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Wednesday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Pitching Probables
Rochester Won, 4-3 vs. Lehigh Valley, 6:05 p.m. Luckham (AAA Debut) vs. Abel (2-7, 6.88)
Harrisburg Lost, 5-4 @ Hartford, 7:10 p.m. Cuevas (3-9, 5.87) vs. Dollander (AA debut)
Wilmington Won, 5-4 vs. Hudson Valley, 11:05 a.m. Shuman (0-0, 3.48) vs. Sellers (6-2, 2.94)
Fredericksburg Won, 3-0
(6 inn.)		 vs. Delmarva, 7:05 p.m. Polanco (7-2, 2.81) vs. Weatherly (1-3, 2.33)
FCL Nationals Won, 4-1 vs. FCL Astros, 10 a.m.
DSL Nationals Lost, 3-1 OFF DAY

Rochester 4 Lehigh Valley 3
• Lord 5IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 4K,
• R. Garcia (W, 5-2) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 2K
• Blankenhorn 2-4, HR(20), 2RBI
• Call 2-3, BB, 2B(10)

The Red Wings singled twice with two out to walk off the Iron Pigs, 4-3 and end a four-game losing streak. Brad Lord turned in five innings of two-run ball in his fifth AAA outing, allowing six hits and one walk while striking out four. Joey Meneses doubled to lead off the 9th and gave way to pinch-runner Erick Mejia, who came around to score on Jake Alu’s RBI single. After Jack Dunn reached on a fielder’s choice, Darren Baker moved him up with a two-out single, and Dylan Crews plated him for the gamewinner. Rico Garcia got the “W,” his fifth of the season. Roster moves: RHP Eduardo Salazar optioned from Washington; LHP D.J. Herz recalled to Washington; UT Jake Alu activated from the 7-Day I.L.

Hartford 5 Harrisburg 4
• Theophile 5⅓ IP, 6H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 5K, 2WP
• Brzykcy (H, 1) ⅔ IP, 1H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 1K, BK
• Powell (BS, 2; L, 4-2) 1⅓ IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, HR(GS), 3-3 IR-S
• Witt 2-4, 2B
• Pineda 2-4, 2B
• De La Rosa 2-5, 2B

Hartford turned a 4-1 deficit into 5-4 lead with a grand slam off Holden Powell in the 7th and held on to derail Harrisburg in the opener. The “assist” goes to Zach Brzkycy for loading the bases with two walks and a single ahead of Powell’s entrance to the game. The meltdown spoiled another strong start from Rodney Theophile, who pitched into the sixth with one run let in on six hits and two walks and struck out five. The Senators marched to a 14-hit parade, with Paul Witt, Israel Pineda, and Jeremy De La Rosa each getting a single and a double. Three of those hits came in 14 RISP chances as Harrisburg left 10 runners on base. Roster moves: OF Jeremy De La Rosa promoted from Wilmington; C Onix Vega placed on the 7-Day I.L.

Wilmington 5 Hudson Valley 4
• Cornelio 6IP, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 7K, 2HR
• Huff (W, 3-0) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Cronin (SV, 6) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• White 3-4, R, HR, 2RBI
• M. Romero 3-4, R, 2RBI
• Glasser 2-4, R, CS

The Blue Rocks stuck to the night’s script of late-inning scoring and rallied for two in the 6th and three in the 8th to take the opener, 5-4 and push their win streak to three games. Riley Cornelio gave up three runs on two homers and three hits total over six innings for the quality start. The win went to Chance Huff, who struck out the side in the 8th while Matt Cronin tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save. T.J. White and Max Romero both went 3-for-4 with two RBI while Phillip Glasser singled twice and scored once to pace the Wilmington offense. Roster moves: SS Marcus Brown reassigned from Fredericksburg.




Fredericksburg 3 Delmarva 0 (6 inn.)
• Sthele (W, 5-6) 6IP, 2H, 0R, 3BB, 5K
• Cooper 1-2, 2B
• Cox 1-2, BB

Fredericksburg got three in the 1st and six scoreless from Travis “Sunday” Sthele in a 3-0 rain-shortened game. Sthele allowed two hits and three walks while striking out five as he won his fourth straight non-Sunday start. The FredNats tallied six hits, with Everett Cooper collecting the sole extra-base hit (double) and Brenner Cox drawing the only walk to go along with his single to lead off the game.

FCL Nationals 4 FCL Marlins 1
• B. Romero 3IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 3K
• Tepper (W, 1-0) 3IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Tavares 1-2, R, 2BB, 2B, RBI
• K. Diaz 1-2, R, 2BB, SB

The F-Nats led this one from wire-to-wire as they hooked the F-Marlins, 4-1. Brayan Romero tossed three scoreless to start with one hit and three whiffs. The win went to Mikey Tepper, who allowed no runs and two baserunners over the next three frames. Carlos Tavares and Kelvin Diaz both reached base three times with two walks, a single for Diaz, and a double for Tavares.

