Thursday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | Lost, 9-2 | @ Buffalo, 6:35pm | J. Kent (6-3, 4.69) vs. Gallardo (0-2, 5.85) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 12-2 | vs. Reading, 6:30pm | Lyon (3-4, 4.50) vs. Russo (8-5, 4.31) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 6-3 | vs. Hudson Valley, 4:30pm | Tepper (1-2, 5.47) and Fischer (2-0, 3.24) vs. Fox (6-3, 4.72) and Herrera (5-3, 4.13) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 9-6 | vs. Fayetteville, 6:35pm | Huesman (3-3, 4.35) vs. Beck (2-3, 2.96) |
| FCL Nationals | OFF DAY | @ FCL Astros, 12pm | |
| DSL Nationals | OFF DAY | vs. DSL Rockies, 11am |
Buffalo 9 Rochester 2
• Pilkington 1IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 0K, WP
• Cranz (L, 1-2) ⅔ IP, 1H, 4R, 0ER, 2BB, 2K, WP
• House 1-4, R, HR, RBI
• Glasser 1-4, 2B
Rochester’s four-game win streak was an afterthought as the Red Wings ‘pen was no match for the Bisons bats in a 9-2 stampede. Some guy name Max Scherzer threw five perfect innings for Buffalo. Robert Cranz took the loss with four unearned runs let in on a hit, two walks, and an error whule getting two outs in the 2nd. Joey Weimer broke up the perfect game with a leadoff walk in the 6th. Brady House ended both the no-no and the shutout with his 8th AAA home run. Weimer later singled and Phillip Glasser doubled to ccount for Rochester’s three-hit tally. Roster moves: OF Leandro Pineda reassigned from Harrisburg.
Harrisburg 12 Reading 2
• Maddox (W, 2-0) 5IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 6K
• Shuman (H, 2) 3IP, 3H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 0K
• Farmer 2-3, 2R, 3B
• Thomas 2-4, 2R, HR, 2RBI
• Boissiere 2-5, R, 2B(5), 3RBI
• Petry 2-5, R, HR, 2RBI, 2E
The Senators put up crooked numbers five times in eight “ups” as they floored the Fightins, 12-2. Riley Maddox tossed five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks to earn his second AA win. He struck out six. Johnathon Thomas, Ethan Petry, and T.J. White all homered while Devin Ortiz was the beer man on a 15-hit afternoon.
Hudson Valley 3 Wilmington 2
• L. Sullivan 5IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 4K, HR
• Huizi (BS, 2; L, 4-4) 1IP, 4H, 4R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K
• Walsh 3-4, R, HR, 2RBI, E
• Green 3-4, R, 2B, CS(5)
Two errors and a passed ball led to four unearned runs as Wilmington blew a 3-2 lead to lose the series opener 6-3. Liam Sullivan turned in five innings of two-run ball—his fourth start of five or more innings with two or fewer runs out of twelve—with four hits (one HR), no walks, and four K’s. The would-be win went South like Sherman in the 7th as Eiker Huizi let in the aforementioned four runs on four hits in his single inning thrown for the blown-save-loss. Jacob Walsh and Elijah Green combined to go 6-for-8 with two runs, a HR (Walsh), a double (Green), and two RBI (Walsh). Eli Willits rounded out the Wilmington hit column with a single, his seventh in July.
Fredericksburg 9 Fayetteville 6
• Sthele 5⅓ IP, 4H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K
• Beeker (BS, 1) ⅔ IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 0BB, 0K, 1-1 IR-S
• L. Johnson (W, 5-1) 3IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K
• Fien 2-4, 2R, BB, 2B(10), RBI, SB(5)
• Peoples 1-3, 2R, BB, HR, 3RBI, SB(10)
• James 1-2, BB, SF, RBI, E(10)
The FredNats jumped out to a 5-0 lead early only to see the Woodpeckers tie it with four in the 6th. Nick “Power to the” Peoples delivered the game-winner with an Earl Weaver special in the last of the 8th, which made a winner out of Luke Johnson, who let in an unearned run over the last three frames on three hits, no walks, and three whiffs. Travis “Sunday” Sthele pitched into the 6th for the first time this summer and left with a 5-1 lead the Merritt Beaker coughed up with three hits in the space of six batters for the blown save.
Fredericksburg’s offense was clicking on all cylinders with four hits in nine RISP chances, which included two sac flies. Gavin Fien led the FredNats hit column with single, double, and a walk followed while Peoples drew one of six walks on the night and Coy James singled, walked, and drove in a run.
