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WASHINGTON – Rodney Theophile and Bryan Sanchez had the honor Tuesday as starting pitchers for the last intrasquad game for the Nationals during Instructional League in West Palm Beach, Florida.
With camp breaking Wednesday, Theophile and Sanchez were two of eight pitchers who went one inning each in a four-frame contest for the Nationals.
Theophile, 21 and from Nicaragua, pitched in 10 games with five starts in 2018 in the Gulf Coast League and posted an ERA of 10.67. He did not pitch in the minors in 2019 and was not on the original Instructional League roster in Florida.
Sanchez, 18, pitched in the Dominican Summer League in his native country in 2019 and was 1-1, 5.63 in 13 games with five starts.
Other pitchers on Tuesday were:
Mitchell Parker, Todd Peterson, Zach Brzykcy, Orlando Ribalta, Karlo Seijas, and Hernandez.
Peterson, a native of St. Petersburg, Florida, was a seventh-round pick out of LSU in 2019 and posted an ERA of 3.49 in stops between the Gulf Coast League and the New York-Penn League.
Ribalta is a 6-foot-7 right-hander from Cuba who was drafted in the 12th round last year out of Miami Dade Community College.
He threw out of the bullpen nine times in the rookie Gulf Coast League last year.
Hernandez pitched for Auburn and Hagerstown in 2019, while Seijas was in the Gulf Coast League and Auburn.
Parker was drafted in the fifth round this year out of a Texas junior college by the Nationals, while Brzykcy was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Virginia Tech as he gave up his last season of eligibility with the Hokies in Blacksburg.
Brzykcy and infielder Quade Tomlin were both signed as NDFAs by Bobby Myrick, a Washington scout based in Virginia. Tomlin was also at instructs.
Washington was originally slated to face Miami 12 times this month as playing partners in Florida.
But that didn’t happen as at least one of the games was called off due to COVID concerns in the Marlins’ camp.
The Nationals also dealt with a lot of rain this month, according to Mark Scialabba, assistant general manager, player development.
The last time the Nationals faced the Marlins was on Sunday. At least two Major League teams didn’t hold Instructional League this fall.
“I am very thankful to our ownership pushing for this camp,” Scialabba told Federal Baseball earlier this month.
“You have to give a lot of credit to the players. Most of them to a man worked their tails off to keep their development” going this year.