To make room on the roster for tomorrow night's starter, Ross Ohlendorf, the Washington Nationals optioned left-hander Ian Krol to Triple-A Syracuse tonight, ending for now a sort-of out-of-nowhere run by the 22-year-old reliever acquired by the Nationals in the Michael Morse deal with Seattle and Oakland this winter. Krol, according to Davey Johnson, will be back up in September. After posting a 2.37 ERA and holding opposing hitters to a .217/.257/.333 line over his first 19 IP at the major league level, Krol struggled some in August, posting a 6.00 ERA in 6 IP in which opponents had a .304/.385/.739 line.
Krol, an A's '09 7th Round pick, came to the Nats along with RHPs Blake Treinen and A.J. Cole in the deal that sent Morse to the Mariners and John Jaso to the Athletics. He was called up to the Nationals from Double-A Harrisburg, so he'll be pitching at Triple-A for the first time when he makes his first appearance with the Syracuse Chiefs.
Ross Ohlendorf went on the DL with right shoulder inflammation after an abbreviated relief outing late last month in Detroit that followed a 114-pitch outing in his second start of the year for the Nationals. The 31-year-old right-hander is (2-0) in ten games and two starts for Washington with a 1.85 ERA, a 2.90 FIP, nine walks (2.38 BB/9) and 29 Ks (7.68 K/9) in 34 IP.
Davey Johnson announced tonight's move when he talked to reporters after the Nationals' 4-2 win over the Cubs. "Ian [Krol] was sent out to make room for [Ross] Ohlendorf," Johnson said, though he was not necessarily happy about losing the second left-hander in his pen.
"He's got a great future," the Nats' skipper said. "He's going to be back in ten days when we expand rosters. I hate to [lose] him because he's still learning up here, but he's got a heck of a future."
"When we picked up another player," Johnson explained, referring to the acquisition of David DeJesus from the Cubs, "it was going to be -- we were going to use [Roger] Bernadina's spot for Ohlendorf, [but] since we picked up another player, it became, we had to [do] something with the pitching staff. So, he was the guy.
"And he's going to Syracuse, and he's still learning. It will help him to get in a bunch of games and work on a few things. But he'll be back, he's got a heck of a future here."
As for working with just one left for the next ten days? "I'm not real comfortable with it," the 70-year-old manager admitted, "but it's the best thing for right now. We've got some other things with some players who need to get some playing time and make some judgements on them."
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