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Tuesday’s News & Notes

Another split, with the AA and AAA teams winning and stopping their losing streaks

The Quick Rundown…

Team Yesterday’s Result Today’s Game Pitching Matchup
Syracuse Chiefs Won, 8-4 @ Norfolk, 7:15 p.m. Tom Milone (1-3, 4.40) vs.
Chris Jakubauskas (0-1, 18.90)
Harrisburg Senators Won, 3-2 vs. Altoona, 7:00 p.m. Shairon Martis (0-1, 4.73) vs.
Aaron Pribanic (3-0, 1.86)
Potomac Nationals Lost, 5-3 @ Winston-Salem, 7:00 p.m. Trevor Holder (1-3, 6.18) vs.
Terry Doyle (0-4, 4.11)
Hagerstown Suns Lost, 3-2 vs. Delmarva, 10:35 a.m. Bobby Hansen (3-1, 4.37) vs.
Luis Noel (2-2, 4.75)

Syracuse 8 Norfolk 4
• Meyers (W, 1-0) 5IP 5H 4R 4ER 1BB 5K
• Martin, J (H, 2) 1⅓ IP 1H 0R 0BB 1K
• Hulett 2-2, R, 2-2B, 2BB, 2RBI
• Flores 2-4, R, HR, 5RBI

Brad Meyers’ AAA debut was a bit pedestrian, but he had the fortune of throwing it on a night when the Chiefs offense wasn’t its usual self as Syracuse doubled up Norfolk 8-4, stopping the Syracuse four-game losing streak. Meyers gave up all four runs on five hits and a walk over five innings to get the win. The bullpen, led by J.D. Martin, tossed four scoreless innings and allowed just two hits. Tug Hulett and Jesus Flores powered the offense with four hits, two doubles, two walks, a grand slam by Flores, and seven RBI.

Harrisburg 3 Altoona 2
• Arnesen (ND) 5⅓ IP 2H 2R 2ER 1BB 6K 1HR
• Barthmaier 1⅓ IP 1H 0R 1BB 0K
• VanAllen 1⅓ IP 0H 0R 1BB 1K
• Mattheus (W, 2-0) 1IP 0H 0R 0BB 1K
• Pahuta 2-3, 2R, 2HR, 2RBI
• Norris 0-2, R, 2BB

The all-or-nothing nature of the Sens offense (two Tim Pahuta solo HRs, nine K’s) continued, but the losses stopped as the Altoona ‘pen and defense faltered in the 9th for anticlimactic walkoff. Derek Norris drew the leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second. After an intentional walk to Pahuta and unintentional walk to Jonathan Tucker, Jesus Valdez tapped to third but the Curve couldn’t execute the 5-4-3 DP, giving the Sens a 3-2 win. Starter Erik Arnesen went the first five and 1/3rd innings, giving up both runs on two hits (one home run) and a walk. Jimmy Barthmaier, Cory VanAllen and Ryan Mattheus combined for three and 2/3rds of scoreless relief. Josh Johnson was placed on the DL, retroactive to May 6, but a corresponding move has not yet been made

Winston-Salem 5 Potomac 3
• Clegg (ND) 5IP 6H 2R 2ER 1BB 3K
• Wort 1IP 0H 0R 1BB 1K
• Hood 2-4, R, 2B, SB, RBI
• Lozada 2-2, 2B, 3B, 2BB
• Ramirez 1-4, R, HR, RBI

Ian Gac’s two-run shot in the bottom of the 7th off Joe Testa capped a three-run rally and was the difference in a 5-3 win by Winston-Salem over Potomac. Starter Mitchell Clegg gave up two runs, but unlike last Tuesday afternoon got eight outs in between them, as he went the first five innings and allowed six hits and a walk. Destin Hood and Jose Lozada combined for four of the eight P-Nat hits and six of the 10 baserunners, seven of which were stranded as just Hood was able to drive in a runner from scoring position in 10 opportunities.

Delmarva 3 Hagerstown 2
• Ray (ND) 5IP 1H 0R 0BB 6K
• Eusebio (BS, 1; L, 0-1) 2⅔ IP 4H 3R 3ER 1BB 2K
• Harper 2-4, 2K
• Kelso 2-4
• Martinson 1-2, 2SH, SB
• Oduber 1-1, R, BB, 3SB

Robbie Ray’s Low-A debut was a brilliant one-hit, six-K, five-inning performance, but the ‘pen couldn’t hold the 1-0 lead as the Hagerstown Suns lost 3-2 to Delmarva. Bryce Harper’s first-inning infield single extended his hitting streak to 13 games, but the clutch hit eluded the Suns all game long as they went 0-for-8 with RISP and had two baserunners picked off, and went 4-for-6 on stolen-base attempts, with Randolph Oduber swiping three and taking the Sally League lead with 13. Two errors, two passed balls, and two wild pitches also put pressure on the Suns but all three runs were earned. Ray’s activation was listed on MiLB.com but the corresponding move was not, as 26 men are listed on the roster as this goes to virtual press

30 Commments

  1. Is there anyway you can add WHIP or K/9 or something like that to your match up overviews? Most people on this site seem rather progressive for their willingness to use “newfangled” statistics, and I feel like W/L and ERA is kind of useless. Just a thought/suggestion.

  2. Nice work by Robbie Ray. Really pleased to see him get off to a hot start.

    If we are putting suggestions into the comment box regarding which stats we want to see, wOBA and ERA+ would be my request. But you know, I would visit the site either way.

  4. Okay, going to try again. I would like the Nats to select Springer with their first draft pick. Then two pitchers at 23 and 34. How about you guys?
    Thanks for your response, Marcus.

