Washington Nationals' MiLB 3 Stars of the Night - Thursday 09/19/2024
The Washington Nationals' 3 Stars of the Night in the Minor Leagues is a morning digest and quick hit recap of the organization's standout minor leaguers from the night before across all levels, brought to you by Bennett Lehmann.
Before they were leading the Washington Nationals back to the promised land in the big leagues, guys like Dylan Crews, James Wood, and others were once grinding through the team's minor league system waiting to get their opportunity in the show. As the 2024 season nears a close, I will continue seeking to provide daily Minor League updates by taking a page out of hockey's playbook, and award the 3 Stars of the Night for Nats minor leaguers that aren't with the big league club. This is an attempt to shine a spotlight on 3 future Nats who happen to have big time performances the night before, in hopes to give them a bit of limelight and exposure that they wouldn't normally get to experience.
In case you are unfamiliar with hockey's concept of the 3 Stars of the Game, according to Wikipedia: "The three stars in ice hockey are the three best players in a game, with the "first star" considered the best of the three players, akin to the player of the match in other sports. Media representatives of the home team choose the three stars, who are usually the top point scorers or outstanding goaltenders from either team."
For the last few days of this daily series, the article is solely going to feature players from the Rochester Red Wings, as every other MiLB affiliate within the Nats organization has now completed their season. While the big league Nats go at it with the Chicago Cubs this weekend, the Red Wings will be playing the AAA Iowa Cubs for the finale of the MiLB regular season, so perhaps the players featured in this series on both sides will be the future of both organizations at the big league level one day. On Thursday, the Red Wings won 4-3, while the big league Nats lost 7-6.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Third Star of the Night: OF Robert Hassell III - WSH #13 Prospect
The Third Star of the Night on Thursday goes to Robert Hassell III, who finished the game 2/4 with a pair of singles and a stolen base, and accounted for 2/6 of the total hits in the game for the Red Wings. The adjustment to AAA pitching has proved to be a bit of a challenge thus far for Hassell, but with his 2-hit performance today was able to raise his average in AAA to .157, however, with only 51 at-bats under his belt with the Red Wings, there is no need for panic yet. As I've said about Hassell before, he has a chance to make it to the majors at some point next season.
⭐️⭐️ Second Star of the Night: 1B Joey Meneses
Thursday's Second Star of the Night goes to Joey Meneses. I will be brief on Joey as we all know what he is at this point and his overall outlook in the organization doesn't appear to be too promising at this point. However, on Thursday night, he put together a 2/4 performance that included a solo homer, his 9th in just 48 games at the MiLB level. It will be intriguing to see how the organization handles Meneses going into this offseason, whether they keep him around for depth or clear his presence altogether to make room for younger talent. Only time will tell.
⭐️ First Star of the Night: SS Jackson Cluff
For the second consecutive night, Jackson Cluff finds himself within my 3 Stars of the Night, this time finishing as my First Star. Although he didn't have two hits like Hassell and Meneses, Cluff homered for the second straight game, finishing 1/3 with that homer, a walk, and his 19th stolen base of the season. As I stated yesterday, Cluff is already 27-years-old and might not have the brighest outlook in terms of making the show, but it's always good to see depth pieces doing good things on the farm.
Which of these 3 players are you most excited to see in Washington one day? Do you think I missed someone more deserving? As always please let me know your thoughts on X,@DCBerk.
All stats in this article were provided by MiLB.com and MLB.com.