Padres Press Clips Friday, June 2, 2017

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1 Padres Press Clips Friday, June 2, 2017 Article Source Author Page Pirela's hits 13th homer not enough for El Paso UT San Diego Sanders 2 That time the Padres drafted Brendan McKay UT San Diego Sanders 3 Padres press snooze when it comes to wellness MLB.com Cassavell 5 Young Padres leading team during hot stretch MLB.com/Padres Center 6 First-place Rockies visit last-place Padres Yahoo! Sports Stats 8 Padres On Deck: Urías, Allen Repeat on Padres Friar Wire Center 9 Player of Week Lineup Padres On Deck: Single-A SS Javier Guerra Extends Friar Wire Center 11 Hitting Streak to 8 Games 1

2 Pirela's hits 13th homer not enough for El Paso BY: JEFF SANDERS San Diego Union Tribune Jose Pirela continued his assault on the Pacific Coast League on Thursday night. It was not enough to lift Triple-A El Paso to a win. The 27-year-old outfielder hit his career-best 13th homer and drove in three runs, but Chihuahuas pitchers served up allowed 17 hits in a loss to visiting Salt Lake. Pirela finished with three hits, lifting his average to.337, good for 10th in the league. His 13 homers are two shy of the league s leader. Christian Villanueva (.308) also finished with three hits and two RBIs, Carlos Asuaje (.235) drove in two runs and Rafael Ortega (.319), Diego Goris (.286) and Rocky Gale (.258) each had two hits. Right-hander Tyrell Jenkins (4-5, 6.51) allowed 10 runs nine earned on nine hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings in the start. El Paso fell to DOUBLE-A SAN ANTONIO (30-23) Tulsa 5, Missions 4 (11): RHP Cesar Vargas (1-2, 3.03) allowed a run over the final 1 2/3 innings after RHP Enyel De Los Santos (4.88) struck out six and allowed a run on four hits and no walks in six innings in the start. SS Jose Rondon (.254) went 2-for-5 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a steal and 2B Luis Urias (.342) went 1-for-4 with two walks, a run scored and his fifth steal. HIGH SINGLE-A LAKE ELSINORE (26-28) Storm 5, San Jose 3: Run-scoring singles from 3B Ruddy Giron (.226) and LF Edwin Moreno (.263) in the ninth inning provided the different. CF Michael Gettys (.251) went 2-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored and C Austin Allen (.261) doubled twice and knocked in a run. SS Javier Guerra (.215) struck out four times to snap an eight-game hitting streak. RHP Colby Blueberg (5-2, 1.91) struck out three over two scoreless innings in relief for the win after RHP Jacob Nix (4.09) allowed three runs on eight hits and a walk in six innings in the start. LOW SINGLE-A FORT WAYNE (18-36) Bowling Green 11, TinCaps 4: RHP Hansel Rodriguez (1-6, 5.64) allowed six runs five earned on three hits and five walks in five innings and RHP Jim McDade (4.32) allowed five runs four earned in two innings. 3B Hudson Potts (.235) drove in two runs on his third homer and 1B Brad Zunica (.207) went 2-for-3 with his seventh homer, two RBIs and a walk. Transaction 2

3 OF Buddy Reed was reinstated from Fort Wayne s disabled list. To make room, UT Tyler Selesky was transferred to extended spring training. That time the Padres drafted Brendan McKay BY: JEFF SANDERS San Diego Union Tribune Any baseball draft class is littered with more misses than hits. It s the nature of the game. Some prospects out-perform their slot. More of them flop. A few slip through a club s fingers, some of them with much longer odds of signing than others. That was certainly the case in 2014 when the Padres drafted Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel in the 28th round as a shortstop, a PR stunt that was at best a blindfolded shot in the dark, and Stanfordcommitted catcher Bryce Carter in the 40th round. Halfway between those picks, in the 34th round, the Padres selected a high school left-hander from Beaver Falls, Pa. They were willing to offer him third-round money, on the higher end of that round s $400,000-$1 million range. They believed that they had a chance to add him to their talent-starved system. In the end, Brendan McKay chose a full scholarship to Louisville. Today, the 21-year-old two-way phenom is a contender to go No. 1 overall in the amateur draft this month and is unlikely to slip to the Padres at No. 3. We did a great job of identifying Brendan maybe a little bit before the industry got going on him, said former Padres scouting director Billy Gasparino, now with the Dodgers. We liked the body, the arm action, the delivery and the curveball. We felt like there was more to come. We tried hard. We had several guys cross-check him. We made a pretty sizable offer. To the family s credit, they were very good to deal with. They just really wanted him to go to school, and it s worked out great for them. The we Gasparino refers to includes Tom Burns, then a Padres area scout, and current scouting director Mark Conner, the club s regional cross-checker at the time. They led the way in evaluating McKay, whom they scouted as a pitcher first in the spring of With 17 homers at the plate and 124 strikeouts in 91 innings on the mound as a junior at Louisville, the 6-foot-1 McKay has since become one of college baseball s most intriguing two-way prospects in recent memory. We thought he d develop into a first-rounder, without question, Conner said recently. Based on his skill set then, he s gotten stronger. He s added some velocity on the mound. We saw him more as a pitcher at the time, but he definitely had a good swing like he has now. Not a lot has changed except for 3

