Wednesday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 10-0 | vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 1:05 p.m. | Alvarez (0-1, 20.25) vs. Maciejewski (1-1, 4.50) |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 2-1 | vs. Bowie, 6:30 p.m. | Lord (6-1, 1.75) vs. Weston (2-3, 3.28) |
| Wilmington | Lost, 5-4 | @ Jersey Shore, 7:05 p.m. | Theophile (1-4, 4.89) vs. J. Cabrera (3-2, 3.46) |
| Fredericksburg | Lost, 3-1 | @ Carolina, 6:30 p.m. | Shuman (0-1, 4.50) vs. Corniel (2-2, 4.61) |
| FCL Nationals | Postponed | @ FCL Astros, 12 p.m. | |
| DSL Nationals | Lost, 8-3 | OFF DAY |
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 10 Rochester 0
• Rutledge (L, 2-4) 4⅔ IP, 9H, 9R, 9ER, 3BB, 4K, HR
• Gsellman 1⅓ IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Baker 1-4, 2B
• Adams 1-4
The Red Wings were shut out, 10-0 on two (2) hits. Jackson Rutledge didn’t make it out of the 5th for the third straight start, but somehow this was the first one he lost. He was charged with nine runs on nine hits (one HR) and three walks over four and 2/3rds innings. Riley Adams singled in the second and Darren Baker doubled in the 8th to round out the Rochester barrage.
Bowie 2 Harrisburg 1
• Cuevas 6⅔ IP, 8H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 3K, HBP
• Alston ⅓ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 1-0 IR-S
• Pinckney 1-4, RBI, SB
• Lawson 0-1, BB, R
It was too little, too late for Harrisburg as they waited until the bottom of the 9th make some noise but fell one run short, 2-1. A walk, a wild pitch, and an error set up Andrew Pinckney to collect the lone RBI. Pinckney stole second to put runners on second and third with one out. Alas, Dylan Crews struck out and Brady House lined out. The hard-luck loss went to Michael Cuevas, who let in one run while scattering eight hits over six and 2/3rds innings. He walked two and struck out three while taking his fifth loss. Roster moves: RHP Tyler Schoff placed on the 7-Day I.L.; RHP Chase Solesky assigned from Washington (MLFA, Atlantic Lg.).
Jersey Shore 5 Wilmington 4
• Young 6IP, 7H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 4K, HR, WP
• Zinn 2IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 3K
• Glasser 2-3, 2R, BB, 2B(10), E(4)
• Dugas 1-4, R, HR, RBI
A four-run 5th did in the Blue Rocks as they just couldn’t catch up, losing 5-4 to the BlueClaws. Luke Young gutted out six innings, giving up all five Jersey Shore runs on seven hits (one HR) and two walks while strking out four. Phillip Glasser reached base three times on a double, walk, and a single and scored two runs while Gavin Dugas gave Wilmington its only lead with a solo HR in the top of the 5th.
Carolina 3 Fredericksburg 1
• Polanco 5⅓ IP, 7H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 0K, HR
• Hall (L, 4-1) 2⅔ IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, IBB, 3K, WP, 2-0 IR-S
• Vaquero 2-3, BB, 2B
• Brown 2-4, CS
Fredericksburg finally got some decent pitching only to see the offense go AWOL as they lost the series opener, 3-1. Bryan Polanco pitched into the 6th for the first time this season and gave up one run seven hits (one HR). He walked three and struck out none. Bubba Hall took the loss, his first of ’24, as he was stung for two runs on three hits over two and 2/3rds innings. Christhian Vaquero walked, singled, and doubled while Marcus Brown had two safeties. The rest of the line up went 2-for-24 with two walks and a double. Roster moves: OF Nick Peoples reassigned from the FCL; LHP Dannel Diaz demoted from Wilmington; OF Tyler Baca transferred from 7-Day I.L. to 60-Day I.L.
FCL Marlins vs. FCL Nationals – PPD
Oh look. It rained in south Florida. They’ll make up the rainout when the two teams play each other again on Saturday.
DSL Giants Black 8 DSL Nationals 3
• De La Cruz 3IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 4BB, 5K, HR, HBP
• Oliveros (L, 1-1) 3⅓ IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 1BB, 2K, BK
• Cabrera 3-4, R, RBI, 2SB
• Marmolejos 2-4, 2-2B, 2K
The DSL Nationals got two in the 6th to tie it at 3-3 but the DSL Giants Black answered with three in the 7th to take the lead and two more in the 8th to put the game away, 8-3. Marlon De La Cruz went the first three but was dinged for two runs on a home run and two hits total. He walked four and struck out five. Deiver Oliveros was pushed an inning too far as he gave up a run in the 6th and three in the 7th while giving up four hits and a walk over three and a 1/3rd total. Manuel Cabrera led the D-Nats’ nine-hit parade with three singles followed by Eddy Marmolejos with two doubles.
