At The Ballpark - Harrisburg Senators

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On May 20th the Harrisburg Senators, the AA Nationals affiliate, came to town to play the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Since the Senators are in a different division than the Squirrels, I jumped at the chance to see them. My husband and I were able to snag 3rd row seats, just to the left of the Squirrels dugout.

If you are in the Richmond area, you need to catch a game at The Diamond. There is not a bad seat in the house. Our seats were only $14 dollars! There are also a few great local breweries within walking distance of the stadium. You can also snag a local craft brew at the park. Check out the Chin Music beer brewed by ex-MLB pitcher Chris Ray from Center of the Universe Brewing. Food-wise, you have your traditional ballpark fare however there are a few new options this year. There is a seafood restaurant, Latitude Seafood Company and a new burger place. The Burger Cart has a PB&J Bacon Burger, Quesadilla Burger, and a Brunch Burger.

The Squirrels took an early lead in the bottom of the first inning when starting pitcher John Simms, attempted a pick off of Myles Schroder, which allowed him to move to second. He later scored with a single up the middle by Chris Shaw. Just a quick tangent on Shaw, I think he has the makings of a big leaguer. He has plenty of power (already has five home runs this year!) and is currently batting .304/.397/.504. He will have to work on his plate discipline as strike outs will always be an issue for him.

Chris Shaw in the box! #giants @Prospects1500 pic.twitter.com/8DqezR9dYc

— Shelly Sclater (@tnyfn20) May 20, 2017

Things turned around in the third inning. Khayyan Norfolk got a base hit past Squirrels first baseman Ryan Lollis and starter Matt Gage walked Alec Keller. Then Jose Marmolejos stepped to the plate.

Jose Marmolejos tater to RF! #nationals @Prospects1500 pic.twitter.com/VJ9p2eAXtE

— Shelly Sclater (@tnyfn20) May 20, 2017

Marmolejos, on the first pitch and wind blowing in, hit a three run home run, which was his first of the year. I have written previously about Marmolejos. He was the Nationals minor league player of the year but did not start the season on time due to an arm injury. He returned to the Senators lineup on May 12th he is currently hitting .310/.355/.517 Definitely a guy to keep an eye on.
Prospects1500 note: 2 days later on May 22 Marmolejos went 5-6 with HR, 5 RBI and earned a mention in the Baseball Prospectus Minor League Update

Overall it was a great night and a great game where the Senators hung on to win 5-3. I was hoping to catch Erick Fedde in his new role of working out of the pen but no such luck.

Article featured image of Jose Marmolejos – courtesy MLBPipeline.com/Nationals

Shelly Verougstraete

Shelly Verougstraete is the Nationals writer here at Prospects1500. Even as a diehard Red Sox fan, and author of sabermetric based Red Sox blog greenmonsterbb.wordpress.com, the goal here is to keep you up to date with all the happenings down on the Nats farm. Shelly lives in Virginia and has many minor league parks (A to AA) close by. Let's Go Nats!