4 the natural strength progression and the consistency of him barreling up a baseball as a hitter and adding velocity. So what would it have taken to sign McKay back then? Probably $1 million, one source said. The Padres could have done it, too, with a little manipulation of their $6.1 million bonus pool. The Padres signed their top pick, North Carolina State s Trea Turner, for $2.9 million and lured outfielder Michael Gettys away from the University of Georgia with a $1.3 million signing bonus, leaving the club with a little less than $1.9 million to play with for its next eight selections. That works out to about $230,000 per pick if the Padres had played the board straight (draftees after the first 10 rounds don t count against the bonus pool unless they sign for more than $100,000). But few teams do. In fact, the Padres discussed a scenario in which they would have saved money on lower-ceiling college seniors in rounds 6 through 10 to give McKay a seven-figure bonus, a source said, before a high-ranking official outside baseball operations nixed a strategy that would have left almost all of the Padres eggs in the top of their draft basket. That left the Padres offer well short of McKay s reported asking price when the Padres had him on the phone in the third round that year. He declined, the Padres lobbed a Hail Mary for him in the 34th round (because you never know, right?), and the rest of rounds 3 through 10 played out like this: 3rd RHP Zech Lemond (Rice, $600,000) 4th OF Nick Torres (Cal Poly, $406,700) 5th OF Auston Bousfield (Mississippi, $200,000) 6th C Zach Risedorf (high school, $175,000) 7th RHP Ryan Butler (Charlotte, $186,900) 8th RHP Mitch Watrous (Utah, $120,000) 9th SS Nick Vilter (UC Riverside, $150,000) 10th LHP Thomas Dorminy (Faulkner, $60,000) None of them is ranked among the Padres top 30 prospects, according to Baseball America. Hindsight, right? I think it s always hard to predict on the front end this kind of rise, Gasparino said of McKay. We thought he d be very good in college we could say become a first-round pick but to have the kind of career he s had at Louisville and be the top pick he s going to be, we didn t see that one. He just took it to a whole other gear. He s got outstanding makeup to succeed in whatever he does. 4

5 Padres press snooze when it comes to wellness BY: AJ CASSAVELL MLB.com SAN DIEGO -- A given baseball game lasts about three hours. As an organization, the Padres have committed to making the most out of the other 21 as well. "We're certainly not alone in looking at every element of the day, not just what happens between the lines," Padres assistant general manager Josh Stein said. "What players are eating, how much players are in the weight room, how much players are using the time away from the field to really recover, looking at things like sleep. It's just different ways of looking at putting the players in the best possible position to succeed." There's been something of a cultural shift in the baseball world toward increased wellness, and San Diego is no exception. In the cafeteria, the Padres have added a smoothie and juice station, and a variety of other healthy options. On a near-daily basis, players meet with the training staff to discuss their rest habits and physical recovery. Last weekend, a sleep expert spoke to the team in Washington. "They're looking at different things nutritionally and rest-and-recovery-wise that will help to give us the best chance possible to succeed," San Diego left-hander Clayton Richard said. "It's tough in this game because the schedule is pretty relentless. But to have an organization that is willing to do what they can to help us out is big." The most recent upgrade is a "recovery room," which the club has installed adjacent the clubhouse. On Tuesday, each player met with representatives from Bedgear to be fitted for their sleep habits with blankets, pillows and, in some cases, personalized beds. The recovery room -- a place to sleep and to rest in the hours preceding the game -- is a quiet area with multiple beds, which serves as a place to relax. "You have players showing up to the ballpark earlier than you did a generation ago," Stein said. "In the past, you saw players curled up in corners of the clubhouse trying to find a little bit of rest during what is a long and very arduous schedule. This is accepting of that and saying, 'Let's do something a little more structured to give the players an actual place to rest.'" 5

