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Monday’s News & Notes

Willits, Petry, and Fitz-Gerald to be Promoted

Multiple online sources are reporting that Eli Willits, Washington’s #1 overall prospect, will be promoted to Wilmington this week, with Ethan Petry and Devin-Fitzgerald heading to Harrisburg. According to TalkNats, T.J. White’s 337-game exile to Delaware will also end with a move to the Nats’ AA affiliate, to be replaced by ’25 11th Rd. pick Jack Moroknek, who moves up from Low-A.

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 7-6 (11 inn.) OFF DAY N/A
Harrisburg Lost, 7-3 OFF DAY N/A
Wilmington Lost 5-4 (10 inn.) OFF DAY N/A
Fredericksburg Won, 8-6 OFF DAY N/A
FCL Nationals OFF DAY @ FCL Marlins, 12pm
DSL Nationals OFF DAY vs DSL Cardinals, 11am

Rochester 7 Lehigh Valley 6 (11 inn.)
• Palmquist 2IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 0K, HBP
• Yean (BS, 3) ⅔ IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 1K, HR
• Gott (W, 4-0) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 0K, 2-0 IR-S
• Shuman (SV, 2) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 0K
• House 4-6, 2RBI
• Franklin 3-6, 2R, 2B, HR, RBI
• Morales 2-3, R, 3BB, RBI

The Red Wings offense bailed out the bullpen, pushing across the game-winner in the 11th to take the game, 7-6, and the series, 4-2. Carson Palmquist was the opener and was dinged for two runs on two hits over two innings with no walks and no strikeouts. Eddie Yean coughed up a two-run HR and the equalizer whil retiring just two of seven batters in the 9th. Trevor Gott stranded two and worked a scoreless 10th. Brady House’s fourth hit of the afternoon was a double to lead off the 11th and plate the go-ahead run. That made Gott the winning pitcher, as Seth Shuman walked the leadoff batter but got three infield outs to earn the save. Robert Hassell was the beer man in a 15-hit parade that House led with his double and three singles, followed by Christian “Hey It’s” Franklin with a single, double, and a homer. Roster moves: RHP Riley Cornelio recalled to Washington; RHP Cole Henry optioned from Washington.

Somerset 7 Harrisburg 3
• Clemmey (L, 2-4) 6IP, 4H, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 4K, 3HR
• B. Sullivan 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• S. Brown 2-5
• Lomavita 1-4, 2B, 0E

Alex Clemmey gutted out six innings but gave up three homers in Harrisburg’s 7-3 loss to Somerset. The 20-y.o. also gave up a single and three walks while striking out four while taking his fourth loss. With the help of two passed balls, a walk, and three stolen bases, the Senators got three runs in the 1st on one hit—a double by Chad Lomavita—and a sacrfice fly. Harrisburg mustered just three more singles and and three more walks the rest of the way as they left on eight baserunners total.

Bowling Green 5 Wilmington 4 (10 inn.)
• Jimenez 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• Bruni 5IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 5K
• Shortridge (BS, 1) 1IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 0K,
• Hill (L, 2-2) 2IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 1K
• Suggs 1-2, R, 2BB, 2B
• R. Cruz 2-5, R, RBI, SB

The Blue Rocks lost a 5-4 heartbreaker in the series finale against the Hot Rods. Yeuris Jimenez opened the game with two goose eggs and Frank Bruni, the announced starter, then went five scoreless and was in position for the win going into the 8th. Alas, Aaron Shortridge threw in-game BP (five hits to seven batters faced) to turn a 3-0 lead into a 4-3 deficit. Devin Fitz-Gerald forced extras with an RBI single to plate T.J. White, who had drawn a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 9th. Fitz-Gerald couldn’t barehand a bunt down the third base line to open the 10th, which pushed the free runner to 3rd where the Hot Rods got him in with a sac fly. Wilmington went down 1-2-3 in its half of the 10th.



Fredericksburg 8 Hill City 6
• Fischer (W, 4-0) 5IP, 7H, 4R, 4ER, 1BB, 2K
• Rojas (SV, 4) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• James 2-3, 2R, 2B, 2RBI, HBP, E
• Moroknek 2-3, BB
• Fien 2-5, 2B, 3RBI, E

Fredericksburg finally clinched the first-half title with an 8-6 win over Hill City. Carson Fischer wobbled through five innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out two, but that was good enough to win for the fourth time. The FredNats batters marched to a ten-hit parade, led by Gavin Fien, Coy James, and Jack Moroknek with two hits apiece. Cesar Rojas worked around a walk in the 9th to earn the save, his fourth.

FCL Nationals, 12-12, T2nd FCL East, 5½ GB
Despite the influx of MLFAs, the F-Nats continue to struggle as they dropped four of six to fall to .500 and into a tie for 2nd place. This week, the team travels to Jupiter twice (Mon. & Thu.) and Port St. Lucie on Saturday while hosting the FCL Marlins today and the FCL Astros on Friday.

DSL Nationals, 2-3, T4th DSL South, 2GB
While it may feel like there are a lot of holdovers from the ’25 squad, it’s only six of the 15 batters and seven of the 16 pitchers to have appeared thus far. Eight of the nine newcomers are 16 or 17 for the batters, but for the pitchers that figure is only four of the nine new pitchers, as the Nats’ fetish for reclamation projects continues. This week, the D-Nats are home Monday, Thursday, and Friday with Wednesday off and road games on Tuesday and Saturday.

24 Commments

  1. the weird lineups continue.

    though no longer a prospect I’m worried that Henry has hit the end of the line. his arm angle keeps dropping and if he spends the next two weeks trying to get it back up he’ll more than likely get hurt again. I wonder if he goes the other direction and becomes a submariner? too bad, he’s always had what it takes above that balky shoulder.

