Harrisburg Senators - AA (2024)

[imref]

Opening Day Roster:

PITCHERS
Daison Acosta, Garvin Alston, Andrew Alvarez, Michael Cuevas, Cole Henry, Lucas Knowles, Holden Powell, Samuel Reyes, Orlando Ribalta, Dustin Saenz, Tyler Schoff, Jack Sinclair, Ty Tice, and Nash Walters.

CATCHERS
Israel Pineda and Onix Vega

INFIELDERS
JT Arruda, Jordy Barley, Jackson Cluff, Dérmis Garcia, Brady House, Yohandy Morales, and Paul Witt

OUTFIELDERS
Dylan Crews, Robert Hassell III, Andrew Pinckney, and Cody Wilson

[wj73]

Thanks, Imref. We’ll be there Opening Night this Friday. Looks like COLD weather but thankfully no rain.


I recognize about half the names - guess the others are promotions from lower levels? 


I’ll be especially interested to see Bobby Three Sticks (Hassell) when he’s not nursing a broken wrist. I also liked C Onyx Vega last year. Keeping an eye on him.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Harrisburg has about 3-5 position players with legit shots at starting in the infield or being regulars in the outfield. The staff looks like a mixed bag but less high end potential. Henry if healthy is the potential star. Beyond that, there are lesser pieces I think.

[IanRubbish]

Yo-yo has the potential to join Trey Lipscomb as one of the best non-1st round picks this org has made since MAT.  Definitely one to watch.

Agree with previous comments that there's a lot less to get excited about in the rotation.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I'd also like to see Pineda get in a healthy season and hit like he used to. I thought he was on the verge of being a major leaguer a couple of years ago.

[nobleisthyname]

I have a soft spot for players who break out in my Out of the Park Baseball sims. Pineda was often one of those so I'm hopeful he does it in real life too.

[imref]

Not quite a Tides-level performance tonight, but the top of that lineup, at least on paper, looks

Crews: 0-5, 4Ks
Hassell III: 0-3, BB, K
House: 1-3, BB, K
Morales: 1-4, 2Ks

[wj73]

Not quite a Tides-level performance tonight, but the top of that lineup, at least on paper, looks

Crews: 0-5, 4Ks
Hassell III: 0-3, BB, K
House: 1-3, BB, K
Morales: 1-4, 2Ks

Yep. I was there, freezing to death. It was 42 at game time, with a lovely dash of graupel and a cold breeze just to top it off. On the other hand, my beer stayed nice and cold through the game.


The Senators had the bases loaded twice, one time with the top of the order coming up, and nada. Not impressed with The Big Three (Crews, Hassell, & House) so far.


On the bright side, Andrew Alveraz threw 5 innings of no hit ball before being taken out.


The Senators pitchers racked up 14 Ks, with (I think) about half swinging and half called, but my brain was fairly frozen by that time so my impression could be wrong. On the other hand, Senators batters struck out 16 times, with more swinging than called in my mind.


The fireworks after the game were nice, though.

[imref]

Hope the feeling has returned to your extremities

[wj73]

Hope the feeling has returned to your extremities

A stiff rum drink after the game helped.

[imref]

Senator purchased by diamond baseball which owns about 30 teams now.

https://www.milb.com/news/0410-sens-ownership-transition

Diamond is owned by a PE firm.

[wj73]

Senator purchased by diamond baseball which owns about 30 teams now.

https://www.milb.com/news/0410-sens-ownership-transition

Diamond is owned by a PE firm.

This makes me uneasy. I hate to see it slip from local control. I’m not familiar with Diamond Baseball and what other teams they control. Time will tell, I guess.

[Slateman]

Just a corporate firm that will manage it like a real estate holding

[imref]

And now it's the Senators that have been rained out in back-to-back games.

[imref]

The big four are putting on a show tonight:

Hassell: 2-2, 2R BB
Crews: 1-2, 2B, 2R, BB,
House: 2-3, R, 2RBI,
Morales: 2-3, 2B, HR, 2R, 4RBI

Good start for Cole Henry: 3 IP, 0H, 4BB, 1K, 0R

[JCA-CrystalCity]

The big four are putting on a show tonight:

Hassell: 2-2, 2R BB
Crews: 1-2, 2B, 2R, BB,
House: 2-3, R, 2RBI,
Morales: 2-3, 2B, HR, 2R, 4RBI

Good start for Cole Henry: 3 IP, 0H, 4BB, 1K, 0R

I think the Henry BBs will continue for a while until he gets used to his shoulder.

[Slateman]

Lol, Crews was 1 for 7 today with a walk. Send this dude to Willmington

[NatsAllThe Way]

Good game today for Crews & co.

[imref]

Good game today for Crews & co.

3-4, HR. Yeah, not too shabby for a bust.

Nice game for Andrew Pickney batting lead-off. 4-5, SB.

Double for Stone!

[welch]

Crews 3-for-5 with a grand slam; Pinckney 4-for-5. H'burg wins 10 - 2

https://www.milb.com/gameday/senators-vs-curve/2024/04/14/751296/final/box

[wj73]

Article in The Athletic about Diamond Baseball and their buying spree: https://theathletic.com/5408834/2024/04/15/minor-league-baseball-team-ownership-diamond-baseball-holdings/?source=user_shared_article. “A new group is buying up minor league baseball teams at a feverish pace. What’s the end game?”

At the center of this transformation is Diamond Baseball Holdings, a three-year-old company that owns more than a quarter of all minor league clubs. From a ground-up franchise in Spartanburg, S.C., to long-established clubs in Louisville, Ky., and Lansing, Mich., to their most recent purchase of the Harrisburg Senators in Pennsylvania, Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH) now owns 32 of 120 affiliates, and its founders said they are still “aggressively in acquisition mode.”
…
The DBH portfolio has grown at a rate, and to a size, that would have been impossible five years ago. It is a byproduct of Major League Baseball’s 2020 takeover of the minor leagues, which yanked affiliated baseball out of more than 40 communities and shifted minor league control to the MLB office.
Commissioner Rob Manfred’s “One Baseball” initiative seeks to put every aspect of the game under one umbrella — that of the major league team owners — from Yankee Stadium to the Little League World Series, and all things in between.
In the middle of that plan is DBH, co-founded by former college sports licensing executive Battle and longtime minor league owner Peter Freund, and financially backed by private equity investment firm Silver Lake.
…
Beyond its ownership role, DBH has a strategic partnership with MLB to help negotiate national sponsorships and branding opportunities on behalf of all minor league franchises, and it also plays a role in consumer product licensing for all 120 teams.

So it seems that Manfred’s fingerprints are all over this, to the point where the article states that MLB actually introduced the two co-founders of D H when each had separately expressed interest in ownership consolidation of MiLB teams.

I’m still not sure what the end game is for Manfred except more control. And what is the end goal of Silver Lake, the PE firm financing all this? I’m still uneasy.

[sayhey]

Anyone know the whereabouts of Dylan Crews? He's not played in Harrisburg's last four games (including today). He was on a mini-hot streak, then whoosh, he was gone. Hurt? Traded? Retired?

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Nats don't often disclose minor league injuries right away especially if there's no IL involved.  That said:

Crews was participating in pregame workouts today though he's not yet in the lineup.

[sayhey]

Thanks. Seemed pretty fishy, a top prospect, has couple nice games, disappears... and no word why. Geez, I miss real sports reporters.

[imref]

Thanks. Seemed pretty fishy, a top prospect, has couple nice games, disappears... and no word why. Geez, I miss real sports reporters.

minor league teams generally don’t share injury updates.