DSL Blue Jays 3 DSL Nationals 1
• M. De La Cruz (L, 1-4) 4⅓ IP, 2H, 3R, 3ER, 7BB, 3K, HBP, WP
• Lunar 2⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 1K, 2-2 IR-S
• Hurtado 1-3, BB
• Requena 1-3, R, 3B, SB

The DSL Blue Jays got two in the 5th to break a 1-1 tie and held off the DSL Nationals for the 3-1 win. Marlon De La Cruz lost for the fourth time, giving all three D-Jays runs on two hits and seven walks over four and a 1/3rd innings. The D-Nat managed three hits and three walks, with Victor Hurtado notching one of each while Angel Requena tripled and scored the only run for the DSL Nationals.

24 Commments

  1. I really don’t get de la Rosa’s promotion. He was batting .167/.224/.378 in Wilmington, with a strikeout rate of 33%. To make matters worse, Harrisburg’s bats are awful, but their OF isn’t so awful. Pinckney and Lile (both CF capable) are both better prospects than de la Rosa, and are doing fine at the plate. The other OF spot has been shared between mostly Trey Harris and Cody Wilson.

    Their infield, however, has been dreadful. Their starting 3B, Witt, is batting .208, their starting SS, Made, is batting .091. Their starting 2B, Arruda, is batting .218 and their starting 1B, Garcia, is batting .186. You know who can play RF, LF, 3B, SS, 2B and 1B, and be an instant upgrade on any of the incumbents there? No, not Jeremy de la Rosa. Phillip Glasser, who’s currently batting .308 in Wilmington, a mere .141 points higher than de la Rosa.

      1. There have been some unexpected developments with a few pitching prospects at the upper levels advancing that walking back to February wish ful thinking none of us would guess
        Luke you have a picture of Jerry McGuire screaming Show me the money for all this bonus slot $$$ talk and signing reality ??

        1. There is the shift in scouting emphasis
          Sayanora, Sammy ! Reminds us how this last draft went for versatile good contact hitters vs oozing potential athletic skills but coming with holes in the hit tools.

      2. Seth Shuman probably just tossed his last pitch at High A.
        Pack your bag for Burg , Seth!

    2. if Onix hadn’t gone on the dl, probably no one would have been promoted. Going thru my team sets I do know that de la rosa repeated both low a and high a. wasn’t he a high international sign, did they spend a lot of money on him

  2. Whoever convinced the Nats to move Sthele off of Sundays should be given a raise. Sthele has now avoided Sundays in his past 4 starts, and you know what? He’s won every single of those games. In those 4 winning starts, he’s sporting a miniscule 1.29 ERA (compared to 7.93 in the 12 starts before then).

    The stats suggest there’s a healthy dose of luck: .167 BABIP, 10 BB and only 15 K in 21 IP, but it’s still a huge amount of progress on his disastrous start to the season.

    There’s some sort of joke here about god wanting Sthele to rest on Sundays.

    1. Sunday’s sometimes means a tough opponent on the mound with these 5 day series .

  3. Last post, I promise. Is there any timetable for Cayden Wallace’s return from injury?

  4. Brad Lord looks impressive. DJ Herz has had a nice start as a 5th starter, but Lord might be knocking on the door soon.

    1. Hoping to see Lomavita, King and Bazzell with the Frednats sooner rather than later. Not a whole lot standing in their way in Fredericksburg outside of maybe Nate Rombach at catcher (who has been decent). Maybe Lomavita goes straight to Wilmington? Bonus baby Armando Cruz has basically hit himself into non-prospect status at this point, so there’s no reason Seaver would be blocked from playing SS full time. If the org still wants Cruz to get PT he can easily play 2B and move Everett Cooper into a super UTL role.

      1. FWIW, last year for the Nats’ first 3 position player picks in the 2023 draft (Crews/Moralas/Pinckney), each started off with a game or two in the FCL. Then, each was promoted to the FredNats, but only for a few weeks. Then, Pinckney, Morales and Crews ended playing at Wilmington and Harrisburg in 2023. So, if the Nats use a similar track for King, Lomavita and Bazzel would expect each to play a few games in the FCL before moving to F-burg, and maybe higher before season’s end.

      2. Chris , funny you mention Cruz as Sammy I released .
        Pink slips being handed out as draftees report for ORG in-doc .

  7. 4th rounder Jackson Kent signed for $625,000.

    5 players left — Lomavita, Dickerson, and the 14th, 15th and 20th rounders.

    1. Also reported that Sam Petersen signed for slot ($230k), who was a player that could have commanded above slot money.

  8. According to Nationals Arms Race, those signings would put the Nats current class at $1.3 million+ under slot, meaning in addition to the slot bonus money ($2.4 million for Lomavita; $2.12 for Dickerson, $150K for the 14th, 15th and 20th round picks), the Nats have an additonal $1.3 million to sprinkle to lure in the final 5 unsigned picks.

    1. Wow…that’s terrible. To think how much they were talking him up after he was drafted – and he was a high pick to boot.

      Till this day i still don’t know how Kline was still left in charge of the draft for all this years until this one. And to know he is somehow still employed by the org. In another capacity is mind boggling

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