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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 12-1 @ Norfolk, 6:35pm Sampson (2-2, 5.22) vs. Brnovich (2-4, 6.55)
Harrisburg Lost, 1-0 vs. Portland, 6:30pm Tolman (AA debut) vs. TBD
Wilmington Won, 3-1 @ Aberdeen, 7:05pm Da. Garcia (1-1, 5.00) vs. Aracena (A+ debut)
Fredericksburg Won, 7-3 @ Myrtle Beach, 7:05pm Sales (4-3, 2.71 @ FSL) vs. Mulé (2-6, 6.26)
DSL Nationals Lost, 5-4 OFF DAY

Norfolk 12 Rochester 1
• Conley (L, 1-1) 5IP, 6H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 5K, 3HR
• Cluff 1IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 0K, HR
• Crews 3-4, RBI
• Lipscomb 3-4

The Tides ripped the Red Wings for 13 hits in a 12-1 demolition. Bryce Conley took the loss, coughing up five runs on six hits (three HR) and two walks while striking out five over five innings. Dylan Crews and Trey Lipscomb both singled three times, with Crews driving in Nasim Nuñez to break up the shutout.

Portland 1 Harrisburg 0
• Luckham 3IP, 0H, 0R, 4BB, 3K
• Sinclair (L, 0-1) 1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 1K
• C. De La Cruz 2-4, 2B
• Made 2-4

The Senators were shut out for the seventh time this season, 1-0 on six hits. Kyle Luckham walked four and struck out three across three no-hit (and no-run!) innings before yielding to the bullpen as it appears Harrisburg is reshuffling its rotation. Jack Sinclair took the loss on a walk and a double in the 6th. Carlos De La Cruz singled and doubled while Kevin Made singled twice. Cayden Wallace had the one (1) hit in ten RISP chances.

Wilmington 3 Aberdeen 1
• Kent (W, 5-7) 6IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 5K, PO @ 1B
• Amaral (SV, 8) 2IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 2K, BK
• Lomavita 3-5, 2RBI,
• Dugas 1-3, 2B(10), HBP, CS

A balk after a leadoff double prevented the shutout but the Blue Rocks will take a 3-1 win. Jackson Kent tossed six scoreless innings with one hit, two walks, and five whiffs to win his fifth game and seventh quality start. Chad Lomavita went 3-for-5 and drove in two while Gavin Dugas connected for his tenth double to lead the Blue Rocks offense.



Fredericksburg 7 Myrtle Beach 3
• Polanco 3⅔ IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 3K, HR
• Farias (W, 1-1) 2⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 3BB, 2K
• A. Feliz 2-4, R, HR(GS), 4RBI, SB
• Vaquero 2-4, R, RBI, 2SB, OF assist @ 2B
• Henseler 1-3, R, BB, E

Angel Feliz’s grand slam capped a five-run 1st as Fredericksburg took the series opener, 7-3. Despite the five-run cushion, Bryan Polanco didn’t make it out of the 4th as the Pelicans got to him for three runs on four hits (one HR) and two walks. He struck out three. Victor Farias walked three over two and 2/3rds but allowed neither a hit nor a run to get his first Low-A win. Christhian Vaquero matched Feliz’s 2-for-4 mark with two singles and two stolen bases to extend his hit streak to five games.

DSL BLue Jays Red 5 DSL Nationals 4
• M. De La Cruz 4⅔ IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 5BB, 2K
• Sarit (L, 0-1) 1⅓ IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 3K
• N. De La Cruz 3-4, R, 2B, 2RBI, SB
• Cortesia 1-3, 2BB, SB, CS

The D-Nats took leads of 3-1 and 4-3 but were walked off, 5-4 by the D-Jays Red. Marlon De La Cruz got the start and gave up a run on four hits and five walks over four and 2/3rds. None of the DSL Nationals relieevers were able to put up a goose egg, with Ranger Sarit taking the loss with singles runs allowed in the 8th and 9th innings. Nauris De La Cruz singled twice, doubled once, and drove in two while Brayan Cortesia reached three times on a pair of walks and a single to lead the D-Nats attack.

9 Commments

  1. Fredericksburg is such a weird team at the moment. It’s almost exclusively made up of HS/IFAs and just otherwise really raw college guys. And it shows.

    Vaquero’s re-emergence might be one of the best stories of the season. He wasn’t having a disastrous start to the season, but something clicked in late June. Since then he’s looked fantastic, hitting .346/.393/.561 over his past 28 games. His strikeouts are down (19%), though his walks could be a bit better (only 6.5%), I won’t complain. He missed the past week, seemingly to injury, and yesterday was his first game back, so it’s good to see him pick up where he left off!

    Which brings me to some of the other stories in the team. 5 of the other 8 starters yesterday are hitting below the Mendoza line. Brenner Cox is the worst of all, hitting .091 in 4 games since his demotion from Wilmington, and .129/.211/.184 on the season. Yikes.

    Nick Peoples is hitting .207/.294/.346, which is somehow worse than his disappointing 2024 in Fredericksburg.

    Everett Cooper has continued to be unable to replicate his breakout 2023 season, and is hitting merely .154/.286/.308 in Fburg.

    Elijah Green’s reset doesn’t appear to have done any good. He’s hitting only .196/.260/.370 through 12 games, after a very poor few months in Wilmington.

    Then you have a smattering of guys who were meant to be relatively polished college bats, who’ve been anything but.

    Kevin Bazzell is still struggling massively, hitting .213/.320/.244 on the season. Elijah Nunez is 1 for 8 in his rehab assignment and .198/.350/.261 on the season in Fburg. He was hitting well in Wilmington, after an undeserved promotion, but seems to have lost that spark. Then Randal Diaz, our 5th rounder last year who was getting some buzz, has been awful too, hitting .218/.309/.259. Diaz flashed some power at Indiana State, hitting 18 HR and a .632 SLG, but through 86 games, we’re still waiting on his first professional HR…

    I’m surprised we haven’t seen more ’25 draft picks appears yet. We’ve got a boatload of college seniors who aren’t getting any younger. Wyatt Henseler, our 9th rounder who was a FIFTH year senior, is the only player to appear so far. I understand the HS picks sitting out, now that the FCL is over, and potentially most pitchers too. But where is Ethan Petry, Boston Smith (college senior), Hunter Hines (senior), Jack Moroknek (senior), Nick Hollifield, Jacob Walsh (senior) and Juan Cruz? Some of these guys signed almost 4 weeks ago.

      1. Before this season, he was generally pretty neutral in his RH/LH splits. In ’23, it was slightly favorable to hitting RH’d (.751 vs .688 OPS), whereas in ’24, he was almost the same but favorable in the opposite direction (.582 as LHB vs .641 as a lefty).

        This year there’s a huge difference: .555 as a RHB vs .806 as a LHB, but it’s not out of the ordinary to see such big swings in relatively small samples from year to year. Is there something that’s happened this year that leads you to believe Vaquero won’t develop as a RHB?

          1. the last time I looked I believe his power numbers were much lower RH’d. also it would be easier to concentrate on one vs two swings.

  2. Of all the themes to the rebuild season discussed over time , Josiah Gray is one name on the sidelines who if healthy and logging innings would have buttressed a young rotation bent out of shape with guys adapting to the bigs roles in a rotation .
    Eric Tolman a nice summer surprise after his injury history

  3. Nats promote Riley Cornelio to Rochester (presumably to take Cavalli’s place in the Red Wings rotation).

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