NationalsProspects.com

Monday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 12-2 OFF DAY N/A
Harrisburg Lost, 1-0 END OF SEASON N/A

Rochester 12 Lehigh Valley 2
• Murphy (W, 3-3) 5IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 7K
• C. Taylor 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, K
• Alu 4-6, 2R, 3B, HR(10), 5RBI
• W. Perez 3-5, R, HR, 3RBI
• Vega 4-5, 2B, 2RBI
• Stevenson 3-6, R, 3B, SB

The Red Wings broke out for four in the bottom of the 1st and never looked back as they smelted the Iron Pigs, 12-2 to take the series, 5-1. Patrick Murphy evened up his won-loss record at 3-3 with five innings of one-run ball on five hits, no walks, and seven whiffs. Jake Alu drove in five while falling a double shy of the cycle with two singles, a triple, and his 10th HR to lead Rochester’s 22-hit parade.

New Hampshire 1 Harrisburg 0
• Reyes (L, 6-8) 7IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 4BB, 4K, WP, BK
• Ferrer 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• W. Garcia 2-4, 2B
• Millas 2-4

Harrisburg carried a no-hitter into the 7th but still managed to find a way to lose, 1-0 to close out the series with a 1-5 mark. It was the eighth time the Senators were shut out in 2022. Luis Reyes was the hard-luck loser, allowing the lone Fisher Cats run on two hits and four walks while striking out four for his 8th loss at AA and 9th loss overall. Jose Ferrer gave up just one hit in the bottom of the 8th, a triple to center as CF Jackson Cluff collided with RF Trey Harris on the right-center warning track. Amazingly, New Hampshire did not go for the inside-the-park-homer and settled for the triple. Alas, it would be but a footnote as the Senators went down in order in the 9th. Wilson Garcia went and Drew Millas both went 2-for-4 with Garcia connecting for Harrisburg’s only extra-base hit, his 26th double of the season.

21 Commments

  1. What an absolutely fantastic season for Jake Alu! In AAA, he’s now outperforming his already great half season in Harrisburg, batting .302/.350/.526 vs “only” in AA: .281/.360/.470.

    It’s incredible that the hitting prospect most likely to contribute to the Nationals over the next 1-2 seasons is our 24th rounder from 2019. It’s a little disappointing that it seems like he won’t get a well earned chance this year, given our black hole at 3B at the moment. But I think a spot in DC should be his to lose come Spring Training.

    If I can brag a little, I’ll add that I had Alu as my #5 prospect in the 2022 bat rankings when he was left off most (though I should temper that by noting I had Riley Adams at #4 and Donovan Casey at #9, so it wasn’t a perfect list)

  2. Also great to see Vega seize the opportunity. I thought he stood a chance of getting a promotion to Harrisburg, so getting the bump to Rochester was a big surprise. A 4 for 5 night will have hopefully caught the attention of higher ups. His 2022 has been almost as impressive as Alu’s (a fellow late, late draft pick in the 20th round)

  3. In appreciation of Matt Lecroy, Onix Vega was the 78th (!!!) player this year at Rochester to pass the all-time record for the team. Which was set last year.
    How hard it must be to constantly saying hello and goodbye and achieving some kind of cohesion.

    Let’s never forget how short the rope is when you’re a 20th & 24th round pick. A slow start and you can be gone. Jake ‘no respect’ Alu might even make some prospects lists for the first time. Did anyone see Onix Vega this spring as a rising star? Didn’t think so.

    1. Definitely didn’t see Vega coming. He always struck me as Jakson Reetz-lite. Really good plate discipline, but a weak bat with poor contact.

      Before 2022, you couldn’t discern the difference between the two
      Player A: .230/.347/.355
      Player B: .250/.345/.319

      A is Reetz and B is Vega. But both surprisingly broke out this season. Unfortunately, Reetz recently hit his 30th HR with the Royals org now (he was released by the Brewers a month ago). While Vega has developed in a much more modest way, making marginal improvements across the board (walk rate increased, power increased and contact) leading to a really interesting profile. It’s going to make Rule 5 deliberations a lot more complicated.

  4. the Murphy as a starter project is an interesting late season development. if he can maintain or even slightly improve the BB rate he showed in his six starts he could sneak into an early season rotation spot. maybe the Voth situation didn’t go unnoticed, perish the thought.

  5. With another regular season in the books, here’s a shout out to Luke for his incredible faithfulness to this site. It’s much appreciated by your loyal readers. And it’s been the vast majority of what’s passed for interesting with this sad franchise right now.

