NationalsProspects.com

Monday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Lost, 5-3 OFF DAY N/A
Harrisburg Won, 8-4 OFF DAY N/A
Wilmington Lost, 3-1 OFF DAY N/A
Fredericksburg Won, 8-5 OFF DAY N/A
FCL Nationals OFF DAY @ FCL Cardinals, 12 p.m.
DSL Nationals OFF DAY @ DSL Giants Orange, 11 a.m.

Rochester 3
• Rutledge (L, 1-1) 4⅔ IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, 0K, HR, 3HBP
• Peguero 1⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 0K
• García 1-3, R, 2B, SF, RBI
• Noll 1-3, R, BB, RBI

A three-run 5th by the RailRiders erased a 2-1 lead for the Red Wings as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre took finale, 5-3, and the series, 4-2. Jackson Rutledge matched Brad Pitt’s strikeout total while giving up four tuns on six hits (one HR) over four 2/3rds. He hit three batters while taking his first AAA loss. Rochester squeezed three runs out of four hits without a homer, with Jake Noll singling in Luis García in the 1st, García driving in Paul Witt with a sac fly in the 3rd, and Witt sending in Jack Dunn on a “run-scoring flyball” in the 7th. Guess who got the four hits?! Roster moves: RHP Amos Willingham recalled to Washington; IF Jordy Barley reassigned from Harrisburg.

Harrisburg 8 Erie 4
• Saenz (W, 2-4) 5IP, 6H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 2K
• Walters (SV, 1) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Lipscomb 3-5, R, 2B, RBI
• Arruda 2-4, 2R, BB
• Casey 1-3, R, 2B(10), 3RBI

Robert Hassell cleared the bases with his 10th double in the 5th to give Harrisburg a 5-1 as the Senators held on to double up the SeaWolves, 8-4, and win the series, 4-2. Dustin Saenz won his second game of the series and at AA with five innings of one-run ball, giving up six hits and a walk. He struck out two. Trey Lipscomb finished his six-game paternity test with two singles and a double to finish the series at 16-for-27 while J.T. Arruda also reached base three times with a walk and two singles to lead the Harrisburg offense. Roster moves: C Israel Pineda optioned from Washington.

Hudson Valley 3 Wilmington 1
• Alvarez (L, 6-4) 6IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 5K, HR
• Merrill 2IP, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 6K
• Boisserie 2-4, R
• Lawson 1-3, 2B, RBI

Andrew Alvarez and the Blue Rocks ‘pen couldn’t combine for the shutout necessary to make the one (1) run stand up as the Renegades completed the 4-2 series win with a 3-1 victory. Amazingly, this was only Alvarez’s first loss while turning in a quality start of two runs on a home run and six hits total over six innings. He walked one and struck out four in his fourth loss overall. Branden Boisserie singled twice and scored ahead of Cortland Lawson’s RBI double in the 2nd. That was the one hit in eight RISP chances as Wilmington left on eight baserunners.

Fredericksburg 8 Salem 5
• Cornelio 5IP, 3H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 6K
• Grissom (BS, 1; W, 3-1) 1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0K
• M. Romero 2-3, 1R, 2BB, HR, 3RBI
• Pinckney 2-4, 3R, 2B, HR, 2RBI
• Dugas 1-2, R, 2BB, HR,, RBI

Max Romero Jr. took the O.J. (Other Junior) off the hook while walking off Salem with a three-run HR in the bottom of the 9th for an 8-5 walkoff win. It was the fourth HR of the game, as Dylan Crews, Andrew Pinckney, and Gavin Dugas all went deep for their first HRs outside of HS, summmer wood-bat leagues, or the NCAA. As aforementioned, Marquis Grissom gave up the tying run in the top of the 9th for his first blown save in eight chances. Riley Cornelio started and went the first five, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks while striking out six.



FCL Nationals, 17-21, 5th place FCL East, 7½ GB
The F-Nats are on a three-game losing streak as they’re barely staying out of the FCL East cellar with about a dozen or so games left to play. This week they’re only in West Palm Beach for two games and the home team for one as they play twice against the F-Cards and once against the F-Marlins in Jupiter.

DSL Nationals, 10-31, 8th place DSL South, 23½ GB
Believe it or not, the DSL Nationals could actually make it into 7th place as they trail the DSL Cardinals by just a game and a half with two weeks to go. The D-Nats have multiple games left against both the 9th-place D-Twins (9-32) and the 7th place D-Cards (12-30) for a race that could have an Etch-a-Sketch® finish.

15 Commments

  1. What a week for Trey Lipscomb, going 16 for 27 (.593 average). Also, in his last 45 PA’s he has only 5 k’s.

  2. Gonna keep banging the Andrew Alvarez drum, because he keeps displaying his mastery of Sally League batters.

    There’s always someone in the org who gets forgotten by management despite being dominant. In previous years it’s been Jose Ferrer and Will Frizzell. Alvarez is the unlucky guy this year.

