I get home just in time to catch the ninth inning of East Coast games, so I can’t offer much commentary on last night’s contest. But I can say that seven innings of shutout ball after two straight losses is exactly what a #1 pitcher should give. Like the six punchouts. Today is the first day I’m really happy the Padres signed David Wells.

Moving along, today’s letter comes from frequent contributor Anthony Trifiletti:

Nice summary of the Padres in April. [Khalil] Greene is becoming one of my favorite players to watch; he’s not flashy in an Ozzie Smith way but he gets to a lot of balls and like you say, he has a great approach at the plate. It’s not often that you can feel confident with a rookie at the plate and the game on the line but Greene is turning into that kind of player.

One thing I’ve noticed a lot this year is the Padres seem to put a lot of emphasis on hitting the ball the other way, I’ve especially noticed it with Sean Burroughs. It seems like he’s so focused on hitting the other way that he lays off hittable inside pitches and never drives the ball. Of his 33 hits only 5 are for extra bases, all doubles. I’m worried [hitting coach Dave] Magadan is turning Burroughs into a Wade Boggs clone, minus the Fenway doubles. Do you know of any sources that show where a player’s hits have been falling?

First off, thanks for writing and for the compliment. As for Greene, he does something to impress me almost every day. The kid is way more advanced than I thought he would be. It will be interesting to see what kinds of adjustments Greene makes in his second run through the league. Not to bring anybody down, but remember that Xavier Nady was last year’s NL Rookie of the Month in May.

As for Burroughs, I think his approach is less a result of anything Magadan is saying or doing and has more to do with his natural stroke. Burroughs is 23 years old. He’s gotten his feet wet in the bigs but he’s still learning. I’ve probably done the kid a disservice by comparing him to Hank Blalock over the years, but the fact is, Burroughs is progressing just fine. The power will come; the only question is to what extent. In the Montreal series, he started turning on some inside fastballs. Hit ‘em pretty hard, but not quite hard enough and not in quite the right place.

Just for grins, here are how a few other big-leaguers fared at age 23 in terms of power production:

               AB HR  ISO
Gonzalez, Lu  473 13 .179
Green, Sh     422 11 .168
Hidalgo, Ri   383 15 .193
Jeter, De     654 10 .114
Young, Dm     333  5 .105
Sosa, Sa      262  8 .133
Bagwell, Je   554 15 .143
Palmeiro, Ra  580  8 .129

I don’t point this out to suggest that Burroughs will necessarily follow in the footsteps of any of these players, but rather as a reminder that home run power doesn’t always develop right away. Sosa, Bagwell, and Palmeiro all were among league leaders in homers last year. I know, they’re all different types of hitters than when they first made it to the Show. But that’s also the point. We don’t know what kind of hitter Burroughs will be in 3 years, in 5 years, in 10 years. What we do know is this:

1. Burroughs has a good understanding of the strike zone; he’s not drawing a lot of walks, but he knows how to work the count and he generally puts bat on ball.
2. He can drive the ball to all parts of the field: 27 doubles and 6 triples last year.
3. He is very young; Burroughs and Blalock (there I go again) were the only 22-year-olds with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title last year.

Again, none of this guarantees anything. Ask Ben Grieve. But right now, Burroughs is what I would call an excellent risk to be a solid contributor for many years. Whether he becomes a slugger along the lines of a Bagwell or Palmeiro (not likely, IMHO), or Boggs without Fenway (nothing wrong with that either; Boggs hit .307/.391/.400 in road games through 1992 [thanks, Retrosheet]), Burroughs is going to produce.

With regard to where a player’s hits are falling, I’m afraid I don’t know of any sources. This would be handy information to have. Anybody out there know of such a place? Drop me a line if you do.

Other Stuff

• Padres Notebook: Mets lose their protest about Otsuka’s delivery (NC Times). Bolder than a sack of potatoes, more shocking than the rising sun. No troubles with Aki Otsuka’s delivery, unless you’re an opposing hitter. But then, that is Otuska’s job.