Monday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 8-7 (wait, what?) |
OFF DAY | N/A |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 4-1 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Wilmington | Won, 5-3 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| Fredericksburg | Lost, 4-3 | OFF DAY | N/A |
| FCL Nationals | OFF DAY | @/vs. FCL Astros, TBD | |
| DSL Nationals | OFF DAY | @/vs. DSL Rockies, 10:30 a.m. |
Rochester 8 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7
• J. Rodriguez 5⅔ IP, 6H, 6R, 4ER, 2BB, 8K, HR, HBP, WP
• Rainey (W, 1-0) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Bonnell (SV, 3) 1IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Robles 2-4, R, BB, 2RBI, HR
• Read 2-5, R
• Flores 1-2, R, 2BB
Rochester followed the script, falling behind early (3-0 after one) and far (7-1 after seven) but flipped it with four runs in the 8th, then three more in the 9th to take an 8-7 lead. Bryan Bonnell did what he could with two two-out singles, but struck out the last batter to secure the first Red Wings win since Aug. 27 and end a 13-game winless streak. Jefry Rodriguez started and gave up six runs on six hits (one HR) and two walks over five and 2/3rds. He struck out eight. Tanner Rainey struck out the side in the 8th to earn the win. Victor Robles walked, singled, and homered while Alex Dunlap smacked a three-run HR to power the Rochester offense.
Bowie 4 Harrisburg 1
• Carrillo (L, 0-4) 5+ IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 5BB, 6K, WP
• Troop 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K, 2-1 IR-S, PO @ 1B
• Canning 2-3, R, BB, CS
• Lara 2-3, BB
Meanwhile, the Senators’ woes continue with a 4-1 loss to extend Harrisburg’s slide to eight straight. Gerardo Carrillo was knocked from the box in the 6th after putting on two runners and losing a 1-0 lead. Alex Troop came on and picked off one runner but Osvaldo Duarte’s throw home after the tag sailed wide of the plate to let the go-ahead runner score. Carrillo was pegged with his fourth loss, charged with two runs on five hits and five walks while fanning six. The Sens offense sputtered until the 9th when they got the tying run to the plate after Gage Canning and Gilbert Lara both collected their second single but Jacob Rhinesmith struck out swinging to end it.
Wilmington 5 Aberdeen 3
• E. Lee (W, 4-3) 5IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 4K, HR
• Schlabach (H, 2) 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Moore (SV, 2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Connell 2-3, R, HR, RBI
• Ydens 2-4, 2R
• Meregildo 1-3, R, HR, 2RBI
Wilmington rallied for two in the 5th to break a 3-3 deadlock and take their fourth straight, 5-3, and win the series, 5-1. Evan Lee earned his third win in as many September starts with five innings of three-run ball on five hits and four walks while striking out four. Ike Schlabach (3IP) and Davis Moore (1IP) combined for four scoreless innings to lock it down and earn the hold and save respectively. Justin Connell and Omar Mergildo both homered while Jeremy Ydens singled twice and scored twice to lead the Blue Rocks’ attack.
Delmarva 4 Fredericksburg 3
• Rutledge 4IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 4K
• Kirian (L, 0-1) 1IP, 2H, R, ER, 0BB, 2K
• De La Rosa 2-3, R, BB
• Sánchez 1-4, R, HR, 2RBI
The F-Nats lost an early 2-0 lead, tied it at 3-3 in their half of the 8th only to see the Shorebirds get that run back in the bottom of the 8th for a 4-3 win. Jackson Rutledge went the first four innings, allowing a run on three hits and a walk while striking out four. Dustin Saenz struggled again, giving up two runs on a hit and a walk over two and 2/3rds with an “assist” from Lucas Knowles, who let in both inherited runners with a double by the first batter he faced in the bottom of the 7th. The loss went to Michael Kirian, as he let in the fourth Delmarva run on two hits in the 8th. Jeremy De La Rosa reached base three times with a walk and two singles to lead the Fredericksburg hit column.
FCL Nationals (25-27, 3rd Place FCL East, 4GB)
The FCL Nats can still finish at .500 with a strong finish in their final week. It’s not entirely clear if they’re going to play two today or merely complete the suspended game from last Tuesday. If it’s the former, then they’ll need to win five of six; the latter would require four wins in five games.
DSL Nationals (22-20, 4th place DSL South, 6½ GB)
The D-Nats won three of five last week but, weather permitting, will have seven games this week with doubleheaders today and Saturday and an off day on Wednesday. The D-Nats, along with the Red Wings, still have three weeks left to play in this oddball season.