    But now that Bennett has been confirmed to be injured (https://twitter.com/dougherty_jesse/status/1687919321895292928), after much speculation here, this all but cements Alvarez as our POTY, barring some truly epic meltdown. They say Bennett will be back next week, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

    1. when the promotion time came they picked Saenz over Alvarez as his stats were better. they were both 24 year olds repeating A+ so you would expect good results

      1. Should be interesting come April 24 what the affiliate rotations shape up with with healthy arms and cleared 60 man / “ witness protection list “ lists .
        Gotta lefties will abound in 24

        1. Even in the Latin group of arms there should be some spring 2024 developments

  3. Super small sample sizes abound, but Jake Alu has seized his opportunity well. After FINALLY getting a couple starts in a row, whaddya know, he does Jake Alu things. He’s now hitting .357/.400/.429 in 4 starts with a few very clutch hits. It’s fun what a little youth-infusion has done for the big league team.

    Speaking of infusions, Fredericksburg has been revitalized by the new draftees. The FNats have gone 5-1 since the cavalry arrived, scoring 42 runs in the process. Looks like they’re our best bet for a winning team this year.

  4. Rutledge pitched around a lot of self created traffic through four innings with the help of three double plays. a few loud long foul balls but overall not a lot of hard hits. ironically in the fifth he should have had his only clean inning as Wilson had a long fly go off his glove for the third out in what was originally ruled E8. two hits later three runs were in and his day was done.

  5. Today’s installment of Luck is Fickle: Branden Boissiere was hitting .227 at A thanks to a .261 BABIP. In 15 games at A+, he’s riding a .390 BABIP to a .333 average. Curiously, there’s not much difference in his wRC+, now at 112, up from 107.

    Even though Boissiere was a college draftee, he’s still only 23, so he’s got time. What he hasn’t particularly got is power, which he’ll have to show more of to keep advancing as a 1B/DH. His profile seems similar to that of our old friend “Orange” Marmolejos.

    1. Boissiere is on another level of power outage, than Orange. Through 197 minor league games, he has 12 total HR. Marmolejos hit 14 in half that time in Harrisburg in 2017. But this shouldn’t be a surprise. Boissiere has never displayed any power in his career. He hit 9 HR in 117 college games, and he didn’t have elite plate discipline or contact ability to make him a more interesting albeit unconventional prospect. I still to this day don’t understand the Boissiere pick. He was drafted to save money in the 3rd round (presumably to afford House/Lile), but they still gave him 4th round slot value money (and saved about $100k). The fact that there were players with far superior track records (Will Frizzell in the 8th round) available for fractions of Boissiere’s signing bonus, makes it all the more perplexing.

      So while he is “only” 23, that’s still several years above average for Fredericksburg, and still above average for Wilmington. I hope something clicks, but I don’t know what “clicking” looks like for a player with a profile like Boissiere. Is his ceiling what he’s currently doing in Wilmington (.333/.352/.431)? Even if we ignore the unsustainability of this all due to his BABIP, is his ceiling (a .783 OPS) even good enough? A more defensively versatile player in Omar Meregildo, posted a .821 OPS in Wilmington last season, and got released half a season later.

      1. I didn’t understand the Boissiere pick, either, but I’m trying to be positive. Better to have him hitting than not.

  6. Nice to know there’s a target date for Bennett. He’s a big part of the future.

    Had a blast at my first FredNats game. Traffic sucked in 95, but then, it always does. Somehow it managed to suck both ways this time.

    Even though he was only 1-for-5, Crews is the real deal. He just looks the part. Also seems to have more than enough range for center field, as he caught everything in his direction.

    Morales is big but moves with agility. We all want to move him to first, just because the Nats have noone penciled in to play there, but he may be too athletic for the position.

    The player I was really impressed with was Andrew Pinckney – he looks like a total steal for the Nats. Maybe it’s just a good run of form against younger players and he’ll revert to his mean, but right now, he looks like a future big league player.

    I can see why they drafted Marcus Brown. Great feet and a strong arm but legit questions about the bat. Still think they overpaid and could have gotten a future relief arm for the same price or less.

    Was disappointed in Grissom, Jr., but I suppose even the best relievers blow a save from time to time.

  7. Tanner Rainey, welcome back!

    A clean inning with a K in the FCL. Baby steps.

    Elijah Green also made a rehab appearance. 1-2 with a BB and a K.

    “Sonny” Vaquero went 1-for-3 with 2 BBs and 2 steals.

    “Dr. C” Everett Cooper went 2-for-4. He’s slashing .381/.466/.413

Comments are closed.