Thursday’s News & Notes
Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
Rochester | Lost, 5-0 | vs. St. Paul, 11:05 a.m. | Herz (2-2, 4.11) vs. Balazovic (2-2, 5.40) |
Harrisburg | Won, 2-1 (7 inn.) |
@ Binghamton, 6:35 p.m. | Cuevas (1-2, 5.13) vs. Jarvis (2-1, 3.14) |
Wilmington | Lost, 5-0 | @ Bowling Green, 7:35 p.m. | L. Young (2-3, 3.53) vs. Curet (2-5, 3.86) |
Fredericksburg | Won, 5-3 (10 inn.) |
@ Down East, 6:30 p.m. | Sykora (0-1, 4.26) vs. Drake (2-1, 2.63) |
FCL Nationals | Won, 2-1 | @ FCL Astros, 12 p.m. |
St. Paul 5 Rochester 0
• Watkins (L, 1-2) 6IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 4K, 2HR
• Cate 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Millas 2-4
• Lipscomb 1-3
Rochester suffered just its third shutout this season, but the second by St. Paul, 5-0 on five hits. Spenser Watkins was taken deep twice to account for all four runs earned over six innings as he lost his second game. He gave up six hits total, walked two, and struck out four. Drew Millas singled twice, Trey Lipscomb once, and the veterans Travis Blankenhorn and Juan Yepez both collected their 10th double. The Red Wings had but one walks and left on four baserunners.
Harrisburg 2 Binghamton 1 – 7 inn.
• Lara (W, 2-0) 6IP, 1H, 0R, 3BB, 6K
• Barley 2-3, R, SB
• Hassell 2-4, 2RBI
• Crews 1-1, BB, HBP
The rains came with two out in the top of the 7th with the Senators leading 2-1. Thirty-four minutes later, the umps called to give Harrisburg its third win in four games. Andry Lara ran his quality-start streak to five, winning for the second time in three AA starts with both Rumble Ponies runs allowed on one hit and three walks. He struck out six. Jordy Barley singled twice, scored once, and stole a base while Robert Hassell drove in both Sens runs with the first of his two safeties. Roster moves: C C.J. Stubbs activated from the Development List; LHP Lucas Knowles placed on the 7-Day I.L.
Bowling Green 5 Wilmington 0
• Atencio (L, 0-2) 6IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 4K, HR
• Pogue 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, HBP
• Harris 1-3, BB
• De La Rosa 1-4, 2B
Jose Atencio turned in a quality start, but the offense did not reciprocate as Bowling Green shut out Wilmington, 5-0. Atencio let in two runs on six hits (one HR) and no walks while striking out four. He was rewarded with his second loss at High-A. Terone Harris was the sole Blue Rock to reach base twice with a single and a walk while Jeremy De La Rosa had the only extra-base hit, a double with one out in the 7th. The rest of the lineup went 1-for-23, with Phillip Glasser rounding out the Wilmington hit column with a single. Roster moves: OF Jeremy De La Rosa activated from the 7-Day I.L.
Fredericksburg 5 Down East 3 (10 inn.)
• Polanco 5IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 3K, HR
• Hall (BS, 2) 2⅔ IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 4K
• Schultz (W, 3-1) 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 4K, 1-0 IR-S
• Cooper 2-4, R, CS
• Brown 1-3, R, 2BB
• Green 1-4, R(32), BB, SB(17), 2K(77)
Green leads the team in those categories
The FredNats ‘pen wobbled late but held in the last two “ups” to win 5-3 in 10 inning and stop a four-game slide. Bryan Polanco pitched five innings of two-run ball on five hits (one HR) and two walks while striking out three. Bubba Hall gave up the tying run on a two-out triple for his second blown save. Roismar Quintana put the game away with a two-run double in the 10th. Merrick Baldo walked the leadoff batter in the bottom of the 10th but retired the next three batters to earn the save and make a winner out of Thomas Schultz.
FCL Nationals 2 FCL Marlins 1
• Portorreal 5IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 3K
• Roman (W, 2-0) 2IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Sandy (SV, 1) 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Rombach 1-3, 2R
• W. Diaz 1-3, RBI
The FCL Nationals edged the FCL Marlins, 2-1 to pull within a game of .500 at 8-9. Leuris Portorreal went the first five, allowing the F-Marlins run on three hits and a walk while striking out three. Angel Roman and Will Sandy both turned in two scoreless innings to earn the win and save, respectively. Nate Rombach was plunked and scored ahead of Winder Diaz’s single in the 2nd, then singled in the 6th and scored the second run on an error.
Marquis Grissom was promoted to Harrisburg yesterday. That AA roster just keeps getting more interesting.
Extremely well deserved! And glad to see the rate of promotions are beginning to increase. But there’s a growing traffic jam in Harrisburg. Grissom, Lara, Peterson, and Brad Lord (some time ago now) have been promoted, with only Walters and Ribalta getting promoted to Rochester so far (I may have missed someone else). Injuries to Knowles and Henry have made some space, but Guasch and Brzykcy should be returning imminently, and likely Shuman too (though he’s currently assigned to Wilmington on rehab in FCL).
Harrisburg’s pitching staff has been phenomenal this season (3rd best ERA: 3.28; 3rd best WHIP: 1.26 in the EL). And there’s no shortage of starters and relievers to praise, meanwhile Rochester’s staff has been diabolical (19th best ERA of 20 in the IL: 5.56).
This has a domino effect. Just to illustrate, 24 year old, Bubba Hall, blew a save yesterday, raising his ERA to 1.80. He has a ridiculous 33 K:1 BB and an equally absurd 0.56 WHIP. He was followed in the game by Thomas Schultz, another 24 year old, (2.3 years above the league average), with a nearly identical 1.90 ERA and elite 30:9 K:BB and 0.97 WHIP.
Now that there’s a space vacated by Grissom in Wilmington, Hall AND Schultz should get an overdue promotion, but even then, they’ll still be over a year above the average age of the Sally League, illustrating just how far behind they are of the typical minor league development path.
Completely forgot about Cole Henry. I know he started the season with middling results but then what happened? I lost track
The official move was made today. Terry’s pretty good about getting the word out ASAP.
Luke: just a suggestion, I was looking at the Too Old For the Level page, and it would benefit from an update post-MILB re-org. By cutting the NYPL, the “age appropriateness” has changed a bit, for example, A ball (both low and high) has gotten a bit younger.
Delino must be smiling seeing his old teammates son in his bullpen to call upon
Hey everyone, FanGraphs just put out the Nationals Top 32 prospects. There is no pay wall.
Just in time for the beginning of the 2024 season!
Having followed baseball since the late 60s (starting with the Expos), I never cease to be “befuddled” by the prospect lists over the last 60 years. Mostly hit and miss, disappointments, surprises and shocks! In June 2023, FanGraphs had Cristian Vaquero (.136 BA in A ball) at 4th, 8th this year!! Green (.180 BA in A ball) 11th last year, 15 this year, and so on. Irvin was 14th last year. Like life, prospect lists are unpredictable!!
Here’s the link:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/washington-nationals-top-32-prospects-2024/
Seeing Hurtado listed at #5 sorta nukes credibility before I even start reading.
What are the multiple wrists injuries for Wood that FanGraphs references? Do they have him conflated with Hassell?