  6. Alu turns 26 in April. I assume he will be a 40-man addition since he’s Rule 5 eligible. He hit six total homers across four years of college . . . and 19 this season.

    Who knows what the big club will do at 3B. It seems early to start spending big for free agents, and Brandon Drury is probably the only interesting one at that position anyway, likely to get overpaid due to one big HR season. So I could see the Nats piecing together something with Alu, Vargas, and waiting for Kieboom to recover. I fully expect Rizzo to insist that Kieboom get one more big chance, as illogical as that might seem to neutral observers. Otherwise, Trey Lipscomb has the potential to move through A+ and AA next season and put himself on the horizon. I guess the presumed long-term plan at 3B is Brady House, but he’ll probably be starting back at Fredericksburg next spring after an injury-riddled season.

    1. It’s sorta surprising, though, that they didn’t send Alu to the AFL to really get him ready for a big-league shot.

      Conversely, it’s almost embarrassing that they’re sending Antuna. It’s the perfect time to DFA a guy who hit .143 at AA, instead of continuing to act like he’s a prospect. He’ll already be on his final option in 2023, and nowhere near the majors. They have legit prospects now. Devote the attention to them. (But I’d be glad for Yasel to go to AZ and hit 10 homers and prove me wrong.)

      1. KW, they don’t send AAA guys to the AFL.
        If you subtract Cesar Hernandez and add Jake Alu that would be infield to work with. Vargas at 31 is doing well there but wouldn’t block Alu.

        1. They sent Robles to the AFL after his MLB call-up at the end of 2017. They can send pretty much whoever they want. This was mostly Alu’s AA season. Just saying it would be more beneficial for him to get playing time against advanced competition than it would the half the roster who they’re sending who probably won’t see an MLB stadium without buying a ticket.

          1. Donovan Casey was named to the AFL last year too, after splitting his season between AA and AAA. While players typically come from A-AA, there’s always a handful of more advanced players present, and this year’s crop definitely trends to the older side. Tim Cate is the same age as Alu, and Millas, Knowles Ribalta, Willingham and Lindsly are all only a year younger.

    2. It’s indeed way too early to spend money on free agents. Our window doesn’t “open” until some of this season’s Frederickburg (House, Wood, JDLR, Frizzell, White, Lipscomb, Infante) roster start filtering into the majors. Some guys like Frizzell or Lipscomb could rise faster than others, but the upper levels are so bereft of talent, that we won’t be competitive as guys in the upper levels like Hassell, Alu and Baker graduate next year and the year after. They’ll certainly make us better in the medium term, but alone in the short term they take us from a 105 loss team to something like a 90-95 loss team. So I think it’s more likely we aim to be a winning team again in 2025 or 2026, assuming like half of our prospects turn into MLB quality players.

      In the meantime, it’s back to 2006-2009 in the District, when we gave cameos to anyone that wanted one. Some panned out (Ian Desmond, Wilson Ramos) some respectably ate innings (Cristian Guzman, Ryan Langerhans, Danny Espinosa) and other failed spectacularly (Elijah Dukes, Lastings Milledge, Wily Mo Pena).

      Hopefully Alu can at least out perform our first 3B (Franco) in the rebuild who failed spectacularly, hitting .229/.255/.342, and he can be the next Espinosa, who while deeply flawed isn’t a drag on the team for several seasons, until the team can find a real replacement. Or maybe he continues to defy expectations and turns into the next Ryan Zimmerman! Would be nice to have one surprise success story after so many much surer prospects fizzle out.

  7. I’m pretty sure that the 3B spring training battle will be between Carter Kieboom and a veteran has-been.

    1. yes, and rightfully so. you don’t cut ties on a player with Kieboom’s minor league success after 100 games in the show.

  8. I haven’t given up on Kieboom (many have), but neither do I have great confidence that he’s going to make it as a starter. That was a big deal when they were trying to play him on a contending roster, not so much now. Maybe he won’t feel as much pressure, either.

    Let’s see, a Post story on Kieboom in July said that he hopes to be throwing and hitting by October and fully ready in the spring. If that’s the case, and after the disaster of the Franco experiment, just go into camp with Kieboom, Vargas, and Alu. You don’t know what you’ve got until you try them.

    1. FYI — Jake Alu was just named league player of the week for the 2nd week in a row.

      Jackson, I’ve read that his range isn’t good enough for SS, but he has played his share at 3rd. Obviously he’s far more valuable if he can play 3rd with the big club.

  11. Thanks Mark,
    And coincidently, today on Talk Nats there was a lot of discussion about Alu and the consensus was that he was a very good defensive player at third.

Comments are closed.