Saturday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 2-1 | vs. St. Paul, 1:05 p.m. | Espino (0-1, 5.40) vs. Dobnak (1-0, 5.94) |
| Harrisburg | Postponed | vs. Somerset, 5 p.m. | Troop (1-1, 7.56) and Cuevas (1-0, 6.92) vs. Beeter (2-1, 1.08) and Fenter (1-1, 3.72) |
| Wilmington | Postponed | vs. Aberdeen, 6 p.m. | Saenz (0-1, 6.75) and Luckham (0-0, 0.82) vs. Bright (0-1, 3.12) and Virbitsky (0-0, 14.09) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 10-9 (11 inn.) | @ Lynchburg, 6:30 p.m. | Aldonis (0-0, 2.57) vs. Richardson (1-0, 2.08) |
Rochester 2 St. Paul 1
• Abbott 5⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 3BB, 12K
• Ferrer (W, 1-0) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Machado (SV, 2) 1IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 2K
• Hill 1-3, R
• Plawecki 1-3, R
Four Rochester pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts as they prevailed 2-1 over St. Paul. Cory “Don’t Call Me Roger” Abbott struck out 12 over five and 2/3rds innings, losing a no-no with a leadoff double in the 6th and walking three. Jose Ferrer stranded two while getting out of the top of 6th. The 23-y.o. southpaw got the benefit of the Red Wings scoring twice in the bottom in the 6th on two singles, a sacrifice, and a wild pitch. Andres Machado cordero’d around an error, a double, a walk, and a sacrifice, which put the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second before he fanned the next two for a hard-earned save.
Somerset vs. Harrisburg – PPD
With rain in the forecast for the whole day, the plug was pulled on Game 4 between the Patriots and Senators more than five hours before first pitch. They’ll shoot to make this up with a twi-night twinbill tonight.
Aberdeen vs. Wilmington – PPD
They waited a bit longer to pull the plug on the matchup between Aberdeen and Wilmington, calling the game a little less than three hours before first pitch. It’s a doubleheader tonight to make it up. Roster moves: C Onix Vega reassigned from Rochester; C Ivan Murzi placed on the Developmental List.
Fredericksburg 10 Lynchburg 9
• Atencio 4IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 2K, HBP, WP
• Abreu 2IP, 0H, 0R, 2BB, 4K
• M. Gomez (BS, 2; W, 3-2) 2IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
• Stehly 3-4, BB, 3RBI, 3SB
• Lile 2-5, R, 2B(6), SB(5)
• Green 2-6, 2R, 2RBI
The FredNats battled back from a 7-1 deficit midway through to force extras and outlast the Hillcats, 10-9. Jose Atencio hit a wall in the 4th as he let in three runs on three hits, a walk, and a Victor Robles. Two errors on the same play (both by Cortland Lawson) led to four unearned runs. Fredericksburg answered with four of their own in the top of the 6th and tied the game with three in the 9th. Murphy Stehly and Daylen Lile both led off the extra innings with an RBI single to send in the free runner. Miguel Gomez couldn’t hold the lead in the 10th but did in the 11th for the blown-save-win. Stehly led the hit column with three singles and three RBI, followed by Lile with a single and double as the FredNats racked up nine hits, drew six walks, and stole six bases. Defensively, they turned five double plays and committed two errors.
What a pitching show in Rochester!
Ferrer has settled in nicely in AAA. It was a bumpy start giving up runs in two of his first 3 games, but he’s now only allowed a run once in his past 8 games. His ERA is down to 2.63. He also wasn’t missing many bats at first in Rochester. In his first 6 games, he struck out 4 in 10 IP. But in his past 4 games (3.2 IP), he’s struck out 6.
Guys are naturally going to struggle. But you love to see players obviously learn and adapt to the new challenges, and in Ferrer’s case he seems to have learned really quickly! Hope he can sustain this play.
On the other hand, it’s tough to watch Luke Young pitch. Ironically, yesterday was the first time in 5 tries that he hasn’t allowed an earned run. Yet, he went 0.2 IP, walked three gave up one hit, but was aided by Lawson committing a double error to keep the inning alive and ensure that the 4 runners that crossed the plate while he was on the mound counted as unearned. His ERA sits at 8.49 and his WHIP is 1.89. Hope he figures out what he needs to adjust, because he’s been on my watchlist. The $250k he signed for from the 11th round is one of the largest (the largest?) bonus the Nats have given to a post-10th rounder since MLB applied the new bonus restrictions several years ago.
And his opposite, Murphy Stehly, who signed for a mere $10k two rounds ahead of Young, might be another grossly underrated player in the Nats system. The guy hit .367/.424/.662 in his senior year at Texas, and so far is batting .318/.385/.364. Could be a diamond in the rough there.
I was going to highlight Stehly as well. The guy stole 11 bases in his college career but three last night. This is his first full pro season, but he will turn 25 in September, so he’s got a very narrow window to make it. He exploded for 19 homers and 23 doubles for U of Texas last season. He has played just about every position, including SS in JUCO. He was mostly a corner OF last season for the Longhorns. The Nats certainly seem to like the super-utility model (Davey coached the original Zobrist), so he’ll have an opportunity if he can hit.
Totally agree with Will on Ferrer.
Daylin Lile has come out smokin’ to start the season. His OPS is a terrific .946! Hope he can keep it rolling.
19th rounder Jonathon Thomas is also raking with an OPS of .877.
Lile looks like a doubles machine — 6 in 12 games. That was his MO when he was drafted: gap power and above-average contact, with some question whether the HR power would develop.
The stat that intrigues me most about Thomas is that he had nine homers last year in college, so he has a chance to be more than just a speedy slap hitter.
Atencio, much like Cuevas is not going to blow one by you but throws five pitches and will not shy away from any of them regardless of the count. he got squared up a few times and threw a couple of wild pitches as well but I hope he gets a regular spot in the Burg rotation and maybe a mid-year promotion if all works out.
Lile is looking like the real deal, never seems to give away an at bat and not afraid of the big moment.
Cruz is a solid defender, smart play to cut down the lead runner in extras and solid overall.
I have finally found a camera operator worse that the FNats guy.
Romero needs to follows Abbotts lead and right the ship this afternoon. Since Ward will not have the chance to get stretched out one of them has the chance to replace Kuhl once they give up on him but they need to produce something positive every outing.