Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Matchup |
| Syracuse | Won, 4-3 (10 inn.) |
vs. Rochester, 6:35 p.m. |
Dragmire (0-2, 10.97) vs. Romero (0-1, 2.57) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 1-0; Lost, 1-0 |
@ Altoona, 7:00 p.m. |
McGowin (4-1, 3.08) vs. Vieaux (2-1, 1.42) |
| Potomac | Won, 9-5 | @ Down East, 11:00 a.m. |
Baez (3-5, 4.20) vs. Bruce (1-4, 3.77) |
| Hagerstown | Lost, 11-3 | @ Lakewood, 7:05 p.m. |
Lee (2-2, 4.50) vs. Stewart (6-0, 1.13) |
| Auburn | Won, 9-3 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| GCL Nationals | Won, 8-7 | @ GCL Astros, 12:00 p.m. |
Syracuse 4 Rochester 3 (10 inn.)
• Voth 7IP, 5H, 3R, ER, 2BB, 3K, HR, HBP
• Read 2-5, 2K
• Marmolejos 2-3, R, BB, GIDP
Altoona 1 Harrisburg 0 – GAME ONE
• Long (L, 1-6) 6IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 4K
• Gushue 2-3
• Ward 2-3
Kevin Long’s son was outdueled by the guy they traded away for an overrated reliever for the Sens’ 1-0 loss in the first game of the twinbill. Pearls were clutched. Jaron allowed the Curve’s single run on three hits and a walk while striking out four. He was rewarded for his fourth straight quality start with his fourth straight loss. Taylor Gushue and Drew Ward both went 2-for-3 while the rest of the team went 0-for-19 with a walk (Carter Kieboom).
Altoona 1 Harrisburg 0 – GAME TWO
• Williams (L, 2-2) 4IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 3BB, 6K
• Bacus 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Noll, Keller, Kieboom 1-3
• 0-4 RISP, 6 LOB
The Curve prevailed 1-0 in another pitcher’s duel to sweep the doubleheader and knock the Sens back to third place in the E.L. West. Austen Williams made his second start of the season and went four innings, allowing the (unearned) Altoona run on two hits and three walks while fanning six. Dakota Bacus threw two scoreless in relief. Harrisburg was held to just three singles (Jake Noll, Alec Keller, Carter Kieboom) and managed to get multiple baserunners on with less than two out only once.
Potomac 9 Down East 5
• Raquet (W, 1-0) 5⅔ IP, 10H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 5K
• Pantoja 2⅓ IP, 2H, R, ER, BB, 3K, 1-0 IR-S
• Mejia 2-3, R, SF, 5RBI, CS(5)
• Masters 3-3, 2R, 3-2B, BB, RBI
• Wiseman 2-5, R, HR, RBI
Potomac made foie gras out of the Down East starter and the first reliever to build an 8-0 lead, then survived its bullpen for a 9-5 win. Nick Raquet won his Carolina League debut with a Jack Morris line of four runs let in on ten hits and two walks while fanning five over five and 2/3rds innings. Six P-Nats had multiple hits, including David Masters with three doubles, Bryan Meija with five RBI, and Rhett Wiseman with his 13th HR – best among Nats farmhands not named Juan Soto. The P-Nats announced a(nother) plan to relocate to Fredericksburg. Details here. Current attendance, which is about as accurate as an online dating profile, is 3,426 per opening and has never broken the 4,000 mark, never mind the 4,100 mark cited.
Delmarva 11 Hagerstown 3
• Tetreault (L, 1-7) 5IP, 6H, 5R, 2ER, 2BB, 8K, HR
• C. Pena 1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, 0K
• Meregildo 2-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Choruby 1-2, 2BB
The Suns’ early 3-0 lead was erased with a four-run 3rd and then unanswered seven times more for an 11-3 win in the series finale. Jackson Tetreault lost for the 7th time in 13 starts as he was knocked for five runs on six hits and two walks while striking out eight over five innings. Following a scoreless inning by Carlos Pena, Phil Morse gave up the final six runs over two innings on five hits and a walk. Omar Meregildo singled, doubled, and drove in a run while Nick Choruby reached base three times with two walks and a single to lead the Hagerstown offense.
Auburn 9 West Virginia 3
• M. Pena (W, 2-0) 5IP, 2H, 1R, 0ER, 3BB, 6K
• Y. Ramirez 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Marinconz 2-3, 2R, BB
• Mendez 1-2, R, 2BB, 2RBI
• Perkins 1-4, R, HR, 2RBI
Auburn won its third straight as they tripled up West Virginia, 9-3. Malvin Pena won for the second time on five innings of one-run ball with two hits, three walks, and six whiffs. After Tanner Driskill was roughed up again for two runs, the Ramirezes (Yonathan, 2IP; Nector, 1IP) combined for three scoreless to close out the game. Kyle “Keizer Soze” Marinconz singled twice, scored twice, and walked once while Nic Perkins homered to lead the Doubledays’ attack. Roster moves: RHP Trey Turner reassigned from the GCL.