6 Added Shana Rocheleau, a Bedgear representative who met with each player: "When you think about what else you can do to enhance your level of performance, sleep is it -- along with eating right and hydrating right.... If you get the most of your recovery at night, you're going to get the most of your performance on the field." On the whole, Stein, who has been with the organization since 2003, said he's noticed more players embracing healthy off-the-field habits than in the past. In that sense, Stein and the Padres have emphasized smart pregame routines. Where once players may have pushed themselves to exhaustion in the weight room, they're now being encouraged to ease up when necessary. In the past, that mindset might have been looked at as a weakness. "It's actually the opposite," Stein said. "If you get a good day of rest, eat right, sleep right, you're doing the best thing possible for yourself." Richard, one of the game's notoriously hard workers, has embraced this mindset, easing his workload on the days before and after his starts, while pushing himself to the limit otherwise. Catcher Austin Hedges is also on board, noting he can feel it in his throwing arm and his body when hasn't eaten or slept right regularly. "It's not something where you can pick and choose whether you're going to eat well one day and eat bad the next day, get good sleep one day and not the next day," Hedges said. "If you're doing it on a daily basis, it's huge. It can be super beneficial to your performance on the field. "The Padres are giving us everything we need, but they haven't forced it on us. It's on us as individuals to take advantage." Young Padres leading team during hot stretch BY: BILL CENTER MLB.com These are happier days. The Padres have won seven of their last 10 games, and are fresh off a three-game sweep of the reigning World Series-champion Chicago Cubs. 6

7 "We played three all-around solid games against the Cubs," Padres manager Andy Green said Wednesday afternoon. "Good pitching, timely hitting and some really nice defensive plays." The series against the Cubs may have been the Padres' best three-game stretch so far this season. What made it even better was that players who are key to the Padres' future played major roles in the sweep -- Hunter Renfroe had two game-winning hits, Franchy Cordero had a great display of speed on offense and defense, Austin Hedges contributed with his bat and glove and Dinelson Lamet posted a second straight win, while the bullpen allowed no runs and one hit over the last 15 2/3 innings. I'm not saying the Padres have turned the corner. There is still work to be done. Most of the players the Padres' future depends on are still in the lower Minor Leagues. Those on the Major League roster are still making costly mistakes at times. And there is no denying their record. If misery loves company, the Giants are also Before their current 7-3 run, the Padres had lost seven of eight games, as starting pitchers struggled to get out of the early innings. My guess is this will continue to be a roller-coaster season, a season of transition. But some good things are happening. There are some positive trends. It is actually fun to watch the younger players, and dream about what 2019 or 2020 might be. Worth noting Cordero was 1-for-4 with his first Major League triple and a run scored Wednesday. Since being promoted from Triple-A El Paso on Saturday, when the Padres' other rookie center fielder (Manuel Margot) went on the 10-day disabled list with a calf injury, Cordero has hit safely in four of his five starts, and gone 5-for-16 (.313). Third baseman Ryan Schimpf hit his team-leading 14th homer Wednesday. But he still has polarizing numbers. He has only 25 RBIs, and is hitting.168 with a.296 on-base percentage, although his slugging percentage is.452. He also has 62 strikeouts in 186 plate appearances. Right-hander Luis Perdomo went seven innings for the first time this season on Wednesday, allowing one run on three hits and two walks, with four strikeouts. He also got only one run of support while he was in the game. Perdomo entered with the seventh worst run-support average in the Major Leagues, and the fourth worst in the National 7