    1. Good call Fred MD
      Move up day Monday sponsored by uber and U-Haul!
      Good for White
      He’s licking his chops with the city island short dimensions
      Tear it up , TJ

  2. promotions are great, however what are the corresponding moves for Harrisburg? if Harrisburg gets three who are we losing?

    2. Jack Rogers was released hence TJWhite
      Breaks daylight to AA.
      Good for TJ.
      Good job by Arizona getting Soroka back on an All Star nomination trek

  3. So the big day finally came! Well deserved for everyone involved. However, I wonder why it finally happened yesterday? Fitz-Gerald has been mired in a ongoing slump for the past week or so, going 1 for his past 24 with 9 Ks. Moroknek and Petry haven’t been quite so bad, but still underwhelming relative to their previous performances, with Moroknek going 5 for his past 23 (only 1 XBH) and Petry 6 for 28 with 8 K and only 2 XBH (both 2Bs). Though Willits and White have been good in June.

    Let’s hope these guys fare more like Seaver King (.284/.329/.493 since promotion) and not the majority of our other promoted guys (Cruz hitting .224/.278/.340, Yeremy Cabrera hitting .235/.316/.309 (side note: good to see him back in the lineup!) and Dylan Crews (he counts here, right?) hitting .197/.246/.311).

    I’m surprised Cayden Wallace wasn’t among the promotees after his recent absence in the last two games. Worse, it looks like his absence is likely health-related, and not arranging transport north from Harrisburg to Rochester.

    1. it’s possible that the 8 homers in 10 games lead Fitz-Gerald to chase more HRs. hopefully the move to AA will allow him to slot in as the regular 2B and regain his hit success. that’s where his future lies

    2. The tracking should start now
      Delino senior smirks
      Petry and White in FNB rotating between DH and 1b
      This should be fun
      Who gets the first bobble head ? Fitzy?

      1. Whether the expos or Nats : just get your hitters to Harrisburg and see what blossoms

  4. I’m so tired of Jose Tena. I was really rooting for him to work out, but he’s one of the worst defenders I’ve witnessed – both at 3B and 2B – and his bat just hasn’t been good enough to make up for it. He’s hitting a miserable .106/.143/.191 over his past 19 games. It made a lot of sense to take a flyer on a guy like him without a future in the Guardians’ org, but it just has never clicked here, and with Mead playing the same positions with a MUCH better bat, and Nunez playing the same positions with a MUCH better glove, I don’t really understand what his role is anymore. We’ve also got at 3-4 infielders in Rochester who couldn’t possibly be worse offensively and/or defensively than Tena has been over the past month, in Morales, Ortiz, House and King. It would have the added bonus of freeing up some playing time for Cayden Wallace’s eventual promotion too, especially now that Wallace can ostensibly play all the infield positions.

    1. They forgot to include a big supply of baseballs and bats in the Lane Thomas deal in retrospect

    2. Agree on Tena.
      The Nats front office puts huge emphasis on right/left matchups, and they want a left-handed bat to DH and, I guess to play 2B/3B if needed. The problem is that Tena is a horrific defensive player, Vivas is essentially the same player with a slightly better glove. Would guess that the one thing keeping Tena up (other than there is no left-handed bat in AAA to take his place, and they don’t want to bring up Ortiz to only play a couple of games a week) is that Tena has elite pinch-hitting stats. Believe that to be a function of a small sample size, but the Nats front office loves to play matchups, and I guess they feel Tena gives them options.

      It is crazy that Tena has no glove, no power, average speed and a below average bat, but he has found a way to stay on the best offensive team in MLB for more than 1/3 of the season. Also, hilarious that when Tena does start, he often bats in the 3 spot in the lineup.

    3. With all the infielders coming up the Tena clock is ticking like the song by War
      TIME

  6. Does Fien deserve a call up to Grand Csnyon of Delaware I – 95?
    Moroknek the Butler bulldog truly needed to bump up

    1. Fien’s recent hot streak is encouraging, but he still needs a lot more time in Fredericksburg. He’s hitting only .235/.343/.388 this season. For a bat-first prospect, you’d want/expect to see better numbers than that.

      1. The push up will happen later legal sooner
        We will all smile
        Walsh time is coming soon for a bump

  7. What is there to make of Lomavita being used as a 2B in back-to-back games now? Lomavita never played 2B in college. He appeared a couple times at 3B and 1B, but never 2B, so this isn’t some prior skill he’s tapping into. And C -> 2B is waaaayyyy different than 3B or SS -> 2B. But Lomavita’s defense has been famously error prone, so it’s not entirely strange to be looking at alternative positions for him…

    Weirdly, both Wallace and Kervin Pichardo have just kind of disappeared this weekend, after playing on Friday, which might have necessitated SOMEONE playing 2B. There was nothing out of the ordinary in that game that suggests they were injured. And Paul reported that Wallace was ready to play on Saturday, so was this an emergency usage case? Or is this Exhibit 7143 of Toboni’s obsession with positional versatility? We’ll find out soon with Fitz-Gerald arriving and very capable of playing 2B.

    1. Hope to be wrong, but don’t consider Lomavita to be a prospect at this point. The move to 2B is a recognition he can’t cut it at catcher. Given the sudden excessive middle infield depth, Lomavita has no future as a 2B with the Nats organization.

        1. So, the deal with the prior regime seems to be that any of their draft picks that do well is *despite* the regime, and any that struggle is *because of* the regime.

          Rizzo and his folks had a great run, but it was time to go. I wish that Nats fans could let it go.

          1. Wish there was a “like” button as John C. I would have just clicked that…….. Agree with you 100% here.

          2. The blunders are like in the days of women at the club
            Sine you look at and say – stay away . lol

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