Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 2-1 | vs. Syracuse, 1:05pm | Cornelio (0-1, 5.40) vs. Herget (2-0, 2.72) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 5-3 | @ Hartford, 7:10pm | Susana (0-1, 3.82) vs. Brown (3-2, 4.01) |
| Wilmington | Won, 4-0 | vs. Jersey Shore, 6:35pm | Y. Tejeda (0-2, 9.72) vs. Highfill (1-0, 3.75) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 3-1 | vs. Salem, 6:35pm | Polanco (5-7, 4.09) vs. Bouchard (0-1, 7.36) |
| DSL Nationals | Lost, 9-2 | OFF DAY |
Syracuse 2 Rochester 1
• Sampson 6IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 4K, HR
• Salazar (L, 1-3) 1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 0K, WP
• Nuñez 1-2, R, BB, 3SB
• Chaparro 1-4, 2B
A bases-loaded walk in the 9th was the game-winning run for Syracuse in a 2-1 decision. Adrian Sampson gave up a solo HR and walked three over six innings for his fourth quality start and fourth no-decision. Eduardo Salazar walked three in the 9th to take the loss, his third. Nasim Nuñez singled, walked, and scored the lone Rochester run while stealing three bases to lead the Red Wings offense.
Harrisburg 5 Hartford 3
• Tolman 5IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 2K, 2HR
• Schultz (BS, 3) 2IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K, HR
• Acosta (W, 4-1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Made 3-5, R
• Boisserie 2-4, R, HR, RBI
• C. De La Cruz 2-4, R, BB, 2RBI
Senators pitchers gave up three solo HRs but the batters racked up a dozen hits and pushed across two in the 9th to sidetrack the Yard Goats, 5-3. Erik Tolman turned in five innings of two-run ball on two homers, four hits, two walks, and two whiffs. Thomas Schultz turned that into a no-decision with homer in the 6th. Kevin Made led the Harrisburg hit column with three singles followed by Branden Boisserie with a single and a homer. Carlos De La Cruz delivered the one (1) hit in seven RISP chances, the aforementioned two-run single in the 9th. Daison Acosta put up goose eggs in the 8th and 9th innings to earn the win, his fourth.
Wilmington 4 Jersey Shore 0
• Glavine 2IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 2K
• Cáceres 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 4K
• De La Rosa 2-4, CS
• Nunez 1-4, 2B, RBI
Four Wilmington pitchers combined to shut out Jersey Shore, 4-0 on five hits. Peyton Glavine went the first two innings as the opener and allowed two hits and walked one. Bryan Cáceres garnered the win with two hits allowed over the next three innings with no walks and four whiffs. Jeremy De La Rosa singled twice while Elijah Nunez drove in three with a bases-clearing double to cap off a four-run 2nd to power the Blue Rocks offense.
Fredericksburg 3 Salem 1
• Meckley (W, 6-6) 6IP, 7H, 0R, 1BB, 6K
• Otanez (SV, 4) 1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 0K, WP
• Bazzell 3-4, R, RBI
• Green 1-3, R, BB
• Petry 1-3, R, BB
The FredNats posted a picket fence in the early going and held off a late charge by the Red Sox to win, 3-1. Xander Meckley threw six scoreless, allowing seven hits, one walk, and striking out six to earn his sixth win. Johan Otanez wobbled through the 9th to lose the shutout but earn the save. Kevin Bazzell singled three times to lead the Fredericksburg hit column of eight.
DSL Arizona Red 9 DSL Nationals 2
• M. De La Cruz (L, 1-6) ⅔ IP, 4H, 6R, 3ER, 0BB, 1K, HBP
• Carela 2⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 0K, 1-0 IR-S
• Castillo 2-3
• N. De La Cruz 2-4, R, BB, 2B
DSL Arizona Red jumped on Marlon De La Cruz for six runs in the 1st and cruised to a 9-2 win over the DSL Nationals. Junior Castillo singled twice while Nauris De La Cruz reached base three times on a single, double, and a walk to lead the D-Nats attack.
Crews’ rehab is going on a lot longer than I’d expected. We’re now on day 16. An oblique isn’t a minor injury, but it’s also not a super major one either, thus it’s a bit surprising to see the Nats use up almost the maximum time allotted (20 days). It feels like they’re giving Hassell, Lile and Young as much time as possible to work out who will get sent to Rochester.
Young is and has always been the obvious candidate, hitting only .133/.188/.133 in August, but as a rare RH OF, he’s not the ideal profile, as Wood, Lile and Hassell are all lefties. We’ll see what happens by the end of the week.