8 League. Despite five quality starts in his last seven outings, Perdomo still doesn't have a win this season. Second baseman Yangervis Solarte was 1-for-4 with the game-winning RBI on a grounder in the eighth inning Wednesday. Since moving into the No. 2 spot in the batting order May 23, Solarte is hitting.375 (12-for-32), with seven walks and a.487 on-base percentage. He has four RBIs and three runs scored in that stretch, although he has not homered since May 2. First-place Rockies visit last-place Padres BY: Yahoo! Sports Stats/TSX SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Padres are on a bit of a roll as the Colorado Rockies start their second visit of the season to Petco Park on Friday night. San Diego (22-33) has won four in a row for the first time since August 2015 after a threegame sweep of the reigning World Champion Chicago Cubs. The Padres have also won seven of their last 10 games. "We played solid baseball in all three aspects of the game, pitching, timely hitting and defense," San Diego manager Andy Green said after the Padres outscored (13-5) and outhit (22-12) the Cubs. But this weekend could be a bigger challenge for San Diego. While the Padres are tied at the bottom of the National League West standings, Colorado -- managed by former San Diego manager Bud Black -- is tied at the top. The Padres and Rockies have split their first six games of the season, with Colorado winning two of the first three contests at Petco Park in what was something of a strange experience for Black, who managed the Padres for 8 1/2 seasons from 2007 to midway through the 2015 season. Before the Rockies' first visit to Petco Park this season, Black had never been in the visiting clubhouse or dugout. "Everything was new," Black said. "I had to park outside in a different lot." 8

9 When Black sees the Padres on Friday, his Rockies will be pitted against a pitcher that Black managed with the Padres: left-hander Clayton Richard. But it's not exactly the same Richard who was first with the Padres from 2009 to He rode his fastball back then; but, after two rounds of surgery, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound former Michigan quarterback dropped his arm angle a bit and has reinvented himself as a sinkerball pitcher with one of the highest ground-ball rates in the majors. "If the sinker is working, Clayton is going to get ground balls," Green said. "It's up to the defense to field them and throw the runners out." Richard will be making his 12th start Friday night. While his record is only 3-6, his 4.33 ERA is the second-lowest among Padres starters who have made at least five starts. Richard has the Padres' only complete game of the season and has three quality starts in his last four outings while averaging seven innings during that span. His ERA over his last four outings is Richard, 33, will be facing the Rockies for the first time this season. Colorado's German Marquez, a 22-year-old Venezuelan, makes his first start against the Padres. Marquez is 4-2 with a 3.76 ERA this season since being promoted from Triple-A Albuquerque. Marquez is 4-0 with a 1.46 ERA in his last four starts, allowing 22 hits and seven walks and striking out 22 in 24 2/3 innings. He is 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA on the road this season. Although this will be his first start against the Padres, Marquez faced them twice in relief last season. He made his major league debut at Petco Park last Sept. 8, allowing three runs on two hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings. Padres On Deck: Urías, Allen Repeat on Padres Player of Week Lineup Friar Wire BY: BILL CENTER Four members of the Padres MLB.com top-30 prospect list, led by Double-A San Antonio infielder Luis Urías, are the organization s minor league Players of the Week. 9

10 The 19-year-old Urías, who recently moved into the list of top 100 prospects in all of the minor leagues, is joined by right-handed Triple-A relief pitcher Phil Maton of El Paso, Advanced Single-A Lake Elsinore shortstop Javier Guerra and left-handed starting pitcher Logan Allen of Single-A Fort Wayne. Urías and Allen made the honor roll for the second time. A look at the four Players of the Week: Triple-A El Paso Right-handed reliever Phil Maton: Phil Maton The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Maton had two saves last week and worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings in three appearances. Ranked the 16 prospect in the Padres system, Maton is 1 1 and ranks second in the Pacific Coast League with nine saves this season. He has a 3.54 earned run average with 24 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings over 19 appearances. Maton hasn t allowed a run in his last five appearances. The 24-year-old Maton was the Padres 20thround pick in the 2015 draft out of Louisiana Tech. Double-A San Antonio Infielder Luis Urías: Luis Urías The youngest player in the Texas League went 10-for-28 (.357) last week with a double, a triple and eight runs scored while playing both second base and shortstop. On the season, Urias ranks third in the Texas League in batting average (.346) while leading the league with 66 hits. He also ranks second with 37 runs scored. Urias has drawn more walks (28) than strikeouts (26) and has a.427 on-base percentage and a.482 slugging percentage (12 doubles, four triples and two homers) for a.909 OPS. Urias is the Padres fourth-ranked prospect. Advanced Single-A Lake Elsinore Shortstop Javier Guerra: The Padres 24th-ranked prospect by MLB.com finished last week on a seven-game hitting streak. He was 12-for-34 for the week (.353) with three doubles, three triples and a home run. The.706 slugging percentage for the week gave him a OPS. The 21-year-old, 5- foot-11, 155-pound, left-handed hitter who came to the Padres with Manuel Margot, Logan Allen and Carlos Asuaje in the Nov. 13, 2015, trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to the Red Sox, raised his batting average from.181 to.219 last week. Single-A Fort Wayne Left-handed starting pitcher Logan Allen: Logan Allen 10

