Monday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Won, 12-8 | @ Buffalo, 6:35 p.m. | Lord (1-0, 3.60) vs. |
| Harrisburg | Lost, 2-0 | vs. Altoona, 7 p.m. | Luckham (3-5, 4.14) vs. Fellows (2-1, 3.18) |
| Wilmington | Postponed | vs. Jersey Shore, 6:35 p.m. | Cornelio (5-6, 5.07) vs. Fausnaught (6-1, 3.53) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 2-1 | vs. Delmarva, 7:05 p.m. | D. Diaz (0-0, 4.05) vs. Gibson (1-4, 3.19) |
| FCL Nationals | OFF DAY | OFF DAY | |
| DSL Nationals | OFF DAY | @ DSL Rockies, 11 a.m. |
Rochester 12 Indianapolis 8
• Gray 3IP, 6H, 7R, 7ER, 1BB, 1K, 2HR, HBP
• Adon (W, 4-5) 1⅔ IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Yepez 3-4, 2R, BB, 2B(15), 2RBI
• Cluff 2-2, R, 3B, HR(5), 5RBI
• Crews 2-5, 2R, BB, 2K
• Adams 1-3, 2R, BB, HR, RBI
Rochester put the hurt on Indianapolis, scoring eight unanswered runs to turn an 8-4 deficit into a 12-8 win to take the series, 5-1. Josiah Gray was pummeled for seven runs on six hits (two HR) amd a walk in just three innings pitched. Joan Adon was credited with the win as the most effective reliever, retiring five in the 7th and 8th innings – three by way of the K. Juan Yepez walked, doubled, singled twice, and drove in two while Jackson Cluff drove in five with a two-run triple, a two-run homer, and a bases-loaded walk to power the Red Wings attack.
Erie 2 Harrisburg 0
• Theophile (L, 0-1) 5IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 3K, HR
• Tice 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Arruda 1-4, 2B
• Pinckney 1-4
The Senators were shut out for the second time this series and seventh time this season, as they dropped their fifth straight to Erie, 2-0. It was probably a familiar feeling for Rodney Theophile as his teammates gave him no run support to turn five innings of two-run ball into his first AA loss. J.T. Arruda broke up the no-hitter with a double in the 6th while Andrew Pinckney singled in the 8th and was the fifth and final Harrisburg runner to get into scoring position as he watched Arruda strike out to end the inning.
Wilmington vs. Hudson Valley – PPD
The finale between Wilmington and Hudson Valley was washed away by rain. They’ll make it up on August 22 when the Blue Rocks return to upstate New York for Games 25-30 vs. the Renegades this season.
Fredericksburg 2 Salem 1
• Polanco 6IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 7K
• Baldo 1IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 0K
• Brown 1-4, RBI, SB
• Infante 1-4, RBI, IF assist @ HP
The Red Sox were not content to load the bases with two out in the 9th and down 2-1. Instead, they tried to score from second on an infield single. While the hard-hit ball did take Sammy Infante’s glove off, it only dribbled a few feet away as the 23-y.o. picked it up in the grass just behind second base and threw out the runner by 10′ to end the game. That preserved Bryan Polanco’s six shutout innings for his sixth win and gave Merrick Baldo his fourth save. The FredNats only managed four singles but Marcus Brown and Infante were the “2” in the 2-for-8 RISP mark as Fredericksburg took the series, 4-2.
FCL Nationals, 17-21, 3rd Place FCL East, 11GB
The FCL Nationals won three of five but trail the FCL Marlins by 11 games with three and a half weeks to play. It’s another Monday off, then road trips to Port St. Lucie on Wednesday to play the F-Mets, Jupiter on Thursday to play the F-Cards, then back home to West Palm Beach to host them in reverse order on Friday and Saturday.
DSL Nationals, 8-11, 6th place DSL Central, 7½ GB
The D-Nats won just once last week to fall two games further back while remaining in 6th place. While the offense is averaging 5.00 R/G that’s below the league average of 5.67 R/G. However, the pitching is also giving up less than the league average at 5.39 R/G. As noted in the comments, second-year player Dashyll Tejeda is the team’s breakout star on offense with a Soto-esque slash of .373/.456/.610 but with more speed (22SB in 18G). On the mound, that honor goes to Jose Feliz, who is winless in four starts but has an 0.53 ERA and a 0.65 WHIP in 18IP thus far.
Didn’t get a chance yesterday to congratulate Elijah Green on his good game on Saturday. Others noted the insane distances of the HRs, but what was missed is that he also ended his 29 game strikeout streak (just his 5th in 62 games this season). It’s a doubly fatal combo of failing to regularly make contact (the Ks) and then in the rare instances of when he does it being poor quality contact (almost no power). Hope Saturday’s game was a sign that something, even very minor, has begun to click!
