Tuesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | OFF DAY | vs. Worcester, 6:05 p.m. | Abbott (1-3, 6.46) vs. Mata (0-2, 4.63) |
| Harrisburg | OFF DAY | vs. Bowie, 6:35 p.m. | Rutledge (2-1. 3.58) vs. Tavera (0-1, 7.24) |
| Wilmington | OFF DAY | vs. Brooklyn, 6:35 p.m. | Alvarez (1-1, 3.66) vs. Colon (0-0, 6.46) |
| Fredericksburg | OFF DAY | @ Carolina, 7 p.m. | Bennett (0-2, 2.53) vs. L. Henderson (0-1, 4.63 @ A- in ’22) |
Rochester Red Wings, 11-20, 10th place I.L. East, 12½ GB
Rochester returns home after a 2-4 trip to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to face Worcester while the shuttle to/from D.C. remains busy, with Jake Alu getting the call, which would be more meaningful if there were a competent manager in place (i.e., his odds of getting in a game may depend on another injury). Meanwhile, former prospect Carter Kieboom returns to upstate N.Y. after completing his MLB rehab in Harrisburg. Roster moves: IF Carter Kieboom optioned from Washington; Jake Alu recalled to Washington; RHP Jesús Liranzo activated from the 7-day I.L., released.
Harrisburg Senators, 11-15, 5th place E.L. Southwest, 5GB
The Senators are on a four-game slide, two of which by shutout, as they remain model parents (almost no hitting) on offense. Conversely, the pitching has been the best among the affiliates at 4.19 R/G. This week it’s a chance to make some hay as the last-place BaySox come to town. OF Donovan Casey placed on the 3-Day T.I.L.
Wilmington Blue Rocks, 12-13, 4th place Sally Lg. North, 5GB,
Wilmington got the 2-4 memo and fell below .500 and into 4th place in the Sally Lg. North. This week the Blue Rocks host the Cyclones for seven, as they make up a rainout from last month in Brooklyn with a doubleheader on Wednesday.
Fredericksburg Nationals, 8-17, 6th place C.L. North, 7GB
The FredNats took one of five from the Wood Ducks as they fell seven games off the pace. This week, they’re headed to Zebulon against the first-place MudCats for their one and only series this season despite being placed in the same division.
There was another Baseball America podcast that had a focus on two FredNats, Brady House and Elijah Green.
They raved about House, saying his hitting looks elite and his defense is terrific, adding last years struggles look like a mirage.
Not so good was Green. His defense and baserunning are very good but hitting is definitely a concern. He doesn’t chase out of the zone but has a lot of swing and miss in the zone, which is much harder to remedy.
11.5 pct odds and Chicago Blacks win lottery
Conjures up thoughts about Jordan to Bulls and Ewing to Knicks
Large markets get the under the table
Moves lol
How fast could Skenes rise in Nats system ??
Nats would have been better off with arm than Green
Given the Nats struggles to teach hitting, drafting a very unpolished batter (albeit with amazing potential) like Green was a really dumb idea. I said it at the time, and I’ll continue to say it. However, I think drafting an arm would have been dumb for the same reasons. We really struggled to develop pitching talent too.
As I said last year before the draft:
“It seems a growing consensus that the Nats will draft Elijah Green, and that scares me. There’s major concerns over whether his plate discipline will translate in professional baseball. He’s striking out at an alarmingly high rate in HS, so you have to believe it will get a lot worse in the minors before it gets better. And I have absolutely no faith in the Nationals to actually develop a hitter. Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon were polished bats, who’d already done all their developing (plus, they were both drafted over a decade ago!), and Juan Soto is just a freak of nature. After them, you have a boatload of failures: Carter Kieboom, Drew Mendoza, Gage Canning, Blake Perkins, Rhett Wiseman, Yasel Antuna, and many other highly touted top 5 rounders or big-money IFAs that stagnated and declined in the Nats system. Luis Garcia stands alone among the successes.
If I’m the Nats, I’d go after someone a lot more polished, and less likely for the Nats to break or fail to develop, like Kevin Parada (catcher from GA Tech) or Brooks Lee (SS from Cal Poly). It’s exceptionally unlikely both would be drafted before the Nats pick. But if they were, then I’d go after one of the HS bats that have much “surer” skillsets, like Temarr Johnson, whose concerns lie in where he’ll eventually fit defensively, as he appears to unlikely to stick at 2B. And if for some insane reason Druw Jones or Jackson Holliday dropped to #5, we’d be obligated to take them.
