Bennett threw five no-hit innings, walking three and striking out two for the no-decison. Huyn-il Choi gave up a two-run HR in the 6th to take the loss, his fourth. Phillip Glasser and Branden Boisserie both reached base three times to lead the Senators offense while newcomer Sam Brown singled and doubled.

Hudson Valley 10 Wilmington 1
• Y. Tejeda (L, 0-2) 5IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 3K, HR
• Simpson 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Petersen 2-3, R, HR, RBI, SB
• Lomavita 1-3, 2B(15)

The second time around for Yoel Tejeda was a lot like the first as the Renegades got to him four runs and the bullpen for six in a 10-1 demolition of the Blue Rocks. Tejeda gave up five hits (one HR), walked three, and struck out three as he lost his seconda A+ start. Sam Petersen singled and stole a base in the top of the 1st to break up the no-hitter and homered in the 6th to end the shutout. Chad Lomavita rounded out the Wilmington three-hit barrage with his 15th double.



Fredericksburg vs. Columbia – CNCLD
The finale between Fredericksburg and Columbia was rained out on Sunday. This was the only series between these two teams this season, thus it will not be made up.

DSL Nationals, 21-23, T6th place, DSL South, 7GB
The D-Nats won four of five last week and shaved 21 runs off their differential to -32. This week, they’re home Monday, Thursday, and Saturday with road games tomorrow and Friday.

17 Commments

  1. Very encouraging outing from Bennett. Hopefully he can regain the form that once had him as one of the Nats’ top pitching prospects. He turns 25 in December.

  2. I will be heading to Sens game on August 6
    Any NP “ heads “ in Harrisburg if you’re going
    Watch it be a bullpen outing lol

    1. we will be there on the 6th, in our normal seats in the first row by the first base bag

  3. Encouraging start from Franklin, hitting .364 in his first 3 games.

    Also really, really good to see Crews get his first XBHs since his rehab began. Looks like he’s rounding back into shape. But the question in a couple days will be, who takes the fall in DC? Young would likely be the first, after he just broke a 20 straight plate appearance hitless streak. But Young is useful in that he’s also okay to let ride the bench for long periods of time, whereas you want Lile and Hassell to get more regular playing time…

    But what the heck do we do about James Wood? Over the past month (95 plate appearances), he’s hitting a disastrous .119/.221/.179, but worst of all, he’s struck out 41 times in that stretch, for a Green-esque 43 K%. He looks completely lost and I have absolutely no faith in Darnell Coles in helping him out of this slump. What a bitter shame that we fired Martinez but kept his useless sycophants in Coles and Hickey.

    1. the pressure on Wood to produce has been enormous as the team has gone into a tailspin. I don’t think it’s anything mechanical and I hope that the combo of Lile, House, Hassell and Crews can alleviate some of that. fingers crossed.

      1. I agree with Wood really feeling the pressure. Also agree with Will that the hitting instruction isn’t what it needs to be, plus there’s no experienced manager or veteran presence to say “relax, kid.”

        1. I was glad that Bell stayed, he seems to have bonded with James. there’s only so much anyone can say, baseball is very very hard! bottom line, worrying about James is way down on my list of concerns

    2. It was always said that Crews was destined for CF . . . until suddenly he wasn’t. It seems that the future is Crews in right and Wood, despite his current struggles, in left.

      So that leaves CF and a fight among Young, Hassell, Lile, Franklin, and Pinckney. Farther down the food chain, Petersen, Dickerson, and Green would also be in the conversation longer term (maybe). The general consensus is that Lile really shouldn’t play CF. Pinckney has gotten almost equal time at all three OF slots at Rochester this year. Hassell has looked better defensively than Lile has and has higher defensive grades than Franklin. Young’s strengths and liabilities are pretty well known by now.

      If Lile really emerges, Crews likely would have to move to CF. Otherwise, I’m thinking any of the others would be expected to prove it in center.

  4. Also, what does Drew Millas need to do to get some playing time?! It’s absurd at this point. Millas was recalled on July 8 to DC. Since then, the Nats have played 20 games, and Millas has only started 6 of them.

    “Ride the hot bat!” insist the handful of Riley Adams fans remaining, which seems to consist of two people: Miguel Cairo and Darnell Coles, apparently. Adams has indeed snapped out of the miserable slump he was mired in as of July 8th, when he was hitting .136/.174/.273. Since then, he’s started 14 of 20 games, and is hitting a respectable .226/.305/.453 in that period. So ride the hot bat indeed.

    Except Drew Millas is hitting .421/.450/.526 since he was promoted! Ride the hot bat, indeed. Play Millas at 1B or DH if Riley Adams is oh so precious behind the plate. Millas’ bat has been quite a bit better than Josh Bell’s “hot bat” in the same period (.271/.419/.441) and waaaayyyy better than Lowe’s (.162/.225/.270). I know we’re not trying to win now, but we sure as hell could at least invest in the guys who will be here next year and not crappy retreads with no value now that the deadline has passed.

    Millas has now sat on the major league roster for 116 days, and started only 33 games, despite a career OPS of .732 and a 106 wRC+, which would place him comfortably as the 3rd best hitter on the roster, behind only Wood and Abrams (even though his stats this year are actually BETTER than both Wood and Abrams).

    Rant over.

    1. I just wish that Millas could avoid the once a game defensive lapse. I know he has the ability to do it, he just needs to slow down a bit.

  5. My two favorite bats in the system right now are probably Glasser and Petersen, who both just had another outstanding days.

    Glasser is now hitting .310/.383/.415 in 88 games in Harrisburg.
    Peterson is now hitting a video game-esque .300/.400/.500 in 42 games in Wilmington.

    I continue to not understand the conversion of Glasser to the OF. As exclusively an infielder in college, the Nats have now used him 60 times in LF versus only 10 games at 2B, despite being consistently Harrisburg’s best hitter this season, when we’re drowning in OFs in AAA and DC, and with House in DC, King floundering, and Morales playing mostly 1B, very little to speak of in terms of infield prospects at the upper levels (Wallace and Made, who are also struggling mightily are the only other infielder prospects in the top 30 who are playing above Fredericksburg).

    1. I have to admit, Glasser has some good bat to ball skills. but if I had to draw a comp it would be Jacob Young without the plus defense or baserunning.

    2. Agree on wondering why Glasser is being pushed to OF, all the more with the addition of Franklin.

      1. By moving Glasser to the OF, it opens up 2B for Wallace and Made to get reps while helping Glasser get more positional versatility, which the Nats covet (see: Lipscomb, Trey). He can always go back to the IF should, for example, they decide to give Petersen a look.

        1. JT Arruda and Jackson Cluff have been the primary 2B in Rochester in recent months. Surely they can’t be blocking Glasser getting a well-deserved promotion.

  6. I know that we have no faith in Coles and Hickey. I also know that we have no actual idea of what they do on a day-to-day basis and whether or not they are good at their jobs. The default setting for most fans seems to be “anything good that happens is DESPITE the manager/coaches, and anything bad that happens is BECAUSE of the manager/coaches.” Me, I hope that the players in the organization can improve, but I admit that I don’t know the best path to make that happen.

    The possible exception to the rule of coaches is Sean Doolittle. I sometimes think that his most prominent role in the organization is to be someone to whom we can deflect credit for pitchers who improve so that we don’t have to consider that Hickey might have done something right. He certainly largely gets a pass when pitchers struggle.

  7. House. Cleaning
    New faces new ideas brought into the org even if the post Rizzo staff “ ( led Zepplon song remains the same )
    Good point Fred MD about Bell chiming good on Wood .

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