Rochester Red Wings
Hello. For those who don't remember me, I'm Dan Glickman. I'm a writer for Rochester, N.Y.'s local Pickin' Splinters website, where I serve as (among other things) one of its writers on the Rochester Red Wings, the AAA affiliate of your Washington Nationals. I also run the Baseball Continuum blog.
On Mondays, I'll bring you the latest on the Red Wings.
The Season So Far
Since the start of the season, this has been one of the most exciting Rochester Red Wings teams since their affiliation with the Nationals. It's seen top prospects like James Wood and Dylan Crews, a speedster in Darren Baker, minor league veterans like Travis Blankenhorn, and pitchers like DJ Herz and Jackson Rutledge. While the team hasn't always been good, it has rarely been boring. And while some players have since gone up to the big club (most recently Wood, of course), it feels as if another player is always taking their place: Crews made his AAA debut just two weeks before Wood's call-up, for example.
As far as on-the-field success, it's been a mixed bag, although largely positive. The International League has had a weird, neutered structure ever since MLB's infamous takeover of the minors, with a split-season schedule that awards the best record for each half regardless of their division. By that metric, the Red Wings were an afterthought in the first half, as Kansas City's affiliate in Omaha went 49-24 and ran away with the first-half title, 3.5 ahead of their nearest competitor and 11 games ahead of the Red Wings. However, the Red Wings did finish the first half over .500 with a 38-35 record.
This, of course, doesn't matter to the Nationals, as the ultimate goal for a farm team is to provide and prepare players for the big club. In that case, perhaps the success of the first half will depend a bit on what comes from the big player of the first half: James Wood.
Wood Was Great... Except At Home (there he was only good)
By the time you read this, James Wood will likely have debuted in the big leagues. It was a long time coming and well-deserved.
Wood, the top prospect in the Nationals system and one of the highest-rated minor league players overall (named No. 3 by MLB.com), had been one of the biggest offensive weapons for the Red Wings this season, leading the team in batting average (.353), on-base-percentage (.463), slugging (.595), OPS (1.058) and runs scored (44) while placing second in home runs (10), walks (40), and stolen bases (10). His “slash stats” of batting average, on-base, and slugging lead the entire International League. Named the International League’s MVP of the first half on June 25, his statistical excellence came despite missing several weeks with a hamstring injury suffered on May 23. However, if not for his injury, he would probably have joined the Nationals earlier.
An odd thing, though, is that Wood struggled at his home games at Innovative Field this season. Oh, sure, he hit .308 with a .400 on-base-percentage and a fine .785 OPS at home, but those weren't the utterly amazing numbers he put up on the road, where he hit .394/.516/.788! All ten of his home runs came on the road, as well, meaning there is the weird possibility that years from now, the Rochester Red Wings will have to release a bobblehead of him in a road uniform doing a home run swing.
Is this a cause for concern for the Nationals? Probably not (although Nationals Park is a bit more spacious than Innovative Field); as for one, as mentioned above, even Wood's “poor” showing in Rochester was still pretty good, just not great. Moreover, it speaks to how Wood can sometimes get hot, which sometimes happened when the Wings were away playing in other cities. Since series in the International League go six days, a player can go from boom to bust against the same opponent.
Still, an interesting factoid.
Crews Has a Charlie Hustle Mentality
Dylan Crews has only been in Rochester a bit, but he's already making a big impression. He's hitting .281 with two home runs in 11 games and 49 at-bats and has played good defense in the outfield at Innovative Field, which notably has a weird quirk in left-center where the visitor's bullpen juts out to create a bit of a triangle.
The most important thing I've noticed about him so far, though, is how he looks and how he runs. In person, he looks smaller than you'd expect, a far cry from the gigantic 6'7'' Wood. He runs like something is chasing him at all times. It calls to mind one player from the past, who admittedly wasn't active during my lifetime: Pete Rose. Rose was called “Charlie Hustle” because he seemingly always gave it his all, and despite being a bit on the shorter side (5'11'', which is Crews' listed height), he was one of the greatest players in the game.
Crews seem to have the same mentality on the basepaths, always running full speed, even on routine grounders. This may get some people worried, to be sure, about injuries. But it's certainly a good mentality to see in somebody coming up. If he cares this much about always giving his all during a AAA game in June, imagine what he may do in September or October, when an MLB team's season could be on the line.
The Biggest Game
However, the biggest game of the first half had nothing to do with Wood or Crews. It initially had little to do with the Red Wings: it was June 14, when the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders ran out defending Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole as their pitcher in a rehab start. Rochester has a huge Yankees fanbase, so the stadium was packed. What's more, the team also honored the Negro Leagues (former Red Wing and National Denard Span stopped by for a pregame discussion with a local man who had once been Satchel Paige's catcher) and had post-game fireworks, always a great incentive to come out to the ballpark.
And, boy, did they come out to the ballpark. Attendance was 13,605, the highest ever for a regularly scheduled baseball game in the stadium's history. Only an exhibition against the then-parent Baltimore Orioles in 1997 had more people.
The Red Wings struggled against Cole, and the fact that Wood was on the injured list that week deprived us of what would have been an awesome matchup. The Wings were struck out ten times by Cole in 4.1 innings of work, managing just two hits: a double in the first from shortstop Jack Dunn and a single in the fourth from Riley Adams. Adams' shot through a hole on the infield's right side brought Dunn home to score for an unearned run (he'd reached on an error) and tied it at one.
Ultimately, though, for all the attention on Cole, it ended as the Red Wings' night: good pitching and small ball ultimately gave the Red Wings a 2-1 walk-off win in the ninth, as Erick Mejia drove in Jackson Cluff with a sacrifice fly.
Ultimately, it isn't about who starts the game but who finishes it.
Other Notes:
- Joan Adon is now primarily working out of the bullpen and has shown some good stuff early on. In three games and 3.2 innings out of the pen in late June, he's allowed just one hit and has yet to allow an earned run.
- Darren Baker's 26 stolen bases are tied for second in the league.
- Rico Garcia has been almost the unquestionable closer for the Wings during the season, recording 12 saves (second-best in the league) in 13 opportunities.
- Due to a Minor League rule that every team needs to be home either July 3rd or July 4th, the Red Wings have a split schedule this week: they'll open the week with three games in Buffalo (Toronto affiliate) before hosting the Bisons for three from Thursday through Saturday.
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