Washington Nationals minors: Verrett, Troop have impressive performances

WASHINGTON – Logan Verrett and Alex Troop are certainly not the first names that come to mind when thinking pitchers who could help the Nationals at some point this season.

But the two hurlers fared well in their last starts down on the farm.

Verrett, a third-round pick of the Mets out of Baylor, had his longest outing of the season as he went seven innings on Sunday for Triple-A Rochester.

He allowed just one run on two hits with two walks and six strikeouts in a 2-1 win over Syracuse, the top farm club for New York.

That gave him a record of 4-5 with an ERA of 4.62 this season for the Red Wings; he has registered at least six strikeouts in his past five starts.

The native of Texas, who turned 32 in June, made his Major League debut in 2015 and pitched for the Orioles in 2017.

In games through Sunday, he had the fourth-best WHIP among qualified pitchers in the minors for Washington.

Troop, a lefty, went six innings for Double-A Harrisburg on Sunday in an 8-5 win over Akron.

He had eight strikeouts for the second time this year and lowered his ERA to 2.98 while improving to 5-1 on the season.

Troop, 25, was a ninth-round pick out of Michigan State by the Nationals in 2017.

He has appeared in 17 games with six starts this season for Harrisburg.

Another pitcher with the Senators is right-hander Zach Brzykcy, a non-drafted free agent out of Virginia Tech in 2020.

He began the year with Single-A Wilmington before he was bumped up to City Island in Harrisburg.

In games through Sunday, he led pitchers in the minors with Washington with seven wins and was third in saves with seven.

The native of North Carolina was 7-1 with an ERA of 1.16 in games through Wednesday with a WHIP of 0.87.

“I know their development speaks to my pitching style,” Brzykcy told Federal Baseball of the Nationals’ minor league development program when he signed.