Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | Won, 8-7 (10 inn.) |
@ Lehigh Valley, 6:45pm | Champlain (4-1, 3.51) vs. Davidson (3-1, 5.63) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 4-3 | vs. Somerset, 6:30pm | Luckham (3-4, 6.57) vs. C. Smith (2-3, 6.82) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 10-2 | vs. Bowling Green, 6:35pm | Maddox (3-4, 4.66) vs. Gainey (3-1, 5.77) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 3-2 | vs. Hill City, 6:35pm | Tepper (0-0, 1.50) vs. Keljo (0-2, 3.14) |
| FCL Nationals | Lost, 4-0 | @ FCL Mets, 12pm | |
| DSL Nationals | Lost, 2-1 | OFF DAY |
Rochester 8 Lehigh Valley 7 (10 inn.)
• Penrod 1+ IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 1K
• Z. Kent (W, 2-0) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 1-0 IR-S
• Yean (SV, 8) 1IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K
• Morales 2-5, 2R, HR, 3RBI
• House 2-5, R, RBI
• Franklin 1-3, 2R, 2BB, SB(10)
After losing an early 2-0 lead, Rochester fell behind 6-2 but tied it in 9th at 6-6. Seaver King hit a two-run HR in the 10th to take an 8-6 lead and Eddie Yean let in the only the free runner to secure the 8-7 win in extras. Zach Penrod opened the game instead of the listed starter Riley Cornelio, who was an ineffective three runs in two innings. The win went to Zak Kent while Yean, the seventh pitcher used, got the save. Yoyo Morales went 2-for-5 with a HR and three RBI while BrAAAAdy House was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored to lead the Red Wings offense.
Somerset 4 Harrisburg 3
• Clemmey (L, 2-3) 5⅓ IP, 6H, 3R, 1ER, 3BB, 7K, HR
• Dean 1⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Pichardo 1-3, 2B, E
• M. Romero 1-4, R, HR, RBI
The Senators squeezed three runs out of four hits, but came up short against the Patriots, 4-3. Alex Clemmey pitched into the 6th for the fourth straight start but gave up three runs (one earned) on six hits (one HR) over five and a 1/3rd to lose for the third time. Max Romero Jr. homered again while Kervin Pichardo doubled, and Marcus Brown and Leandro Pineda both singled to power the Harrisburg offense.
Bowling Green 10 Wilmington 2
• Bruni 3IP, 8H, 6R, 6ER, 2BB, 1K, HR
• Boucher 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2K
• A. Feliz 2-4, 2K, SB
• White 2-4, SB
Gavin Bruni dug a 6-1 hole from which Wilmington could not climb out in a 10-2 loss to Bowling Green. Bruni was strafed for eight hits and six runs while walking two and striking out one (1) over three innings. The Blue Rocks struck out 17 times (if you have to ask, please DM me; I’ve got a bridge to sell you) and collected seven hits, with Angel Feliz and T.J. White both going 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Roster moves: RHP Miguel Sime Jr. promoted from Fredericksburg.
Fredericksburg 3 Hill City 2
• Johnson 4IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 3K
• Dannelley (BS, 1) 2IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 2K, HR
• Roberts (W, 2-0) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2K
• Fien 2-3, 2BB, 2RBI
• James 2-3, R, BB
A two-run HR in the 7th erased an early 1-0 lead for the FredNats, but an Eli Willits two-out double followed by a two-run single by Gavin Fien turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 walkoff win. That made a winner out of Jacob Roberts, who worked around a walk in the top of the 9th for his second “W.” Luke Johnson went the first four and put on six baserunners but allowed no runs. Fien reached base four times on two singles and two walks while Coy James walked, singled twice, and stole his 18th base to lead the Fredericksburg offense. Roster moves: RHP Marlon De La Cruz reassigned from the FCL.
FCL Astros 4 FCL Nationals 0
• J. Reyes (L, 0-1) 3⅓ IP, 2H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 2K
• Schoff 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K, 1-1 IR-S
• E. Soto 2-2, 2B
• W. Arias 1-2, E(5)
The FCL Nationals were shut out, 4-0 on three hits by the FCL Astros. Juan Reyes gave up all four F-Astros runs on two hits and three walks over three anda 1/3rd innings. Elian Soto singled and doubled, Wander Aria singled once. The rest of the lineup went 0-for-19 with no walks and seven whiffs.
DSL Blue Jays Blue 2 DSL Nationals 1
• Medina 3IP, 3H, 0R, 2BB, 4K
• Moreno 1⅔ IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 1K
• A. Ramrirez 2⅓ IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 1K
• Bello 1-1, R, BB, SB
• Acosta 1-3, CS, E
The D-Nats managed just four singles and and barely avoided a shutout as the D-Jays Blue (da ba dee) edged them 2-1. Maximin Medina got the start and tossed three scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out four. Amin Ramirez took the loss, letting in ron runs on one hit and two walks over the last two and 1/3rd innings. Rony Bello was the sole DSL Nationals batter to reach base twice and scored the only run on a steal of home.
Brady also got doubled off base twice on line drives. I can cut him (some) slack on the first one but he was on third in the tenth when the 2B caught him 20 feet off the base.
what was he thinking, what was he watching, where was he going??