Nats Sign 18 of 20 Draft Picks, Eight NDFAs
As noted in the comments, two HS picks are still holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night and FWIW, the signing deadline is till four days away. They were all signed to the FCL, just in time to watch some of their future teammates play their last game of the season! All eight NDFAs were collegiate pitchers. 
looks like it’s 50-50 that Max pitches in Nats Park next week. that would be classic.
So Pineda slides into the old Hassell 3 bench role for skipper Matt
Peoples 7 taters . There is a pulse .
Emerson Hancock with that name destined to pitch in Philly or for this blog sites tastes
Nat’s ?
Didn’t max rehab versus a Nat’s affiliate this past week ?
Hummm , baby , Harmon
!! Tonight
What’s gotten into Elijah Green? Three hits and his average is up to .226. Has it ever been that high at any level at this point in the season?
Green’s OPS has climbed each month. His July OPS is .786, and most importantly his K rate has dropped (slightly). Hard to believe, given that the Nats drafter Green in 2022, and he has only advanced to A+ Wilmington, but Green is just under league average age in Wilmington.
Check out his game logs. Starting on July 11, he’s been in 6 games, he’s gone 10 for 21 with 2 doubles, a walk, and only 5 Ks.
Maybe he finally figured something out, or started doing what the coaches wanted? Let’s give it a month and see.
It looks like Devin Fitz-Gerald might FINALLY be breaking out of his slump in Harrisburg, hitting .357/.438/.429 over his past 7 games. There’s still no power to speak of. Also worryingly, even over this short purple patch (32 PA), his plate discipline hasn’t improved much, walks are still down (3) and strikeouts still up (8), as his BABIP sits at .500 in that span. Looks like a lot of weak contact is finding gaps, rather than him reverting to the guy we saw in April. Still, you take what you can get.
On the other hand, the one promotion success story, Eli Willits, has cooled off mightily. He’s batting a mere .195/.400/.220 in July. Among our promoted bats, here’s the wRC+ leaderboard post-promotion. It’s not easy viewing…
0. Romero, 211 (super small sample size of 7 AB)
1. Elian Soto, 131
2. Willits, 127
3. Tejeda, 113
4. King, 102
5. Petry, 99
6. Walsh, 92
7. Wallace, 79
8. M. Cabrera, 73
9. R. Cruz, 69
10. Y. Cabrera, 55
11. White, 47
12. Fitz-Gerald, 37
13. Moroknek, 27
I’m very curious to see if Cruz and Fitz-Gerald stick in any top 100 lists after the season they’re having. Both players have worse numbers this season (which is what catapulted them into some top 100 lists) than last, when they were merely fringe top 10 players in below average org’s farm systems.
Well, that list explains why deciding when to promote a player is key. Just can’t promote a prospect base on a hot couple of weeks. That said, Fitz-Gerald is young for Wilmington by more than 2 years, and Cruz is also young for that level by more than a year. Maybe both start 2027 in Wilmington, but get bumped up to Harrisburg in the middle of next season, and both would remain on schedule. Development is never a straight line.
FG’s slump coincided with some absolutely horrific family health news. I think we can lighten up on a 19 year old who struggles in his first month of AA while processing the fact that his mother is dying.
But just more generally, prospect value isn’t as tied to “season wRC+” as you seem to think. Age, level, scouting and underlying process stats are hugely important. More important than the surface stats, I think, to most prospect rankings.
Honestly, I look at these results and think that this is the right level for most of these guys. You want them challenged and learning to adjust to harder and harder meta-games. Why would you rather they stay at a lower level, rack up gaudy stats and learn less?
Could the young Turks bring in marquis Senior or Rondell White in to sit down with Elijah ??
I took the suggestion from a few days ago and went to the Red Wings matinee in Buffalo but not much to report. By coincidence, we also went to the Blue Jays game in Toronto on Sunday when they lost to the rising White Sox. It was great to see Max pitch unfortunately matinee’s are tough for the Red Wings because the Tues game started late and finished late. When they play in Buffalo, they don’t stay in Buffalo but take the hour bus ride back & forth each day. So the Wings probably arrived back in Roch at midnight and then have to face Max early on Wed. But more disappointing were the Roch pitchers who gave up 9 walks and in many cases missing by a lot but at least with 9 K’s. Unfortunately they were not displaying pitch speeds (maybe to protect Max).