    1. I think for picks this high you need to lean toward pitchers with top of the rotation potential unless there is some other unusual match of need / available talent. With two of the outfield slots (hopefully) locked up for years to come, I’d go for whichever of Jed Bradley, Trevor Bauer or Sonny Gray is there. It should be easier to find a third outfielder of the future somewhere among FA, trades, emergence of one of the current guys, or a later pick.

    2. JCampbell: I’ll take a measured shot by saying that the top-six (as of today) look like 1-PIT) RHSP G.Cole-UCLA Jr., 2-SEA) 3B A.Rendon-Rice Jr.; 3-AZ) RHSP D.Hultzen-UVA Jr.; 4-BAL) RHSP S.Gray-Vanderbilt Jr.; 5-KC) LHSP J.Bradley-GTech Jr.; 6-WSH) Take your pick; OF G.Springer-UConn Jr., RHSP T.Bauer-UCLA Jr., SS F.Lindor-HS(Fla.), or RHP D.Bundy-HS(OK).

      I personally think Rizzo will take another College player with their #1, so Bauer or Springer take the early line leads. If you’re right about Springer at #6, I’d agree about going after pitchers at #23 & 34.

      1. However, if CJ Cron is available at #34, I’d love to see the Nationals draft him – “A Utah man, sir, a Utah man am I; A Utah man sir, and will be ’till I die…”

  5. Not to speak for Sue Dinem, but the milb box scores don’t really have this readily available, meaning you’d be calculating it on the fly each night. I’m sure finding the time is already tough to do this day-in and day-out.

    Fyi; Arneson’s line in Harrisburg slightly wrong; should be 5 1/3, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2ER, 1BB 6K 1HR.

    1. Fixed, and yes, it’s a challenge to even get the right starters as there’s often a discrepancy between, for example, what the gamer from last night says and the league scoreboard says for tonight.

    1. The pattern appears to be that the OGs will cover gaps in the rotation until the FO deems a prospect ready for a promotion or reassignment. Martin and Stammen appear to be fulfilling that duty at AAA, Martis and Arnesen at AA.

  8. Were any of you guys at the Hagerstown game last night? Just curious about who was on the mound when Frietas gave up his PB’s.

  9. If you click the link to the box score then go to the recap you’ll see that they were in the 6th & 8th innings

  10. Pingback: Age Analysis of all Nats Minor League Pitchers « Nationals Arm Race

  12. Wilson osveldo (spell ?) and Ben Gram were the wild pitch offenders. Harper was very excitable in his at bat with one out and a runner at third. It seemed like he wanted so bad to get that runner in and fouled off the first two pitches and swung and missed badly at a breaking ball.

    The only flaw I see in this kid is aggressivness, and you can’t put a lot of blame on him for that. Next time he should maybe take a pitch in that situation and calm down. Him and Kelso are definatly the class of the league!

    1. Should also be noted that Freitas is convert to the position after spending HS as a P/1B, and Graham throws from a 3/4 motion that’s deceptive.

      1. I probably phrased my initial question badly. Since they were his only PB’s so far this season, I was wondering whether he got crossed up by the pitchers, or just had an off night. I like the kid’s numbers & look forward to seeing him no later than next year at Potomac.

  14. Regarding a corresponding move in Harrisburg – –

    To quote manager Tony Beasley after last night’s game, “We should be getting a player tomorrow. My guess would be Antonelli.”

    1. Hooray for Antonelli. Hopefully for the fans in HAR, he’s reasonably healthy & doesn’t have too much rust on his game.

  15. Sue,
    I wanted to ask about Cory VanAllen. I’ve been following him since he was in Vermont and it seemed like he had some upside as a starter back then. He was promoted through the system and then reached AA where he seemed to struggle. They converted him to a reliever and he continued to struggle, ultimately getting demoted back to Potomac. I saw him pitch two years ago for Harrisburg and he had nothing. Was he injured? I ask this because it seems that he is now back with a reckoning. What happened and what do you think his ceiling is?

    1. VanAllen had a good year last season with Potomac but traditional statistics did not reflect it, specifically ERA. His FIP, however, was consistently a run better than league average and remains so this year. Last year he was “unlucky” with a 1.91 differential between his high ERA (4.22 vs. 2.31), this year so far he’s been “lucky” with a -2.28 differential between his low ERA (0.55) and his FIP (2.83).

      The jump from A+ to AA is the biggest jump in the minors by far. It’s always tempting to attribute a pitcher struggles to injury (because it’s so often true) but I believe that what happened to VanAllen as a starter is the usual “hitting the wall” that many guys hit trying to make that leap. His struggles in ’09 as a reliever are probably two-fold: 1) attempting the conversion at the same level 2) psychological aftereffects of a perceived “demotion.”

      I believe his ceiling is as a LOOGY because he’s always been tough on lefties.

  16. Milone pitched a pretty good game almost through seven. Carr and Kimball followed to cement a 6 – 3 victory over the Orioles AAA Tide. Three hits no walks for Milone.

    This could end up being a very interesting problem for Rizzo come June. Strasburg should be starting normal baseball activities toward the latter part of the month. He could have 3 or 4 pitchers ready to ascend from AAA in Meyers, Milone, Maya, and Detwiler. And Stammen has been pitching well.

  17. Meyers and Milone aren’t going past AAA this year, Detwiler has yet to prove anything and Stammen is a middle reliever, IMO. Maya appears to be the likely promotion when and if a spot opens.

  18. NatsFan/hater – The Brain Trust also messed with VanAllen’s delivery last year as they had him drop down. This year, he went back to his previous delivery and has been more successful.

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