That’s a highly worrying outing from Gray. In fact his whole rehab has been a bit of a worry. He’s not missing many bats (14 K in 21 IP), and still serving up meatballs (4 HR in 21 IP). The Nats can squeeze in one more rehab start before Gray’s 30 day rehab period expires and a more serious decision has to be made.
Who would’ve guessed a year ago that Gray might find himself out of the rotation? Gore, Irvin and Parker have locked down spots, which leaves a bit of a free for all among Gray, Corbin, Cavalli, Herz and Williams (if he ever returns to a Nats uniform) for the remainder of the season.
the Adon bullpen conversion took another step as he was summoned in the middle of an inning, albeit with no one on base. my thoughts have been starter or bust for him so hopefully he proves me wrong.
good to see consistent contact from Crews, he’s now The Man for the Wings with Wood off to the bigs. an increase in his walk rate would be nice.
Just wanted to return to an earlier discussion about Jacob Young.
How did everyone get his defense so, so wrong? All the scouting reports said he had no chance of sticking in CF, and his bat wouldn’t be good enough to carry him in the corner. Well, now with 105 games of evidence, we know those scouts were full of crap. Young isn’t just good enough to stick in centerfield. He’s literally the second best defensive centerfielder in baseball. No, scratch that, he’s the 2nd most valuable defender in all of baseball, regardless of position! Carried by that elite defense, it makes him our 3rd most valuable player according to both bWAR and fWAR.
He looks like Michael A. Taylor, if Taylor didn’t have massive contact issues. Or the idea of Victor Robles (but not the actual physical manifestation of Robles; that was a different thing).
With Wood’s debut only hours away, Young’s incredible rise raises some interesting questions and causes some “good problems”, as Young was never meant to be a piece of the Nats next-great-outfield. Wood, too, is meant to be a good defensive CF, but with the number of eyes on him in the minors, we’d know if he was possibly best-defender-in-baseball levels that Young is seemingly. So that relegates him to one of the corners, presumably LF, as Lane Thomas’ arm plays well in RF. But with Crews holding his own in AAA, where does he hit in come September or April 2025? It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out. Looking forward to tonight!
Part of the explanation with Young is that he was sort of a player without a position in college. He played 2B his first season at Florida, mostly in RF his second, and mostly in LF in his third. He also didn’t run that much, with an SB high of only 13. So on paper, he looked like a power-limited corner OF with only moderate speed. He then stole 52 bases in his first full pro season and the narrative changed. He also got a chance in CF that he hadn’t been afforded in college. By the end of his second full pro season he was in the majors.
While Young has been a pleasant surprise overall, and his defense is stellar, his replacement-level 93 wRC+ isn’t going to keep him in the lineup over someone like Crews, or over Thomas if Thomas doesn’t get traded. The Nats sure seem committed to Crews playing CF, so we’ll have to wait and see how things shake out.
Young was also forced to split time in center because the Nats had several more highly touted OF prospects, most of whom were CF-capable.
So a projection algorithm, or a scout that’s watching but not really focussed on a 7th round pick ranked by none of major prospect evaluators, sees Young playing some center and assumes even a good play is just part of a competent and not elite overall defensive package. Plus is arm is just average, and that’s tool the scouts are probably looking at and willing to generalize from a small sample size. You’d really need to be watching him make those plays day in and day out to know what you were seeing and believe his range. Or have access to the underlying statcast metrics.
I’m really hoping the team can find a good offer for Lane (unless, I guess, they really think Crews won’t be ready soon). It would be hard to bench Thomas or shift him to DH midseason since he’s a veteran leader on the team and all three better OFs would be rookies, but by 2025 it really should be Wood-Young-Crews, even if Young never improves his offense from here. That OF would be incredible.
Really good observation about Young.
His defense is elite to that point that a team with a deep lineup can win with him as a average (or slightly below average) defensive player. The Nats have played Wood exclusively in LF recently; think part of that is because Young has been a dominant defensive player.
Will be interesting to see how the Nats play it before the trade deadline. If they think that the 2025 OF will be Wood-Young-Crews, the only way to get max value out of Lane Thomas is trade him before August 1 as he remains under team control for only one more full season. If the Nats believe Young is more of a future 4th OF, then they keep Thomas and thinking that their 2025 OF is Wood-Crews-Thomas.
Big decisions over the next few weeks.
Polanco had the Sox chasing his slider all day long. he was not even behind in the count for the first five innings. while not a hot prospect by any means you have to give him his props for a solid first half.
Merry Wood-mas everyone!