Thursday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 8-0 | @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 7:05 p.m. | Braymer (1-6, 7.65) vs. Krook (2-1, 2.37) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 11-6 | @ Portland, 6 p.m. | Reyes (7-5, 4.74) vs German (3-4, 5.33) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 5-3 | @ Brooklyn, 7 p.m. | Troop (4-3, 4.20) vs. Lasko (2-4, 3.33) |
| Fredericksburg | Lost, 4-2 | @ Salem, 7:05 p.m. | Theophile (1-6, 4.39) vs. Blalock (0-5, 5.70) |
| FCL Nationals | Losing, 11-8 (susp. Top 9) |
vs. FCL Astros, 12 p.m. | |
| DSL Nationals | OFF DAY | vs. DSL Yankees1, 10:30 a.m. |
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 8 Rochester 0
• Eppler (L, 1-7) 5IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 2K, HR
• Guerra 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• A. Sanchez 0-3, BB
• Reetz 0-2, BB
Three RailRiders pitchers combined to no-hit the Red Wings in an 8-0 shutout. Tyler Eppler went the first five innings and gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. He struck out two while losing his seventh game. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had their way with Bryan Bonnell (2R) and Ronald Peña (4R) to put the game out of reach. Adrian Sanchez broke up the perfect game with a walk in the first. Jakson Reetz drew a leadoff walk in the 6th. No Rochester baserunner reached second.
Portland 11 Harrisburg 6
• A. Lee (L, 2-5) 2+ IP, 7H, 7R, 7ER, 2BB, 0K, WP
• Teel 4IP, 4H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 1K, 2-1 IR-S
• W. Perez 3-3, R, 2B, 2RBI
• Freeman 3-5
• Wiseman 2-4, R
Portland sent 11 men to the plate in the 3rd and seven came around to score in an 11-6 win over Harrisburg. Andrew Lee threw to eight of those 11 without retiring any of them as he lost for the third time in four starts. He allowed seven runs on seven hits and two walks over two-plus innings. Wilmer Perez, who walked in his AAA debut, was 3-for-3 in his AA debut with two singles and a double while driving in two. Cole Freeman matched Perez’s three hits with three singles in five AB’s to account for half of the Sens’ 12 hits on the night.
Brooklyn 5 Wilmington 3
• A. Hernández 6IP, 5H, 3R, 2ER, BB, 8K, HR
• Hinton (L, 1-2) 1IP, 1H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K, WP
• Rhinesmith 2-4, R, HR, 2RBI, SB
• Pineda 1-3, BB
Both teams committed three errors, but the Blue Rocks’ miscues led to two unearned runs versus one for the Cyclones as Brooklyn took Game Two from Wilmington, 5-3. Alfonso Hernández notched his third quality start in seven High-A starts with three runs let in (two earned) on five hits (one HR) and a walk. The 21-y.o. southpaw fanned eight for the third time this season. The loss went to Kyle Hinton on an error-double-wild-pitch-sac-fly sequence in the bottom of the 8th. Jacob Rhinesmith had homered in the top of the 8th to tie the game at 3-3, helping to mask an(other) ineffective night for Wilmington: six hits total, none with six chances with RISP, and eight runners left on base.
Salem 4 Fredericksburg 2
• C. Romero (L, 1-3) 5IP, 7H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 1K, 2WP
• Strom 3IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K
• Méndez 2-4, 18G hit streak
• Strohschein 2-3, R, HR, BB, RBI
Salem erased an early 1-0 deficit with two runs in the 4th and single runs in the 5th and 6th and held on for a 4-2 win over Fredericksburg. Carlos Romero pitched five full innings for the second consecutive start but lost for the third time. He allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks and struck out one. Leif Strom finished the game with one run over three innings to drop his ERA below 9.00 for the first time this season. Ricardo Méndez singled twice to push his hit streak to a league-best 18 games while Kevin Strohschein reached base three times with a walk, single, and a HR in the 9th to lead the F-Nats offense.
FCL Cardinals 11 FCL Nationals 8 – SUSP.
