Six of the eight Nationals assigned to the AFL appeared in the game:
- Seaver King batted fifth and played shortstop, reaching base three times on a pair of walks and single and scoring one run. He had two assists and one putout.
- Ethan Petry was the #8 batter and played right field. He had an RBI single to plate King in the 6th and one putout on defense.
- Sam Petersen patrolled left field and was the last batter in the Scottsdale lineup. He singled in the 3rd and came around to score and was hit by a pitch in the 6th, took second on a wild pitch, stole third, and scored a second run. He snagged two flyballs on defense.
- Pablo Aldonis stranded two runners while getting the last out in the 4th and pitched a 1-2-3 fifth with a whiff.
- Jared Simpson walked three and struck out two in 7th and 8th innings.
- Austin Amaral struck out the side in the 9th and but also issued a walk and gave up a solo HR.
We’re roughly four days away from learning who—besides Jake Bennett, natch—the Nats will choose to protect in the Rule 5 draft. I defer to Mr. Boss on this topic, but I would not surprised if Bennett is the only one. You might be able to make a case for Christian “Hey It’s” Franklin or Riley Cornelio, but methinks PBO Paul Toboni is willing to cut bait on any borderline Rizzo guy, knowing the odds of any Rule 5 pick sticking at the MLB level are very low.