Nothing new under the sun . Solomon
And Elijah K ing with bases loaded in the ninth .
Right , Todd? Lol
Clemmey has bounced back nicely after a really rough spell of games. Over the past month/5 starts/26 IP, he’s sporting a 2.77 ERA, 32 K and “only” 14 BB.
What is Schoff still doing in the FCL? That was his 8th game there. I know he’s rehabbing, but rehabs never take this long at such a low level.
Angel Feliz committed his 10th, 11th and 12th errors of the season yesterday. After playing exclusively SS and 2B in his career before this year, the move to 3B isn’t going well. 9 of those 12 errors came at 3B in only 18 games. That’s positively Lomavitian. Feliz has also struggled with his bat, hitting only .232/.325/.339 this season. It seems his aggressive promotion to Wilmington after only 31 games in Low A, might have been too much too soon. On the brightside, he’s been displaying good speed on the basepaths, stealing 16 bases in only 47 G (he stole 15 in 84 G last year). On the whole though, it’s not such a bad display, as Feliz doesn’t turn 20 for another 5 months. He’s several months younger than super-prospect Ronny Cruz, who’s struggled even more than Feliz in Wilmington.
Sorry, forgot to mention Max Romero. His performance this season is shocking. He’s nearly doubled his OPS (1.013) compared to last season in AA (.588)! In every single metric, he’s doing vastly better. His power has increased – he’s already hit more HR (8) in 31 games than he did all of last season (7). He’s walking more (twice as much! 15.0% vs. 7.6% last year). He’s striking out less (29.1% vs. 35.4%). He’s even slightly improved his CS% (78% vs 80%).
Is this for real? Or is this just a (very long) hot streak?
Seaver King playing 2B last night. Possibly grooming King to come up to the Bigs to provide some punch at that position?
As good as the MLB Nats offense has been 2B has been provided no offense between Nunez and Vivas.
Also, what does Yoyo have to do to become the better 1B/DH (and even sometime 3B) option that Chaparro? In over 200 PAs, he just rakes. Understand that the Nats don’t want to bring him up and have him mostly sit against RHP, but the bottom line is that the Nats would be better with Yoyo than Chaparro and it’s not close.
Honoring Max Romero by putting him on the leaderboard.
OPS 127 PA
1. Yohandy Morales ROC 1016 (2023 R2)
2. Max Romero HRB 1013 (2022 R9)
3. Seaver King HRB/ROC 981 (2024 R1)
4. Jack Moroknek FBG 973 (2025 R11)
5. Devin Fitz-Gerald WMT 970 (Gore deal)
6. Ethan Petry WMT 957 (2025 R2)
7. Jacob Walsh FBG 947 (2025 R15)
8. Yeremy Cabrera FBG/WMT 945 (Gore deal)
9. Abimilec Ortiz ROC 899 (Gore deal)
10. Cayden Wallace HRB 878 (Hunter deal)
Eli Willets is at 862
Love the idea of King coming up and playing 2B. Nunez and his 47 OPS+ can go back to being what he should be: late inning replacement guy.
Agree Todd : good to be the king at 2 b
Gavin Dugas playing the ole Murphy Stehky role who just hung up his cleats and glove . As Fred MD always says
Good luck young man in life
Lile in a slump
Is Hassell 3 in LeCroys dog house ?
New Baseball America top 100 prospect rankings:
№21 Eli Willits, SS
№50 Seaver King, SS/2B
№55 Jarlin Susana, RHP
№71 Devin Fitz-Gerald, 2B
№93 Ronny Cruz, SS
I love the idea of having Nunez come off the bench almost every night as a pinch-runner and defensive sub. Given the general positional flexibility of most of those guys, you can plug Nunez in to run, then rearrange enough pieces to get him at 2nd or SS to finish the game.
So Morales has a .415 BABIP. I guess that’s a semi-credible excuse to not give him a shot. But it’s not like they don’t know what they have in Chaparro or Garcia. “But he can’t hit fastballs” doesn’t seem to hold water if he’s hitting .400 against them (Todd Boss mentioned that yesterday, which I haven’t been able to confirm but I’ll take his word for it).
So as King continues to rake, at what point do you stop assuming he just arrived in AAA on a hot streak, and instead start to think he’s just ready? He’s got 50 plate appearances with a .960 OPS. His BABIP is .355 so you have to figure he’ll cool off a bit, right?
Todd : this is a just a compliment to you every month when you do your “ arms race “ roundup ( not sponsored by round up ) giving us seam heads a rather clever drone overview of the Nats farm arms “ corral “
The ups downs and outs .
We could all agree that with the blue chip arms on the 60 day DL shelf or on the recovery path we are also looking forward to the “ Young Turks “ first amateur draft haul in DC with the group of young pitchers drafted then signed seem to probably end up resembling “ types “ seen in NYY or Boston drafts previously involving the
“ young Turks “.
I tend to give teams a lot of slack when it comes to promotion/demotion/DFA decisions, under the theory that it’s possible that they know more than I do about not only the individual players but the surrounding organizational situation.
I realize this makes me an outlier on the InterNats. And I recognize that we have to talk about SOMETHING, so … carry on!