GCL Nationals 5 GCL Mets 1
• Gomez 4IP, 5H, R, ER, BB, 3K, HBP
• F. Perez (BS, 1) ⅓ IP, 4H, 6R, 6ER, BB, 0K, HBP
• Adon (W, 1-0) 1⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 1K, 2-2 IR-S, 2HBP
• Sanfler 2-5, R, 3B, RBI, CS
• Dunlap 2-4, R, 2-2B, 2RBI
• Senior 2-4, R, 2B, RBI
The G-Nats bats covered for the G-Nats throw, er bullpen as they scored five times in the 9th to answer a six-run 8th and edge the G-Cards, 8-7. Niomar Gomez got the start and gave up one run on five hits over four innings. He walked one and struck out three. Fray Perez retired just one of seven batters faced in the 8th as he was charged with six runs on four hits, a walk, and a hit batsman. Joan Adon hit a batter and walked a batter in both the 8th and 9th innings but was the beneficiary of the last outburst. Caldioli Sanfler tripled and squeezed in the game-winning run on a bunt single with two out in the 9th (this being the GCL, he was then caught stealing to end the inning). He was one of three batters to have multiple hits as the G-Nats pounded out twelve total.
Wiseman’s OPS is up 199 points from last season. The only real negative with him is that his K rate is up. He’s on pace for more than 20 homers, though, in a very power-lite organization. Looks like it’s about time for him to move on up.
I never know whether to laugh or cry at a new P-Nats stadium rumor. To me, the most unrealistic part of this story is they’ll have the new park in place for the start of the 2020 season. Fredericksburg has been trying to get a stadium built FOR YEARS and was long-rumored to be trying to get the Suns from Hagerstown. We’ll see. Not holding my breath!
Voth seems to have righted his ship, and three of his last four starts have been excellent. It seems to figure that he’ll get his MLB sometime this season sooner or later. I think he has been called up at least three times without getting into a game.
On the flip side, Andrew Stevenson has really struggled back at AAA, now slashing .170/.285/.217 in more than 100 ABs. Those are the kind of numbers that put you in DFA jeopardy. He does have hits in seven of his last games, though, pulling his average up from .135. I hadn’t paid much attention to what he was doing in Syracuse and was just shocked to see the numbers.
Stevenson looked like he had turned the corner in Spring Training. He looked stronger and confident at the plate. Agree that his numbers at Syracuse are mystifying. In addition to hurting himself, he is hurting the Nats as his value has to have dropped as a piece for a MLB catcher or starting pitcher.
Given the pathetic offensive performance with a somewhat aging lineup over the past month, wonder if the Nats wish they had rethought their “only consider pitchers in the first 10 rounds” draft strategy over each of the last two drafts. Hated it at the time. Hate it more now. Drafting for a “perceived need” and limiting the array of considered prospects to less than half of the draft pool was so shortsighted.
Just noticed that I mistyped “seven of his last eight games” for Stevenson.
I agree that I haven’t been excited about the last two “all in for pitching” drafts. They seem to have gotten good-to-above-average progression from the top 10 in 2016. In 2015, with Stevenson and Perkins at the top, I was very concerned that they picked guys with limited ceilings. Stevenson was a polished player who made a fast run to the majors, but the limited ceiling now seems pretty evident. I’m not even sure he’s den Dekker level. (As I always try to say, though, I’m happy when guys prove me wrong.)
Rizzo has been showing that he is much better at building up a team than keeping it there. There are so many good young pitchers out there toiling for other franchises for which the Nats currently have nothing it’s ridiculous.
How good would a Scherzer-Strasburg-Ray-Pivetta-Lopez rotation look right now? The pitching heavy 2017 & 2018 drafts were absolutely necessary for a team that is going to need to find three starting pitchers and at least four relievers before next season and has very little in the way of quality MLB-ready arms in the system.
They need accept that they are likely going need to be sellers this year so the Future Core (Soto, Robles, Turner, Kieboom, Garcia) have the pitching to be able to compete.
There is no chance the Nats are going to be sellers this year. Lerner is 92. He is not throwing in the towel this season so the Nats can compete in the future. Even if it’s only for the second wild card spot, the Nats will try to do whatever it takes to win this year.
Totally agree that they’re not sellers. I don’t think they’re going to be big buyers, either, though, at least not from the top of the market. They just don’t have a lot to trade if Soto/Robles/Kieboom are untouchable and Romero is virtually untradeable.
Pivetta is middling at best. He would probably still be behind Roark and Gio in rotation.
Ray broke out last year, this year hes been out most of year.
I’m okay with all the abundance of pitchers the Nats have traded except for Jesus Luzardo, and Dane Dunning. If we keep just those two in the system we have pitchers at upper levels and depth problems solved.
I must say our scouting for 2016 draft really was incredible. Three of our top picks have outperformed draft expectations. We took Kieboom who looks like a great pick. Then Dunning who has performed above, and Luzardo as a third rounder off TJ. Looks like a stud.
Hated the loss of Dunning. The White Sox were in full tank mode and wanted to trade Eaton. Giolito and Lopez were both top 100 prospects at the time. Find it hard to believe that the White Sox would’ve passed on the deal over Dunning (who was not highly rated at the time).
And any talk of Nationals selling this year is ludicrous. Team just traded to get Herrera. They are only 3.5 games back not even at half way point, chasing teams who have no pedigree. The roster is built to win this year, go all in. We have enough prospects to patchwork this thing. No reason to give in at this stage.