• A. Lara 3IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 3K, HBP
• K. Rodriguez 3⅓ IP. 1H, 0R, BB, 2K, 2-0 IR-S
• Amparo 2-4, 2R, HR, 2RBI
• Emiliani 2-5, 2B
• Arias 1-3, R, 2B, BB
FCL Nats were in the process of blowing an 8-6 lead when lightning stopped play with two on and two out in the top of the 9th. They’ll finish it and play another when the two teams meet next Tuesday in Jupiter. Roster moves: LHP Pablo Aldonis, RHP Luis Jimenez placed on the 7-Day I.L.
DSL Nationals – OFF DAY
It’s home-and-home for the D-Nats against the D-Yankees1 today and tomorrow before closing out the week against the D-Twins.
Luke, I agree with Will in appreciation of you keeping track of the huge amount of movement this week.
The Nats have now signed 15 of their 20 draft picks. The question is how many will be able play in Fredericksburg this year.
Looking at the lineup at Wilmington there are no hitters producing, with 1 exception. Todd Pratt, the backup catcher drafted in the 10th round in 2019, has an OPS of .879. But he is not getting many chances as the Nats are committed to Isreal Pineda no matter what.
Quietly, Alfonso Hernandez at 21 years old, is having a terrific year in Wilmington.
Regarding the draft, it’s pretty remarkable how quickly the Nats have done their business. The Red Sox, by comparison, have signed ONE of their 20 picks (their 10th rounder)!!
With 5 picks remaining unsigned, the Nationals are $210,700 underslot, with only picks 1 and 2 of the top 10 unsigned.
The other three picks will be tougher signs.
11th rounder Marc Davis could go back to JUCO for another year. But I suspect he’ll sign in the end.
13th rounder Mack Anglin will be a tough sign. He’s a sophomore, so he’s got all the cards, and was pretty highly regarded pre-draft. My guess is the Nationals took him as a contingency plan in case Lile (the 2nd rounder) doesn’t sign. They could shift some of their money to Anglin, or the 20th rounder Elie Kligman, a high schooler, who’s got a really interesting back story as an Orthodox Jew (https://lasvegassun.com/news/2021/jul/20/through-unwavering-faith-cimarron-memorial-grad-el/). Like Anglin, he’s also got more options than others, but he doesn’t have a commitment to a college yet, which suggests there’s a good chance he will sign too.
Hope we start seeing the rest appear in FCL and Fredericksburg soon! We desperately need them.
Everyday, there’s usually a few positives to take away from a whole basket of negatives. Today was difficult to find even ONE positive performance in 5 games. Alfone Hernandez gets that distinction. Otherwise, yesterday was another dreadful day in the Nats farm system.
On a completely different note, Bryce Montes de Oca collected a save for Brooklyn against the Blue Rocks, the same guy the Nats drafted as a college junior in 2017, who surprised many by refusing to sign. He was drafted the next year by the Mets in the 9th round, so I suppose his gambit paid off. Unfortunately, his career didn’t, and he was ravaged by injuries. Even though he was drafted in 2018, he didn’t throw his first professional pitch until two months ago. Hope he can remain healthy, though I’d prefer if he not pitch very well against the Nats affiliates.
As Luke would say, it was SSDD in Portland as the sea dogs won their 15th in a row. Lee breezed through the first couple innings, but then it was one hit after another. Teel limited the damage with only 1 earned run over the next 4 innings. At least the sens did get multiple hits from a couple players. Banks had a great diving catch in center.
Good for Alfonso Hernandez, who is having a good run up the system this season.
At the lower level, looks like the struggles of the much-touted Andry Lara have continued. Some of the gurus were putting him as the #3 arm in the system. He’s only 18, though, and the sample size is still small. He’s giving up more than a hit an inning, though, so he’s not dominating, although he is striking out a good numbers of folks.
On up the system, Andrew Lee is yet another in a long, long line of guys who the Nats have kept as starters long after their arc seemed to indicate that they’d be better in relief. Lee found success in college as a closer. After his second TJ in 2016, I thought for sure that they’d move him back to the ‘pen. They still haven’t. He’s a big guy who seems like he could find success in that role.