Scottsdale posted a picket fence from the 4th to the 6th, but Salt River got two-spots in the 3rd, 5th, and 6th as the Rafters doubled up the Scorpions, 6-3.
Five Nationals appeared in the game:
- Seaver King was the DH and went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Ethan Petry reached base on an error in the 3rd, drove in a run on a sac fly in the 4th, and walked in the 6th, scoring on a double play. He had two putouts in right field.
- Sam Petersen singled in three PAs and had three putouts in left field.
- Austin Amaral was the first man out of the ‘pen and struck out two in his single inning of work.
- Jared Simpson reverted to the mean and retired just one of five batters faced as he allowed two runs on three hits and a walk.
Scottsdale (18-9) lost but so did second-place Surprise (16-9). The Scorpions return home to face the Desert Dogs (10-17) tonight.
The 2025 Harrisburg Senators
The ’25 Senators were a study in mediocrity. They finished 34-35 in the first half, 34-35 in the second half. They were just a tick above league average in pitching (4.09 vs. 4.19) and a tick below in hitting (4.14). They were second in FPct. and 4th in CS% and allowed the 6th fewest stolen bases.
But—and you knew there was a but—they were league’s oldest set of hitters by nearly a full year (24.4 vs. 23.5) and their pitchers were slightly older than the Lg. Avg. (24.9 vs. 24.7). For those wondering, the average ages at AA haven’t really increased despite elimination of two levels (SS-A and Adv. Rookie) in 2021. For example, ten years ago those figures were 24.5 and 24.6 for hitters and pitchers respectively.
And yet, there were some bright spots. Jarlin Susana had flashes of brilliance when he wasn’t hurt [insert Nationals elbow reference here]. Jake Bennett pitched into the 5th in seven times for Harrisburg and only gave up more than two runs three times in ten AA starts on his comeback from UCL replacement. Newcomer Sam Brown probably had the quietest .886 OPS stretch in recent memory (albeit over two months).
And that’s excluding the short stints of Yoyo Morales and Daylen Lile who both went on to AAA with the latter finish 5th in the N.L. Rookie of the Year vote – the first National to get any votes since 2019 (Victor Robles).
And with that I’ll close with a probably-too-generous statistical Top 4’s
| TOP 4 BATS | TOP 4 ARMS |
| 1. Sam Brown, 1B .291 GPA, .472 SLG% in 35G |
1. Jarlin Susana, RHSP 3.61/3.12/1.39, 15.02 K/9IP, 6.08 BB/9IP in 47⅓ IP (11GS) |
| 2. Branden Boissiere, 1B/DH .279 GPA, .369 OBP in 51G |
2. Jake Bennett, LHSP 2.56/3.20/1.12, 6.5 K/9IP in 45⅔ IP (10GS) |
| 3. Phillip Glasser, LF .268 GPA, 6HR, 30SB in 112G |
3. Riley Cornelio, RHSP 2.31/3.35/0.98, 7.87 K/9IP in 66⅓ IP (11GS) |
| 4. Cayden Wallace, 3B .234 GPA, 10HR, 113K in 121G |
4. Jackson Kent, LHSP 5.59/4.01/1.24, 10.86 K/9IP, 4.03 BB/9IP in 29IP (6GS) |
I’m aware that there are many Glasser fans here, but while he may have hit for average and taken a walk, only 27 of his 125 hits were for extra bases. Brown, Kent, and Susana were the only age-appropriate-to-the-level, as I disregarded players who were older (and pitched better) and/or have since been released.
If you’d like to see the full team stats, go here. The pitching data can be found here.