Rutledge is tough to watch these days, pacing around the mound like a nervous nelllie, overthrowing his sinker, then hanging something that gets hit hard. other than his time with Hanrahan in A and AA he’s not been effective. not sure if that’s the reason or not but he needs to find something.
Luke Young on the other hand seems relaxed and focused while attacking hitters with his low nineties FB. he cost himself a run when he tried to get a lead runner on a sacrifice the gave up a grand slam on the next pitch.
Crews and Green both game up with the chance to put their team ahead late and both fanned on multiple fastballs.
tough night for prospect watching, go get’em tonight boys!
Well said!
I really don’t understand why the Nats burned an option to demote Riley Adams. Despite statements by Davey, he’s still being used exclusively at catcher in AAA. Meanwhile, Millas is hardly being used at all. The Nats have played 9 games since Millas and Adams swapped teams, and Millas has played in only two of those games. It should also be noted that Ruiz has started all 9 games in that same span and hit .182/.200/.273.
I really don’t understand why Ruiz’s playing time is so untouchable. I understand why he’s still in the majors, but there’s little reason to play him as much as possible while hitting .198.
And even if Rizzo & co. are still 100% convinced Ruiz is the future of the franchise, then they’d be wise to showcase Millas and/or Adams, so they can trade them for maximum value. This move just seems to have undercut Adams’ value, while doing little to benefit Millas’.
with a day game Thursday Millas will almost certainly get one of the next two. it will not be easy for him to succeed with such limited time, hopefully the long season will work in his favor because I feel he is a legit number two catcher and I haven’t given up on Ruiz.
Riley is a good kid but we’ve seen him for the better part of four seasons as has the league. he’s insurance in case of injury
It’s just a bit frustrating to me that the narrative around Adams is that he’s just not good enough with a career line with the Nats over 4 seasons of .230/.312/.398 and below average defense. While Ruiz is still spoken of as our long-term starting catcher with a career line with the Nats over 4 seasons of .250/.302/.375 and very bad defense.
People keep harping on Ruiz’s upside by citing his good 2nd half last season, where he had an .809 OPS. You know who had a .807 OPS for the entirety of the 2023 season? Riley Adams. And now Ruiz is blocking another likely superior catcher from getting a shot.
I get that Rizzo isn’t willing to cut his losses so soon after guaranteeing Ruiz $50m. But doubling down on the mistake and giving so little chance for any other player to show their value feels like such a unnecessarily self-inflicted handicap. With the DH, it should be easy to have both Ruiz and Millas get 3-5 starts per week, which would probably help both players; Millas getting some regular playing time to find a rhythm, and Ruiz getting some more days off to work on fundamentals.
I get that, who among the followers of prospects doesn’t get frustrated at times. I guess I fall back on Ruiz being the youngest of the above group as a basis for my hopes.
Fear some other team is going to get Drew Millas on the cheap, where he will thrive at the MLB level.
Ruiz has had 4 seasons to define himself as a MLB catcher, and he is a poor defensive player. Offensively, he is the king of soft contact. At this point, don’t see either changing. The preference for Ruiz is driven by the hope that he will justify the only long-term investment the Nats have made in recent years. Not going to happen.
Makes too much sense!
Gotta feel bad for Stone Garrett. After finally proving himself enough at the big league level to warrant regular playing time, he gets hurt and has completely fallen off the face of the earth. At this point,who knows if he’ll ever recover enough to have a career in baseball, let alone play in the big leagues
Stone Garrett will find playing time somewhere in some ones rebuild
For me the theme of last night was how JR had an outing Cuevas usually has and vice versa .
I will say this about the Nats their affiliates @ AAA and A sure get hammered and out foxxed by the Yanx affiliates .
Wil Nick Peoples see much playing time @ Fred ??
Every morning we see the pitching short comings in the farm system as the amateur draft creeps closer and closer in July .
Like the old days of the lotto ping pong balls during the ten o’clock news broadcast break .. who knows what arm will land in the Nats lap . The East Carolina or Wake Forest RHP? This morning the ArkansasRazerback lefty seems appealing . One never has enough lefties in the NL East
Right?
something tells me tomorrows reading will not be as gloomy. I’m not Ted Lasso but I do believe!
Agree Fred MD
Robert Hassell III placed on the 7 day IL (he did play last night). Trey Lipscomb recalled to the Nats as Joey Gallo goes on the 10 day IL.
The Nats have only 38 players on their 40 man roster. It’s assumed that one spot is being held open for Wood, whenever the Nats elect to call him up. There was an open spot for anyone in their system to get called up to replace Gallo, and at the moment, no one is playing well enough to take the open spot from Lipscomb, who has been ordinary for Rochester of late.