Padres MiLB August 27, Players of the Day

Ground-rules: you won’t see a too-old-for-his-league non-prospect get an award. The award may not go to the best performance of the previous night, but what I deem the most significant performance of the night…

Minor League Hitter(s) of the Day

Blake Tekotte (SS): 4-6, 2B, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB, SO, SB
James Darnell (SS): 2-4, 2B, HR, 3 R, 6 RBI, 3 BB, SO
Matthew Clark (SS): 4-6, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, SO
Cole Figueroa (SS): 3-6, HR, 3 R, RBI, BB
Luis Durango (High-A): 3-4, 3 R, RBI, BB
Eric Sogard (High-A): 2-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI
Alan Dykstra (High-A): 1-3, 2B, R, 3 RBI, SO
Kyle Blanks (AA): 4-4, 2B, 3 R, RBI, BB

Minor League Pitcher of the Day

n/a

Other Commentary

Eric Sogard might be the most under-rated prospect in the Padres system. With Cedric Hunter and Kellen Kulback on the Lake Elsinore squad and several other players at other levels (Kyle Blanks, Mat Latos, etc.) it is easy to forget about the 5’10” second-baseman. Yet the unheralded Sogard leads the entire Padres organization (including the big league club) in extra-base hits with 55. He also leads the entire organization in doubles with 42.

Sogard does not have huge home-run power, he’ll probably never hit more than 15 at the big league level, but being a high batting-average guy and with the doubles he will hit, the lack of home runs will not matter. As if all that is not impressive enough, he leads the Lake Elsinore Storm in walks (79) and is second in stolen bases (16).

A constant theme among Padres naysayers is that the upper levels of the Padres minor league system lack talent. While this may be mostly true, they must admit that the lower and middle levels are stocked full of talent (especially hitters). Here are the top hitting prospects between Rookie and High-A (sorted alphabetically by team):

Jeff Decker OF Arizona Padres
Logan Forsythe 3B Arizona Padres
Robert Lara C Arizona Padres
Edinson Rincon 3B Arizona Padres
Matt Clark 1B Eugene Emeralds
James Darnell 3B Eugene Emeralds
Cole Figueroa 2B/SS Eugene Emeralds
Dan Robertson CF Eugene Emeralds
Blake Tekotte CF Eugene Emeralds
Jeudy Valdez 2B/SS Eugene Emeralds
Sawyer Carroll OF Fort Wayne Wizards
Yefri Carvajal OF Fort Wayne Wizards
Andrew Cumberland SS Fort Wayne Wizards
Lance Zawadki SS Fort Wayne Wizards
Mitch Canham C Lake Elsinore Storm
Luis Durango CF Lake Elsinore Storm
Allan Dykstra 1B Lake Elsinore Storm
Cedric Hunter CF Lake Elsinore Storm
Kellen Kulbacki OF Lake Elsinore Storm
Eric Sogard 2B Lake Elsinore Storm

Obviously each one of these hitters is not a premium prospect and they won’t each pan out, but there is so much talent there; they won’t each miss either.