Padres MiLB May 8-10, Players of the Day - Weekend Edition

Kevin Towers is an excellent GM. Some of his notable skills are one, making the most of trades and two, building a bullpen. So when the Padre bully struggled in 2008 I figured it was an anomaly. Now this year’s team construction is/was hampered by outgoing owner, John Moore’s divorce. As such, it’s hard to know how much of this bullpen’s composition and performance to blame on Kevin Towers and how much to blame on Moores.

2009 Bullpen statistics (as of May 9):

9-8, 4.60 ERA in 107.2 IP, 112 H, 11 HR, 50 BB, 81 SO, and 1.50 WHIP

Those stats do not lead to confidence in our ‘pen…

And don’t forget, with 14 of their 31 games at Petco those stats probably should look worse. It has to be time to pull the trigger on some bullpen changes.

May 8, 2009

Hitter(s) of the Day

Logan Forsythe (High-A): 2-5, 2 2B, R, 2 SO
Felix Carrasco (High-A): 3-5, 2B, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, SO
Mike Baxter (AA): 2-3, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 SF
Kyle Blanks (AAA): 1-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB
Chad Huffman (AAA): 2-5, HR, R, 4 RBI, 2 SO

Pitcher of the Day

Simon Castro (Low-A): 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR

Commentary

Forsythe: 39

Mikey’s famous!

Baxter doesn’t get a lot of love as a prospect – and realistically, he’s not a top prospect. However, he is a legitimate athlete and he could be one of those guys who can play a bunch of different positions and be a decent left-handed bat off the bench. He’s currently enjoying his best statistical season as a hitter.

This just in, Kyle Blanks is pretty good…

Blanks was one of nine 1B on Baseball America’s Top 100 list (here are those 9 1B, the minor league level they are playing at, and their current stats):

#17 Lars Anderson – AA: .236/.293/.368
#18 Logan Morrison – AA: .333/.556/.1.167 (2 games)
#23 Justin Smoak – AA: .354/.463/.566
#24 Eric Hosmer – Low-A: .221/.344/.299
#35 Yonder Alonso – High-A: .271/.328/.486
#44 Angel Villalona – High-A: .318/.345/.477
#50 Kyle Blanks – AAA: .304/.408/.559
#76 Chris Carter – AA: .288/.385/.459
#87 Freddie Freeman – High-A: .255/.336/.447

(statistics as of Saturday morning)

I’m not going to go out on a limb and say Blanks should top the 1B list, but I will say I think he’s underrated within this group.

Huffman’s been in a funk… It’s good to see him have a good night.

May 9, 2009

Padres prospect news of the day: Kellen Kulbacki was in the San Antonio lineup for the first time of the season Saturday night. I spoke with him just 3-4 days ago and he knew he was close to coming back (he was in extended Spring Training in Arizona) but he didn’t know when the Padres would move him to San Antonio.

Hitter(s) of the Day

n/a

Pitcher(s) of the Day

Jeremy McBryde (High-A): 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR
Wade LeBlanc (AAA): 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 0 HR

Commentary

Forsythe: 40? Does a “reached on error” count? Unfortunately, no… It was a nice run to begin a professional career…

Wade pitched in relief… Which is especially interesting considering the lack of LHP in the big league bullpen.

May 10, 2009

Happy Mothers’ Day honey! Thank you for being the mother of our two boys. I love you!

Hitter(s) of the Day

Jaff Decker (Low-A): 2-3, HR, R, RBI, 2 BB, SO
Sawyer Carroll (Low-A): 3-4, 2 2B, RBI, BB
Lance Zawadzki (High-A): 3-5, 2B, 3B, R, RBI
Yefri Carvajal (High-A): 2-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI, SO
Mike Baxter (AA): 3-5, 2B, R, SO
Cedric Hunter (AA): 3-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI

Pitcher(s) of the Day

Ernesto Frieri (AA): 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR
Joe Thatcher (AAA): 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR

Commentary

Before I comment on any hitters or pitchers performances on my list, Kyle Blanks played LF tonight. Nice!

So is Jaff Decker just hot, or is overmatching the Low-A competition? Jaff is hitting .317/.548/.659. He has 13 hits in 15 games and of those 13, 8 are extra base hits.

Going into Sunday’s game Lance Zawadzki had 8 XBH on the season. In a statistical oddity, all 8 were home runs. On Sunday, Lance hit his first double and his first triple of the season. Overall Lance is hitting .338/.407/.688.

Mikey’s famous!

Cedric made my opening-day “hitter of the day” but had been conspicuously absent (until the May 5 list) since then. However, if we look at his eight games, (Sunday through Sunday) we can see that he’s on quite a roll:

.387 with 3 2B, 8 runs scored, 3 RBI, 3 walks, and only 1 strikeout

Now there's the Cedric we know and love!