On Monday, we ran through the list of players who pitched two games or fewer for the Padres from 1969 to 1999. Today we check out the rest of the lot. Interestingly, only seven guys met our criteria in the club’s first 31 years of existence, while nine have done so in the last nine. Let’s meet them:
D’Angelo Jimenez, 2002
The Padres acquired Jimenez on June 23, 2001, in a trade for right-hander Jay Witasick. Once a top prospect in the Yankees organization, Jimenez broke his neck in a January 2000 car accident. After missing an entire season while recovering from the injury, he became the Padres’ starting shortstop in 2001, with mixed results. The following year, Jimenez shifted to second base to make room for Deivi Cruz. And on June 30, he worked a perfect inning and a third against the Royals in Kansas City. Two weeks later, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Humberto Quintero and Alex Fernandez. After bouncing around the big leagues for several more years, Jimenez spent all of 2008 at Triple-A Memphis in the Cardinals organization, where he hit .244/.332/.353 but did not pitch at all.
Jason Pearson, 2002
Pearson, a left-hander out of Illinois State University, made two appearances for the Padres. On June 4 in San Francisco, he retired J.T. Snow and David Bell in the ninth on a total of five pitches. Then, on June 7 in Tampa Bay, Pearson gave up a double to Steve Cox to start the eighth before coming back to strike out Ben Grieve, Aubrey Huff, and John Flaherty in order. On June 10, the Giants claimed Pearson off waivers, but he never pitched for them. He did make two appearances for the Cardinals in 2003 before returning to the minors for good. Pearson was last seen pitching for the Bowie Baysox in 2006, where he posted solid numbers before disappearing into the ether.
Roger Deago, 2003
Deago, a diminutive southpaw from Panama, made two starts for the Padres. In the first, on May 10 at Shea Stadium, he worked six strong innings, but saw his team lose when Jaret Wright served up a two-run walkoff homer to Mike Piazza. On May 15, at home against the Braves, Deago and the rest of the pitching staff (except for one guy, but we’ll get to that in a minute) got pounded in a 15-6 loss. Deago hasn’t resurfaced in the big leagues. He spent 2008 at Double-A Montgomery in the Rays organization, where he went 2-5 with 4 saves and a 2.95 ERA.
Wiki Gonzalez, 2003
The Padres selected Gonzalez in the minor-league portion of the 1996 Rule V draft. The nominal starting catcher in 2000, Gonzalez enjoyed moderate success the following season before reminding everyone that if the Pirates can’t find room for you in Double-A, you’re probably just not very good. On May 15, 2003, he followed Deago, Wright, and 87-year-old Jesse Orosco into battle and was the only Padres hurler that escaped unscathed against the Braves that afternoon. Gonzalez retired Marcus Giles, Robert Fick, and Andruw Jones, issuing only a two-out walk to Chipper Jones. Presumably Atlanta’s hitters were exhausted by the time Gonzalez took the mound.
Randy Keisler, 2003
Keisler signed with the Padres as a free agent in February 2003. Before that, he pitched briefly for the Yankees, who selected him in the second round of the 1998 draft (the fourth straight year he’d been drafted, incidentally). Keisler started a game at Milwaukee on May 19, and another at Arizona on May 25. The first two batters he faced while donning a Padres uniform were Eric Young and Scott Podsednik. Young drew a leadoff walk and Podsednik — who once went an entire 568 plate-appearance season without hitting a home run — took Keisler deep. The southpaw later served up back-to-back jacks to Geoff Jenkins and Brady Clark in the third. Keisler’s second start didn’t go much better. He gave up three runs in the first and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the fourth. Charles Nagy replaced him and proceeded to pitch even worse before handing the ball over to Wright and Orosco. (Man, that was a dreadful staff in ’03.) The Padres released Keisler on June 5. He’s made brief stops in Cincinnati, Oakland, and St. Louis since then, compiling a 4-4 record and 6.63 ERA (66 ERA+) in 55 big-league games. Keisler spent 2008 at Triple-A in the Orioles and Cubs organizations.
Sean Burroughs, 2005
I’m done with Burroughs. The game took place at Coors Field on September 20 if you’re interested.
Randy Williams, 2005
Acquired in a November 2004 trade with Seattle, Williams made two appearances against the Cardinals. In the first, on May 6, he allowed one run in one inning. In the second, on May 8, Williams took one for the team, giving up five runs in three and a third innings. This was Tim Redding’s final start for the Padres — you know, the one where 16 men came to bat for St. Louis in the first inning and the Cards led, 13-0, after two. The Rockies claimed Williams off waivers on May 11, and he got into 30 games for them. Since then he has been kicking around the minors. In 2008, Williams went 0-2 with a 4.33 ERA in 27 innings at Triple-A Albuquerque in the Marlins organization.
Aaron Rakers, 2007
Rakers, a right-hander out of Southern Illinois University (Champ Summers), was selected by the Orioles in the 23rd round of the 1999 draft. After a couple cups of coffee with the big club, he came to San Diego as a free agent in February 2007. His lone appearance for the Padres came on April 19, at home against the Diamondbacks. Rakers worked a scoreless ninth to put the finishing touches on an 11-6 victory, retiring Orlando Hudson, Scott Hairston, and Carlos Quentin in the process. Rakers pitched for York of the independent Atlantic League in 2008, going 11-8 with a 4.52 ERA.
Jared Wells, 2008
The Padres picked Wells in the 31st round of the 2002 draft. After stalling out as a starting pitcher, he shifted to the bullpen at Triple-A Portland midway through the 2007 season. Wells made two appearances for the Padres, in back-to-back games at home against the Reds. On May 24, in his big-league debut, he worked a scoreless seventh. The following day he coughed up two runs in the 11th in a game that the Padres eventually won, 12-9, in 18 innings. On May 28, the Padres dealt him to Seattle for right-hander Cha Seung Baek. Wells made six appearances for the Mariners after the trade.
That’s way more information than you probably needed, but there it is…