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From the Archives: May 22

Not much has changed at the major-league level. MLB continues its PR assault on the players via strategic leaks without actually making an actual proposal, knowing full well that when push comes to shove, the fans side with the billionaires over the millionaires.

Meanwhile, in the minor leagues, Kevin Reichard at Ballpark Digest makes the valid point that SI’s story “conflates anxiety caused by the coronavirus with anxiety about contraction and tries to make economic worries as something unique to Minor League Baseball.” My only counterpoint to Mr. Reichard is that that anxiety has to be compounded by the simple fact that teams are scrambling to be in the “120.”

Syracuse 2 Rochester 0 – 2011
• Milone (W, 3-3) 7IP 3H 0R 0BB 9K
• Carr (H, 1) 1+ IP 0R 0H 1BB 0K
• Mandel (S, 2) 1IP 1H 0R 1BB 0K
• Brown 2-4, 2B
• Solano 2-4, RBI

Tom Milone, Adam Carr, and Jeff Mandel combined to shut out the Red Wings, 2-0, as the Chiefs won their sixth straight ballgame. Milone allowed just three hits over seven innings with no walks and nine strikeouts to even his record at 3-3. Carr and Mandel each threw an inning to notch the hold and save respectively. Corey Brown and Jhonatan Solano both went 2-for-4 to lead the Syracuse offense. Just months after being added to the 40-man, Carr would go down with a labrum injury in early June 2011 and lose his spot in September 2011. While he was able to work his way back to High-A the following summer, he became an MLFA in November 2012. Carr would retire at the age of 29 after one month in the Atlantic League in 2013.

Harrisburg 8 Erie 2 (6½ inn.) – 2013
• Clay (W, 4-2) 6IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 3K
• Head 3-4, 2R, 2-2B
• Bloxom 1-3, R, BB, 2RBI
• Hood 2-3, R, 2B, HR, 3RBI

Harrisburg went deep three times in an 8-2 pummeling of Erie for the Senators’ fifth straight win. Josh Johnson, Jeff Howell, and Destin Hood each went solo but the “band” filled the scorebook with 15 hits, led by Jerad Head’s single and two doubles. Caleb Clay rebounded from a run of three bad outings with six strong innings, giving up both Seawolves runs on five hits and no walks for his fourth win. Ricky Hague’s hot stretch continued with another multihit game, his seventh in a row and eighth straight games with a hit overall — a 16-for-29 streak that’s raised his batting average from .220 to .286. This was the second of three seasons at Harrisburg for the 2009 11th Rd. pick Justin Bloxom. He was released in May of 2014 and hooked on for two months with the Lynchburg Hillcats, but hit just .244/.330/.388 despite being more than three years older than the league average.

Potomac 6 Down East 3 – 2019
• Johnston (W, 5-4) 6IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 5K, HR, WP
• Bonnell (SV, 1) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Corredor 3-5, R, RBI
• Masters 1-3, R, BB, 2RBI, 2K
• Harrison 0-3, BB, SF, RBI; 8PO, 0A, 0E, 0CS at C

Kyle Johnston’s dominance of the “W’s”—Wilmington, Winston-Salem, Wood Ducks ;-)—continues as he spun his fourth straight quality start in a 6-3 P-Nats win. Johnson has also won his last four starts as he let in two on four hits (one HR) without a walk and struck out five over six innings to improve to 5-4 on the year. Bryan Bonnell cordero’d his way through the 9th as he gave up two hits to bring the tying run to the plate but kept them from scoring to earn his first save. Aldrem Corredor remains hot as the sturdy first baseman went 3-for-5 to improve his BA to .314 for the month of May and lead the Potomac offense. While we were excited at the time at the prospect of Harrison playing more at catcher, this would be one of just three regular-season games the former Beaver would play behind the plate in 2019.

Greensboro 4 Hagerstown 2 – 2016
• DeRosier (L, 1-2) 5IP, 6H, 2R, 0ER, BB, 6K
• Pantoja 3IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, BB, K
• Robles 1-4, R, HR, RBI, OF assist at 3B
• Lora 1-3, R, RBI, SB(5)

Presumably the weather forecast shifted the makeup to today as they played nine yesterday, with the ‘Hoppers eclipsing the Suns again by a 4-2 score. Matt DeRosier took the loss as he gave up two (unearned) runs on six hits and a walk while striking out six over the first five innings. Jorge Pantoja was stung for two runs on five hits and a walk over the final three innings. Victor Robles homered in the 8th while Edwin Lora drove in Jorge Tillero with an RBI single in 5th to account for the two Hagerstown runs. Picked in 2013 at the age of 18 (turning 19 in July), DeRosier toiled at Auburn and Hagerstown for five seasons before he finally made it to High-A in June 2018. He would make six ineffective appearances with the P-Nats and was released in July 2018 at the age of 24.

9 Commments

  1. Out of curiosity, I looked up Kyle Johnston to see how he did after being traded for Daniel Hudson. Sadly, things didn’t go well at all for him in his new opportunity. He made a lateral A+ move from Carolina League to Florida State League. In six appearances (19.2 IP), he gave up 22 ER and a staggering 20 walks (plus 2 HPB), for an ERA of 10.07 and WHIP of 1.93.

  2. I scratch my head at the Nats’ lack of insistence that KJ Harrison keep trying to catch. I mean, they’ve insisted that Raudy Read keep catching despite much evidence that he’s actually any good at it. He’s even become a “major-leaguer” because he has a decent bat “for a catcher.” Same goes for Harrison. He would have a decent bat “for a catcher.” He hasn’t yet lived up to his college power as a pro, though, and therefore, it’s hard to see him progressing as a 1B. But maybe the Nats see something and still think he can break out as a hitter.

  3. We’ll see Josh Johnson in Fredericksburg whenever they get around to having baseball there, as he’s the new manager of the Down East Wood Ducks. The Nats did a great job of identifying his prospective coaching talent and moving him in that direction before he hit 30 (as the GCL manager) but couldn’t/didn’t keep him in the organization. He showed enough of a bat in 2013 to look like he might make it as a utility guy, but he couldn’t maintain in 2014 and was done a year later.

  4. Maybe I have not researched the correct articles but the Juan Soto 22 play off/ WS clout highlights seemed not to be compared to a certain Dodger killer from another decade named Reggie Jackson. What’s so impressive is that Juan did it @ such a young age while Reggie tormented Tommy LaSorda in his middle to late 30s.

  5. Boss man of the Big Board. Orioles released 37 minor leaguers. Nothing on the radar for Nats . Yet…

  6. The Nats are like the Mafia: players just disappear, and no one wants to talk about what happened.

  7. Talk about an interesting post baseball career for a former Yankee farmhand RHO out of Rutgers , Scott Patterson , who went on to a reasonable film acting career. Gilmore Girls , Saw 5 and 8

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