Tuesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | OFF DAY | @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 6:35pm | TBD vs. Beck (1-1, 4.87) |
| Harrisburg | OFF DAY | vs. Altoona, 6:30pm | Luckham (1-1, 8.53) vs. TBD |
| Wilmington | OFF DAY | @ Frederick, 7pm | Lyon (A+ debut) vs. Dorsey (0-0, 8.00) |
| Frdericksburg | OFF DAY | @ Salem, 5:05pm | Portorreal (0-0, 3.55) vs. Finley (0-0, 2.08) |
Rochester Red Wings – 11-10, T2nd I.L. East, 3GB
Rochester heads back to Central Pennsylvania for the second of four series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on a two-game slide. The pitching has improved a little (now 5th worst) but the hitters have cooled at the same time. Given the big club’s bullpen woes, this could be a season-long problem. Roster moves: RHP Julian Fernández recalled to Washington.
Harrisburg Senators – 11-4, 2nd E.L. Southwest, 1½ GB
The Senators took their third series and won 11 of 15, but remain in second place as the Flying Squirrels have not been grounded. This week, the last-place Curve comes to City Isle for six, including a Wet Nose Wednesday tomorrow afternoon.
Wilmington Blue Rocks – 8-6, 3rd Sally Lg. North, 2½ GB
Ronny Cruz and Isaac Lyon became the first true promotions of the season while Liam Sullivan returns for a third tour of duty at Fredericksburg. After a 2-4 showing against Hub City, Wilmington sinks into third place. This week, the Blue Rocks make their first visit to Frederick since 2019, back when the former was a Royals affiliate and before the latter was schempped as part of the MLB coup d’état of MiLB. Roster moves: RHP Isaac Lyon, IF Ronny Cruz promoted from Fredericksburg.
Fredericksburg Nationals – 10-5, 1st place C.L. North, 1GA
After fattening up against the ShoreBirds, the FredNats head southwest to visit the renamed RidgeYaks (neé Red Sox) for the first of three series in 2026 – all in the first half. Yeremy Cabrera became the third Nationals minor-leaguer to earn Player of the Week honors, going 9-for-18 with two doubles, a triple, two HRs, four RBI, a kitten saved, and six stolen bases for a Nintendo-esque 1.696 OPS. Roster moves: LHP Liam Sullivan demoted from Wilmington.
Lyon reminds me of Erick Fedde with his pitches darting all over the place.
Cruz, Feliz, Fitz-Gerald and Petry present a pretty good infield for prospect watching.
I’m glad to see the early promotion for Ronny Cruz, and it makes think about who might be next.
My guess is Wallace or King. Neither is particularly young or new to AA. They are raking (174 and 157 wRC+, respectively) with much improved power (.276 and .265 ISOs, from .134 and .093) and without increased strikeouts. Wallace is only striking out 18% of the time, and King is walking (22%) almost as much as he’s striking out (23%). Most importantly, both hot starts are continuations of markedly improved performance from the end of last season – King in the AFL and Wallace’s second half.
I was still a King skeptic after the AFL performance, and I don’t think I even internalized at the time how strong Wallace finished last season, but I’m ready to buy in on both of these guys having made real improvements and being ready for AAA.