Luke you love reporting on DHs
FRED faced Pinto Sunday after the early Ty Blach exiting . Pinto was one of the handful of arms acquired by Orioles ( two guts for SS Jose I—- . Can’t spell his name .
Anybody at FRED game to comment on Jackson R?
Luke you have a Monday DO it’s only SS clubs playing .
Well , at least the Nats did not have to face that jazz in Jays club .
Happy 23d birthday to Gerardo Carrillo. He’s been said all along to profile as a reliever, but he came over from the Dodgers as a starter, and the Nats have kept him doing that. I think he will be Rule 5-eligible this offseason, and he may be one they consider protecting, as hard-throwing relief types are the easiest for other teams to “stash.” Maybe he will get sent to the AFL to work as a reliever?
Good to see a little longer (and successful) outing from Rutledge. I also wonder whether he and Henry will be AFL candidates to keep pitching since they didn’t get a lot of game action during the summer.
Happy 17th birthday to Cristian Vaquero. I love this kid and can’t wait to see him play in the system.
Interesting to see where the Smokin Cuban and Carillo Landon terms of rotation roles
Speaking of Jose Sanchez , I could see Adrian Sanchez slide into a coaches role to instruct
Young charges such as Jose .
What has happened to Donovan Casey? After the trade he had a .965 OPS in August and looked headed for big things.
In September he is 1 for 36! How is this possible? Something happened.
Not the whole story, but a clue: Casey has always had very high K rates. He was at 30.5% with the Dodger AA team. At Harrisburg, he cut it way down to 17.6%, plus had .368 BABIP “luck.” At Rochester, he’s striking out 42.7% of the time. Whatever had him locked in and making contact at Harrisburg has gone out the window in September. Doesn’t mean that he can’t get it back, but frustration often does breed over-aggression.
The positive for Casey is that he showed the Nats organization what he can do when he’s going well. I sure he would sweating a lot more if he hadn’t had that hot streak.
Beat me to it!
Reversion to the mean? He has a career strikeout rate of around 30%, but somehow managed to drop it to 18% in Harrisburg. Seems that’s caught up to him in Rochester, where it’s ballooned to 43%. Altogether, though, his K% sits at 33% between both levels, which is identical to his 2019 numbers. Seems without the promotion, we wouldn’t have noticed too much beyond a hot streak followed by a cold streak.
Imagine if Antuna got promoted a few weeks back when others were calling for it, and he hit the same in AA as he has in Wilmington. His line of .179/.246/.268 over his past 14 games would be more apparent than it is now.
If it were me, I would try to slip Antuna off the 40-man right now, when most teams’ rosters are full. On the off chance he happens to get claimed, he would still rate a decent prospect or two in return. He hasn’t hit at A+ except for one brief hot streak, and he’s going to have to learn a new position after 33 errors (and counting) at SS. Maybe they send him to the AFL to learn outfield? Or have him do that in the Instructional League? He can hit more long homers there to keep them delusional about his future.
To be sure, I’d love to see him turn things around and live up the his potential, but this has been a brutal season for him. Frankly, he hasn’t been good in actual league action since 2017.
A silver lining to the otherwise all around dreadful Fredericksburg hitters this season: Jeremy de la Rosa is hitting .316/.366/.526 in September.
Unfortunately, the other “positive” from Fredericksburg, Jose Sanchez, has done the opposite of de la Rosa. Despite hitting a HR last night, since August 3rd, or his past 26 games, he’s hitting a Jose Sanchez-esque .176/.293/.235. Such a disappointment after a promising start. Up to August 3, he was hitting .268/.402/.420. Still, his 2021 has been miles better than any previous season.
That’s great that de la Rosa is ending the season on a high note. His overall stats for the season argue that he should repeat the level, though, particularly with his Tayloresque 34% K rate. The argument against that notion is that they’re probably going to have four or five OFs ready to move up from FCL next year. Sure would be fun to see an OF of Lile, de la Rosa, and White at Fredericksburg, though.
Both J and C De LaRosa
I love running into Ok Sooner fans in my travels who nod with a smile when I say Cavilli and Irwin
Quintana is better than any of those guys IMO. It is a nice problem to have.
There’s certainly been buzz about Quintana, but he’s got to stay on the field more than five games to prove something. I would be surprised if they push him to Fredericksburg to start the season with so little game experience.
If I had to pick one of the teen outfielders as the “best” of the bunch, right now I would probably go with White, based on projected power. But yes, it’s very good to have a handful of good prospects to choose from.