Sixty-five men have collected exactly one hit as a member of the Padres. Over the next few months, we’ll look at every one of them, five at a time.
Ed Acosta
Pos: RHP Years: 1971-1972 G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K BA OBP SLG OPS+ 54 29 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 15 .034 .067 .034 -69
The closest current comp to Acosta is Cardinals right-hander Blake Hawksorth, but Acosta wasn’t that good. Acquired along with Johnny Jeter in August 1971 from Pittsburgh for Bob Miller, Acosta made six starts for the Padres that year and completed half of them, including a shutout victory over the Phillies in his team debut.
Acosta spent most of ’72 in the bullpen. On September 6 of that year, the last-place Padres took on the fifth-place Giants in front of 2871 people at San Diego Stadium. Padres starter Bill Greif coughed up six early runs and was chased with one out in the second inning. Acosta replaced Greif and worked 6 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. With one out in the third and southpaw Ron Bryant pitching, the 6’5″, 215 lb Panamanian dropped a bunt toward third baseman Jim Ray Hart and legged it out for the only hit of his Padres (and big-league) career.
Pedro Astacio
Pos: RHP Years: 2005 G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K BA OBP SLG OPS+ 12 16 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 5 .063 .118 .063 -49
Astacio made his big-league debut on July 3, 1992, in the second game of a doubleheader at Dodger Stadium (on a personal note, I was at that game). Pitching for the hometown club just after the Rodney King riots, a then-unknown Astacio came up from Triple-A to make a spot start due to makeup games needed as a result of said riots (beginning that Friday, the Dodgers played 10 games in 6 days). He spun a three-hit shutout, fanning 10 Phillies in the process. Astacio never returned to the minors, sticking around to collect 129 wins before retiring in 2006.
In his one partial season with the Padres, Astacio went 4-2 with a 3.17 ERA in 12 starts. And on July 10, in a game at Coors Field, he collected his only hit while wearing a San Diego uniform. In the second inning, Astacio lined an RBI single to right off Jeff Francis, extending the Padres lead to 2-0. He later came around to score on a bases-loaded walk to Brian Giles. The Padres won the game, 8-5, although Astacio did not get the decision (that honor would go to Paul Quantrill).
Jack Baldschun
Pos: RHP Years: 1969-1970 G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K BA OBP SLG OPS+ 73 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 .250 .400 .250 90
One of the original Padres, Baldschun enjoyed modest success with the Phillies in the early-’60s before being shipped to Cincinnati (via Baltimore) as part of the Orioles’ payment for Frank Robinson. The Reds got nothing out of Baldschun, who was released before the 1969 season and signed by the expansionists from San Diego. There, he went 7-2 working out of Preston Gomez’s bullpen. That a pitcher sporting a 74 ERA+ for a team that lost 110 games could finish with such a won-loss record hardly seems possible, but that’s baseball.
On April 26, 1969, against the Reds, Baldschun singled to left in the eighth inning off left-hander Jim Merritt. The Padres trailed, 2-0, entering the frame, but homers from Nate Colbert and Chris Cannizzaro vaulted them to a 5-2 lead. Gomez let Baldschun bat for himself and the rest, as they say, is history. Baldschun worked a scoreless ninth, retiring future Hall-of-Famers Tony Perez and Johnny Bench en route to the first of his seven victories.
Mike Baxter
Pos: 1B/OF Years: 2010 G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K BA OBP SLG OPS+ 9 8 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 .125 .111 .125 -34
The club’s newest member was selected in the fourth round of the 2005 draft out of Vanderbilt, where he played alongside Indians reliever Jensen Lewis. Baxter is part of the same class that produced Chase Headley, Nick Hundley, and Will Venable.
After hitting .301/.382/.517 at Triple-A Portland in 2010, Baxter earned a September promotion to the big club. He started his Padres career 0-for-6 before singling to right field off Cincinnati closer Francisco Cordero in the ninth inning of a 12-2 loss.
Jim Beswick
Pos: OF Years: 1978 G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K BA OBP SLG OPS+ 17 20 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 7 .050 .095 .050 -56
The fifth round of the 1976 June draft featured several talented players who would enjoy successful big-league careers. Beswick wasn’t one of them. Taken just after right-hander Jack Morris and catcher Bruce Benedict (father of current Padres farmhand Griffin Benedict), and before right-handers Ted Power and Mike Smithson, the pride of North Versailles, Penn., hit .298/.418/.505 as a 19-year-old at Reno of the California League. He followed that with a .303/.420/.548 showing at Double-A Amarillo.
Beswick came up to the big club in August 1978. After going hitless in his first 19 at-bats, Beswick knocked a pinch-hit single against Dodgers right-hander Bob Welch in the seventh inning of a September 30 contest at San Diego Stadium. The Padres lost the game and Beswick never again set foot in the big leagues. He hit .214/.322/.314 at Hawaii of the PCL in ’79 and didn’t fare much better in two subsequent seasons with the Islanders. Beswick spent a couple more seasons in the Angels system, playing alongside the likes of Darrell Miller (older brother of basketball stars Cheryl and Reggie Miller) before retiring in 1983 at age 25.
I’m hoping Baxter removes himself from this list
Baxter may be the only one on this list who CAN remove himself. Technically, he qualifies for the list, but players still on the 40-man roster who got only a September call up for the first time a month ago don’t really belong, simply because, as they say, his future is ahead of him.