Thursday’s News & Notes; AFL Rosters Revealed
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 9-2 | vs. Buffalo, 6:05pm | Sampson (5-4, 4.21) vs. Manoah (1-1, 3.09) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 5-1 | vs. Akron, 6:30pm | Hyun-il Choi (6-5, 4.15) vs. Denholm (11-6, 3.55) |
| Fredericksburg | OFF DAY | @ Lynchburg, 6:30pm | Polanco (7-8, 3.71) M. Hernandez (6-3, 3.64) |
Buffalo 9 Rochester 2
• Luckham (L, 0-2) 3IP, 7H, 6R, 6ER, 2BB, 3K, 0HR
• Lara 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• Schnell 2-4, R, HR(20), RBI, 2K
• Glasser 1-4, R, HR, RBI
The Bisons scored five in the 1st and one in the 2nd en route to a 9-2 trampling of the Red Wings. Kyle Luckham gave up those six early runs on seven hits and two walks to lose his second AAA contest. Phillip Glasser broke up the shutout with his first AAA homer while Nick Schnell went yard with his 20th to account for the Rochester offense.
Akron 5 Harrisburg 1
• Eder 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Tolman (L, 0-2) 3⅓ IP, 4H, 4R, 4ER, 4BB, 3K
• Lomavita 2-3, BB
• DeShields 2-4
Akron broke open a 0-0 game with three in the 5th and handed Harrisburg its tenth loss out the last eleven games, 5-1. Jake Eder, picked up in the deadline deal with the Angels, emerged from witness protection to toss two scoreless innings with one hit, no walks, and one whiff. Erik Tolman was lit up for four runs on four hits and four walks over three and 2/3rd to take the loss. Chad Lomavita and Delino DeShields Jr. both singled twice while Seaver King broke up the shutout with an RBI single to lead the Sens attack. Roster moves: LHP Jake Eder activated from I.L., reassigned from Rochester.
Fredericksburg Nationals – OFF DAY
The FredNats are in Lynchburg with a win-or-go-home Game 2 of the Carolina League Division Series. Both of tonight’s starters tossed six scoreless innings in the final regular-season series, albeit in different games. Thus, the game may come down to either which team’s bullpen is better or which team’s offense is on. Maybe (probably) both.
Yesterday, MLB revealed both the teams and the rosters for the 2025 AFL season, which begins Monday, October 6.
If you’re not into the hype of the pre-posteason (or is that the post-mideseason?) prospect lists, you can skip the link and cut to the chase of the Nats contingent on the Scottsdale Scorpions:
- LHP Pablo Aldonis*
- RHP Austin Amaral
- LHP Jake Bennett*
- RHP Sean Paul Liñan
- LHP Jared Simpson
- SS Seaver King
- OF Sam Peterson
- OF Ethan Petry
While this list may not be trerribly exciting (they rarely are), there are two things that stand out immediately. One, no catchers. Two, only two (2) players are Rule 5 eligible. This is the polar opposite of last year.
Unfortunately, with such a pitcher-heavy contingent, there may be more than a few days this fall where no National will appear in a game. I hope I’m wrong, even if it makes things a little easier for me as my work ramps up (well, goes from 10 to 11).
Luke I cannot help the snarkle snarkle
Seaver King in AFL is to quietly try and validate the drafting of a guy with a number one pick ?
Slow morning here since the inbound plane from Dfw originally had a snapped tow bar at pushback resulting in a damaged plane fuselage .
Plane change
1:53 am landing
Sens GM sat in 2B watching a good movie .
May Choi not hang too many curve balls tonight .
Austin Amaral has been a stealth ascending bullpen prospect .
Jake Bennett seems like a slam-dunk 40-man addition, so he likely will be in AZ just to stretch out his innings. It’s not far fetched at all to think that he could debut in the majors in 2026 (when he will already be 25 years old).
The other two interesting names on the list are Seaver King and Ethan Petry. That’s a small “wow” that they think enough of Petry to toss him into that pool, although if they think he can hang at that level, it makes sense. The lack of the post-draft short-season leagues leaves the draftees basically wasting their draft summers.
King’s issues have been well chronicled. With struggling hitters, it never hurts to expose them to other voices who might be able to help. Both Millas and Hassell seemed to begin their turnarounds in the AFL.
FWIW, I sure don’t think King is a “lost cause” after what was only his first full pro season. There were always questions about his ceiling, though, and he needs to do more to dispel those.
won’t Bennett be eligible for an additional year of MiLB control due to injury?
I have no idea, just going by what they have for him on FanGraphs. Maybe Todd knows the details of the arcane rules?
In Bennett’s case, regardless of whether he’s on the 40-man, I would anticipate that he would be in MLB camp and looked at as having a good shot for a 2026 call-up.
Players signed at the age of 18 or younger (it doesn’t matter 18 and 0 days or and 18 and 364 days) must be added within five seasons. Players signedd at the age of 19 or older must be added within four seasons. TL; DR – <18 signed in 2021 or >19 signed in 2022 are now eligible for the Rule 5. Number of seasons played is immaterial.
I think I’m confusing this with the option rule. thx
And you go Phillip Glasser with your AAA opportunity! He’ll turn 26 in December and very likely will rate a non-roster invite to the big club’s spring camp two months later. He’s not Rule 5-eligible until next fall, so there’s no rush to figure out where he fits.
Just a note to say that I am careful about avoiding ads. Today, however, I was distracted and pushed “open” meaning that I got the ad. I wanted to open your original page. I got a warning from mac that the ad was spyware.