11 Allen, who celebrated his 20th birthday while pitching on May 23, allowed one run on 10 hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings over two starts last week. His earned run average dropped to 1.54 for nine starts. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Allen, the Padres 17th-ranked prospect, ranks fifth in the Midwest League in ERA, ninth in WHIP (allowing 0.94 runners per inning) and tied for fourth in strikeouts. He has 56 strikeouts against 18 walks in 46 2/3 innings. Allen, who has a 3 2 record, has a 1.16 ERA over his last seven starts. Padres On Deck: Single-A SS Javier Guerra Extends Hitting Streak to 8 Games Friar Wire BY: BILL CENTER Two Padres top-30 prospects continued to climb on the hitting charts Wednesday night. Twenty-one-year-old shortstop Javier Guerra, the Padres 24th-ranked prospect extended his hitting streak to an eighth straight game for Advanced Single-A Lake Elsinore, going 1-for-4. Right fielder Jorge Oña, 20, the Padres 7 prospect, had two doubles in four at-bats with a run scored to push his batting average past.300 to.302 for Single-A Fort Wayne. Around the Farm: TRIPLE-A EL PASO (25 28) The Chihuahuas were off Wednesday night. DOUBLE-A SAN ANTONIO (30 22) TULSA 9, Missions 6: Starting RHP Michael Kelly (2.92 earned run average) allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts and was 1-for-2 at the plate with a RBI and a run scored. LHP Kyle McGrath (0 1, 7.20) allowed four runs on three hits and a walk with a strikeout in two-thirds of an inning. RHP Chad Nading (1.26) allowed a hit and a walk with two strikeouts in a scoreless inning. RHP A.J. Weir (3.00) gave up a run on a hit with two strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings. LF Nick Torres (.239) WAS 1-for-3 with two RBIs. RF Franmil Reyes (.285) was 2-for-5. Ty France (.368) homered as a pinch-hitter. C A.J. Kennedy (.071) homered in five at-bats. SS Luis Urias (.343) was 0-for-3 with three walks and a run scored. ADVANCED SINGLE-A LAKE ELSINORE (25 28) SAN JOSE 6, Storm 1: RHP Cal Quantrill (3 4, 3.80 ERA) gave up five runs on seven hits and two walks with four 11

12 strikeouts in five innings. LHP Jose Castillo (3.86) gave up a hit with two strikeouts in a scoreless inning. RHP Jose Ruiz (6.06) allowed a run on two hits with a strikeout in an inning. RHP Trevor Frank (2.95) pitched a perfect inning. 2B Chris Baker (.234) was 2- for-3 with a double. 3B Ruddy Giron (.227) was 2-for-4. CF Michael Getty (.247) was 0- for-2 with two walks and a run scored. C Austin Allen (.255) had a RBI double in four atbats. SINGLE-A FORT WAYNE (18 35) Bowling Green 5, TIN CAPS 1 RF Jorge Ona (.302) had two doubles and a run scored in four at-bats. LF Rod Boykin (.220) was 1-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored. Starting RHP Mason Thompson (0 2, 7.88) allowed four runs on six hits with five strikeouts in four innings. RHP Wilmer Torres (4.50) allowed a walk with two strikeouts in an otherwise two perfect innings. RHP Diomar Lopez (3.24) gave up a run on a hit and a walk with three strikeouts in two innings. C Webster Rivas (3.86) allowed a walk and a hit in a scoreless inning in his fourth pitching outing of the season. 12