Monday’s News & Notes
Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
Rochester | Lost, 8-7 | OFF DAY | N/A |
Harrisburg | Lost, 7-4 | OFF DAY | N/A |
Wilmington | Won, 5-4 | OFF DAY | N/A |
Fredericksburg | Won, 6-2 | OFF DAY | N/A |
Toledo 8 Rochester 7
• Adon (L, 1-2) 4⅔ IP, 9H, 6R, 6ER, 4BB, 4K, HR
• Willingham 1⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Blankenhorn 2-3, 2R, 2HR(5,6), BB, 2RBI
• Yepez 2-5, R, HR, RBI
• Baker 2-5, 2B, RBI
Rochester hit five solo HRs but also went 0-for-5 with RISP to drop an 8-7 heartbreaker and split the series with Toledo. Joan Adon gave up six runs on nine hits (one HR) and four walks over four and 2/3rds to lose for the second time in three starts. Travis Blankenhorn went deep twice while Juan Yepez, Jake Alu, and Alex Call homered once as the Red Wings totaled nine hits and three walks total and left five on base, including two in the 9th with the help of two Mud Hens errors.
Richmond 7 Harrisburg 4
• Luckham (L, 0-1) 5IP, 7H, 7R, 6ER, 3BB, 2K, BK, E
• Sinclair 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Hassell 2-4, R, BB, RBI, SB
• Suggs 1-3, BB
An early 3-1 lead was gone by the 5th as the Flying Squirrels got two in the 4th to tie and four in the 5th to take a 7-3 lead. Harrisburg could only get back one run as they struggled Forrest Gump pause again to cash in on eight walks, going 2-for-10 with RISP and leaving on 11 baserunners. Robert Hassell singled twice, walked once, scored once, and stole a base to lead the Sens offense.
Wilmington 5 Greenville 4
• Theophile 5IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB, 5K
• Collins (BS, 1; W, 1-0) 1⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Peterson (SV, 5) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• V. Peña 1-2, 2R, 2BB, 2B, 2SB
• McHenry 1-4, R, 2B, 3K
• Lile 1-4, 2B, RBI
Conversely, Wilmington got five runs out of three doubles, four walks, and four stolen bases and survived a meltdown in the 6th to edge Greenville, 5-4. Rodney Theophile tossed five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks. He was rewarded with a no-decision “thanks” to Evan Lee walking all three batters he faced. Marlon Perez handed off his beer and walked three more while allowing all three of Lee’s baserunners to score. Brendan Collins let in the tying run with a single to his first batter faced before getting out of the 6th. After a scoreless 7th, he picked up the win after Johnathan Thomas got plunked, stole second, reached third on a sacrifice, and stole home on a two-out double steal in tandem with Viandel Peña.
Fredericksburg 6 Fayetteville 2
• Sthele 4IP, 2H, 0R, 3BB, 3K
• Denaburg (W, 1-0) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• K. Rodriguez (SV, 1) 1⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 2K, 1-1 IR-S
• Glasser 2-3, R, 2BB, GIDP, 3SB
• Pimentel 2-3, R, BB, 3RBI
• Colmenares 2-3, BB, SF, RBI
The FredNats jumped out to a 6-0 lead early and held off the Woodpeckers, Sunday Afternoon in Fredericksburg
Can us minor league seamheads just exult at watching Mitchell Parker. 12 innings with NO walks! Never saw it coming but thrilled nonetheless.
It’s incredible. I don’t recall Parker ever having two walk free starts in a row, never mind against the Dodgers and Astros! Parker always showed he had the “stuff”, but it was just a matter of consistency for him to turn into a quality player. Well, so far so good. I still expect we’ll see Mr Hyde rear his ugly head again soon, but I’m very much enjoying this Dr. Jekyll-only performance while it lasts.
It also goes to show that sometimes guys can just surprise everyone, and excel even if they’re not putting up incredible numbers. But you’re never going to be surprised if you don’t give them that chance.
have a day Mitchell Parker!, you can find me at the top of his list of doubters. you won’t see a more (seemingly) stress free seven innings than that.
Same on Parker penning a good season start
Conversely on Rodney T .
We thought the Sens would start like the Blue Rox have
Among 912 qualified batters in the minor leagues, Phillip Glasser and Gavin Dugas currently sit tied for 2nd in best batting average at .432 (Only Mike Boeve in the Brewers org is ahead of them at .467. Boeve has already been promoted a level due to this quick start. Hint hint, Nats…).
Glasser has the 4th highest OPS (1.182) in the minors, but if you factor in his baserunning prowess (8 SB tied for 20th most in the minors), there is an easy argument to make that he is the best hitter in the minors at the moment. Dugas isn’t far behind with a 1.165 OPS, which is merely 8th best in the minors.
Unfortunately, Dugas has to sit on the bench yesterday because the FNats have almost an entire roster of infielders, whose playing time needs to be juggled: Glasser, Dugas, Cruz, Cooper, Ochoa Leyva, Pimentel and Quintana. Unfortunately, there isn’t exactly a dearth in Wilmington either (or Harrisburg too), so the Nats are going to need to make some tough decisions at some point.
Regarding Pimentel, since he was signed as a Free Agent, how long do the Nats have control over Pimentel?
Good question. Unless I’m mistaken, the same rules apply for UDFA as for Drafted FAs. Take Zack Brzykcy, another UDFA from 2020, he was under team control until this past offseason, when, like other 2020 draftees like Parker, became R5 eligible.
Speaking of Brzykcy, any news on his rehab?
Always amazes me how some prospects (higher draft picks, bonus money international signings) are given countless opportunities, unmerited promotions while others do not.
Some brass must have forgotten about:
Trevor Hoffman (11th round)
Nolan Ryan (12th round)
Albert Pujols and Jim Thome (13th round)
Josh Hader (19th round)
JD Martinez, John Smoltz, Mark Buerhle and others were picked after the 20th round. Mike Piazza in the 62nd round!!!!!!
Meanwhile Cade is in XST Ramping up slowly
We continue to await any unexpected
Nice developments from any prospects whose light switch has taken a long time to turn on
Suffice it to say that, if the Nats promoted every prospect who had some natural gifts but a flaw in their game (walks for pitchers, high K% for hitter, etc.) on the theory that “you’re never going to be surprised if you don’t give them a chance,” they’d have a LOT more face planting disasters than Mitchell Parkers.
Even if you only promoted flawless baseball players, you’d still have far more face plants than Mitchell Parkers (just look at flawless, uber prospects Jackson Holliday or Wyatt Langford’s current stat lines in the majors). That’s baseball, and particularly in rebuilds, frequent and spectacular failure is an intrinsic part of the process. If you’re going to wait for prospects to perfect all their flaws, well, you’re never going to promote anyone. I’m happy to see the Nats are increasingly not following that line of thinking (it would have been really easy to give the start to Spenser Watkins or Robert Gsellman instead). I’m loving watching highly flawed, non-prospects like Parker, Young, Irvin and Adams have success on this team, and I hope we’ll get to see a bunch more, even if it means there’ll be a heck of a lot more failures along the way.
Waiting on some young Latin arms to really turn the light bulb on who are hiding in the shadows of scuttling along
Does anyone know why Crews is out?
No. As per usual, the Nats are very tight-lipped about it. According to some commenters here, he’s been in DC for medical evaluations but we have no idea what the injury is, if any.