I think they’re waiting for Crews to get hot, something he has not been able to do. good test today against Sproat, hopefully he gets some hard contact at the very least.
they seem to be all in on Lile, Hassell not as much. it will be up to Robert to make the most of his opportunities. he, as well as Crews can play center well enough to offset the loss of Young’s talents defensively.
the LH/RH imbalance in the lineup is a problem that will be magnified against the Phils and Yanks
Hassell certainly put on a show yesterday. If his glove could be 75% of Young’s in CF, but his bat 33% better than Young’s, we’d have a ready made replacement for Young, at least until Young can rediscover his base running skills and batting skills that he displayed in 2023-24.
I think Lile, despite performing the best offensively of the 4 OFs, is the worst fit going forward. His defense looks baaaaaaddd. OAA rates him in the 7th percentile defensively. Yikes! DRS is somehow even worse at -10, which is 16th worst in all of baseball, while almost all the guys ahead of him have played twice as many innings as he has (side note: Luis Garcia is rated as the worst defender in all of baseball according to DRS). He must improve his defense. But in the meantime, perhaps it makes more sense to use him at DH more regularly and let Wood get more regular reps in LF. It looks like he’s finally emerging from his slump. If Lile continues to be a defensive black hole, he’ll just be too positionally limited to be able to play regularly. Whereas Hassell can reliably fill in at RF, LF and CF (same for Crews).
Still, we need to trade one of these guys this winter, while their value is at its peak. Young (or whoever) spending 2026 in the minors will decimate his value.
Phillip Glasser might be a better overall player than Garcia in time ?
Will or KW
How about some spread line stats regarding
Each affiliate results since the trade deadline talent infusion on the mound
Number of quality starts
Increase in a relaxed offense knowing the starting pitching was improving especially after the promotions .
It’s not the nature of the injury that led to the Nats extending Crews’ rehab, its that he missed so much time (10 weeks). He has 43 minor league at bats on rehab and just started playing 9 innings. What is the point of rushing him to DC when he is not ready? The current speculation is that the Nats send Tena back to Rochester, and then, hopefully, use the DH spot to get as many ABs for the glut of OFs on the MLB roster.
Assuming Wood and Crews will man two OF spots for the next couple of years, the Nats will need to make a decision about either Hassel or Lile as the third OF because their skills (both LH bats) are repetitive.
Following the starting pitching in the minors will be interesting this point forward as guys work on getting to 5-6 innings logged in each outing .
The deadline acquisitions give each affiliate some more depth and less taxation on the bullpen guys.
Hot on the east coast . Balls should fly during a matinee today .
Linan will be first on my radar.
Agree Fred MD on Linan
Followed by his Dodger buddy in same trade .
Is it possible that Lara and Choi are just working on their craft as long relievers this stage of 2025?
Sales seems like Shuman a guy to eat some innings at each affiliate per campaign he contributes on .
What’s up with Made , Bb and Brown really resonating with what DD and the hitting coach impressing upon them as they take each AB forward ? lol
I agree that Young is the OF candidate with the least upside. He is what he is, and there’s no shame in that. But it’s for that reason that I could see the team NOT sending him down. You want the guys with upside (Crews, Lile, Hassell) playing every day – two in DC, one in AAA. Young can be the defensive replacement/pinch-runner/occasional start against a LH pitcher guy. But I want the actual prospects playing every day.
Yes, Young is what he is, which is a fourth OF. In fact, he’s an ideal one with above-average defense at any position and speed on the base paths.
I think there’s a decent chance that either Lile or Hassell gets traded this winter. Yes, it’s good to have a solid player in reserve if another gets injured, but I agree that said person would need to be in AAA playing every day. That Nats also don’t have a lot of other legit trade assets that don’t dip into their projected core.
I wouldn’t write off Young yet. Including his down 2025, he has produced 4.3 bWAR/4.2 fWAR, or 2.3 WAR/150 g season. That’s nothing special, but it’s way better than a utility OF.
By comparison, in their young careers, Crews had produced at a 2.0 bWAR/150 pace, Lile at a NEGATIVE 2.8/150 pace (yes, that defense is BAAAADDDD), and Hassell at a 0.4 bWAR/50 pace.
Young has had the benefit of getting far more experience than all of them, and he is trending in the wrong direction, but right now his production, even taking only his very poor 2025 is superior to both Lile and Hassell. Young has been worth 0.9 WAR in 91 games, or 1.5 WAR/150, and last season at a 2.8 WAR pace. If he could improve his baserunning back to 2023/2024 standards and add 20ish points back to his AVG/OBP, he’d be approaching a 3.0 WAR player. His defense is just that good.
But this is exactly the sort of narrative DeBartolo needs to be selling to other interested teams. If other teams really value Young and think they can tweak his swing to squeeze out another 50 points of OPS, then by all means trade him on the basis of a 3ish WAR OF with Gold Glove defense. That should net a lot more talent than Lile and his historically bad defense.