Elijah Green has tantalizing skills, but I have no faith in the Nationals being able to them. And even if he did unlock his potential, he wouldn’t reach AA for like 4 years with the Nationals illogical no-promotion-for-hitters development approach.”
Parada (a minor league slash of .250/.379/.419 in A+) and Lee (a MiLB slash of .299/.375/.455, currently in AA) certainly look a lot better in retrospect too.
Brooks Lee currently is hitting .294 at AA. He’ll likely be in the majors by next year. Green will be doing well to be at A+. And yes, picking Green scared me for the same reasons. Plus guys with contact issues take a long time to make it through the minors, even if they do make it. I’m certainly rooting for him, but when you get to the pros, you have to adapt and grow.
It will be interesting if the Nats draft Dylan Crews and his advanced hit tool this year. They have a lot of touted outfielders in the system, but he’d likely leap ahead of all of them.
I don’t think you buy a kid (or the org) one month into his professional career.
you must be new here
FredMD interesting tonight : JR pitching in Bowie small park .
Game was on city island.
If you’d asked me whether Nats teams would be better or worse than last season, I wouldn’t have hesitated to say we’d be better this season. With the infusion of talent from Soto/Bell/other trades plus the relatively high draft spot in 2022, the farm system got appreciably better.
Well, that doesn’t show in the win loss column… a collective .393 winning percentage is pretty pathetic, especially so when all four teams are each under .500.
Fortunately, wins and losses don’t matter so much in the minors, but they sure do make it a lot less enjoyable for the fans.
it will be good to see Carter playing everyday again. I’m expecting good things from him.
likewise for Hassell back on City Isle.
Wow. Bringing the heat today.
Davey Martinez is incompetent.
Closing the book less than a month into Elijah Green’s foray into full season minor league baseball. FWIW, Green is 1.9 years younger than league average. Struggling to adapt was expected. Seems premature. Maybe that’s me.
For all of the grousing about Rizzo, Davey and the Nats’ failure to develop players, got to be at least acknowledgement of the baby steps of progress so far (realize its early to make any assessments) by Gore, Gray, Keibert, CJ and while he was already relegated to have no MLB future…. Lane Thomas.
Guess its more fun to go negative and stay negative.
the majority of prospect fail, the majority of teams do not content. it’s the safe play.
that being said I admire the passion of all here, I share that trait albeit coming from a different angle
Oh yeah, omitted one. frequent punching bag for those that post here…
Luis Garcia…
BTW, he can hit, and his defense is improving. You know he’s only 22 and getting better.
LOL, I’m not closing the book on Green at all. But a 45% K rate seems pretty conclusive that he’s got to adjust his approach. He’s got huge talent, maybe more “tools” than anyone else in the organization, including at the MLB level. But unless and until the “hit tool” clicks, the rest of the tools won’t mean that much.
Green had been thought of as the overall most talented player in the draft pool for more than a year. He dropped to #5 because four other teams didn’t want to take the risk on his hit tool. The Nats did. We’ll see if pays off for them.
Every scouting report on Green was the same.
Exceptional tools except a big question mark about his ability to make consistent contact. Big risk. Potential big reward or massive bust.
Heading into the draft, given the Nats’ track record of picking college pitchers with their first pick (with exception of House) and the fact that Rizzo lacks the time to wait for a HS position player to develop, picking Green was shocking. That said, admired the front office for not taking the safe option: a player with a higher floor and lower ceiling.
So far, Green has failed to answer the prior concerns about making contact. Just think its way too early to start Monday morning QBing the 2022 draft. Give the kid a chance.
I’m guessing that Alu was called up because they don’t think that Robles’s injury is very serious and so they’re avoiding making a move with the 40 man roster. For the time being they’re going with Call, Thomas, and Garrett as their primary outfielders because, well, they’re outfielders. Alu is not (yet), although they’re working on him.
It’s weird, because the take that I have on Alu is that he is a Nationals’ player development success story, a 24th round draft pick who they have brought along at a completely appropriate pace. Where he needs to be now is playing every day in the minors to confirm that his 59 games where he raked in AAA last year were not a fluke/career year. Best case scenario is that he rakes in AAA and then comes up to DC when Candelario is flipped for a prospect after catching fire in May, June, and July (hey, we can all dream).
Why not promote Downs, then? Downs has as much experience in the OF as Alu (essentially none).
I’m cautiously optimistic they find a way to use him, but it would be stupid if they just let him rot on the bench until Robles returns. Alu just started to be finding his swing.