Some notes from Potomac's first game tonight:
- Arnesen did his thing and was battling through at-bats with the hitters. He had problems with putting away batters when he was ahead in the count. Even though he had 5 strikeouts, he could have had many more and instead let the batter come back and grab a single, double, or even walk. It looks like he will be the so called "ace" of the team this season.
- Chris Marrero... what can I say. He had a great statistical night, but he did a lot more than is written. As of his 4th inning at-bat, Salem's pitcher, Eammon Portice, was rolling over our line up and at a quick pace. Espinosa was the first one to crack a hit off Portice in the 4th, but then Burgess followed up with a walk. Unfortunately, the next batter, Stephen King, struck out with his bat on his shoulder to give bring Marrero up with two outs and two runners in scoring position. Marrero's at-bat that followed was the key at-bat of the game. He took a ball in the dirt for ball one and then took two strikes looking for a 1-2 count. At this point, he was basically down to his last strike in what seemed like it would be Potomac's only hope to score in the game. He then fouled off two balls to stay alive in the count. And finally, on the sixth pitch of the at-bat, he cleared the bases with a double. Turning point in the game, no doubt.
- Speaking of Marrero. I dogged him for his defense last night, but he really came through tonight. He snagged a line drive ball down the foul line, managed to keep the ball in fair play and tag first base, where a runner had been present, for the unassisted double play.
- Burgess. Almost every pitcher will pitch around Burgess. He will get a lot of balls in the inside and he sees a majority of breaking balls. The problem is that he can't hit breaking balls. It seems like the only time he can get a hit/home run, is when the pitcher is dumb enough to send him a fastball. Hopefully he can't start hitting some breaking balls, otherwise it could become a major roadblock for his path to the majors.
- Dan Nelson has had good nights the past two games, both offensively and defensively. Danny Espinosa had an absolutely great game and has one of the hands down, best eyes in our system. He can take pitchers deep in the count, but he isn't afraid to swing at an early one that he likes. He also is hungry for the stolen bases, but he did get thrown out today.
- Stephen King should not be batting fourth, Jewett needs to wake up and move Marrero third.
- Andrew Kown came in for the final innings. He is a career minor leaguer and he will be used in garbage time/clean up time mostly this year.
