Now is as good a time as any to revisit our preseason Top 20 prospect list. If you’ve been following along at all, it will come as no surprise that the hitters are way ahead of the pitchers. Given the current state of the Padres offense, that’s not necessarily a bad thing…
Hitters
Rnk Player Age Pos Lvl PA BA OBP SLG BB SO Comment 1. Jaff Decker 21 LF AA 82 .348 .476 .833 15 22 Leads TL in HR, TB 4. James Darnell 24 3B AA 78 .459 .564 .770 16 4 Leads TL in 2B, BB, OBP 6. Anthony Rizzo 21 1B AAA 83 .432 .494 .797 8 14 Leads PCL in HR, TB 7. Drew Cumberland 22 SS AA DL, vertigo 8. Jedd Gyorko 22 3B A+ 81 .406 .481 .623 11 13 Top 10 in CAL in many categories 9. Donavan Tate 20 CF A 23 .316 .435 .421 4 3 DL, left knee 13. Logan Forsythe 24 2B AAA 79 .292 .405 .538 12 18 7 E in 16 G @ 2B/3B 15. Edinson Rincon 20 3B A+ 72 .349 .417 .508 8 13 5 E in 9 G @ 3B 16. Jonathan Galvez 20 2B A+ 68 .276 .368 .379 7 18 Converted SS has 2 E in 14 G @ 2B 17. Jason Hagerty 23 C A+ 64 .305 .344 .508 4 16 Plate discipline MIA 18. Reymond Fuentes 20 CF A+ 70 .303 .333 .379 2 13 Speedster has 3 SB, 3 CS 19. Everett Williams 20 LF A 23 .300 .391 .300 2 3 DL, leg (?) 20. Blake Tekotte 24 CF AA 81 .373 .475 .642 10 14 Top 10 in TL in many categories
Pitchers
Rnk Player Age Pos Lvl IP ERA H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 Comment 2. Simon Castro 23 RHP AAA 20.0 8.55 11.70 1.35 5.85 7.20 8.31 ERA in 6 career AAA GS 3. Casey Kelly 21 RHP AA 21.1 4.64 8.86 0.84 2.95 6.33 Still not striking batters out 5. Cory Luebke 26 LHP MLB 12.0 6.00 9.00 0.75 3.75 10.50 Working in big-league bullpen 10. Keyvius Sampson 20 RHP A 16.0 1.69 2.81 0.00 2.25 11.81 Top 10 in MWL in SO 11. Adys Portillo 19 RHP A 7.0 9.00 14.14 2.57 6.43 7.71 Still working on command 12. Matt Lollis 20 RHP A+ 21.1 5.06 6.33 1.69 3.38 9.28 Top 10 in CAL in SO 14. Jerry Sullivan 23 RHP A+ 13.0 3.46 10.38 2.08 5.54 8.31 Allowed 8 UER in 3 GS
There you go. We’ll check back on these guys in… oh, whenever…
When is the earliest we could see Rizzo? His stats are other worldly, even if only in 75 PA…
Why does he only have 9 PA against lefties? few lefties in the PCL or what?
Everett Williams and Donavan Tate are on the DL because they collided in the outfield a couple weeks ago.
Tucson IS otherworldly. Don’t forget it’s at altitude and a desert (think they call that high desert
), which means it’s warm, dry and 2,389 feet above sea level (not Coors altitude, but a far cry from Petco’s sea level). On top of that the PCL is generally a hitter’s league. Rizzo’s stats are going to be heavily influenced by these factors. Not sure how we could adjust for them, but hopefully the FO is accounting for them.
I’m verklempt! I’ll give you a topic. When does Donovan Tate stop being a prospect and start being a project? Discuss…
OT … the Padres are doing well at the box office …
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Alwtz_r6GA0tDcu_QpwQOccRvLYF?slug=jp-passan_10_degrees_attendance_042511
… which I find to be good news!
And based on listening to a few innings on internet-radio during the Philly series, they are attracting alot of “visitor” fans …
In general, MLB ticket prices are too high … and I’m surprised Passen didn’t mention the impact of more and better access to game video on TV and internet … which brings in plenty of revenue … so the teams, I’m sure, are balancing all that. My guess would be that the trend in ticket prices will continue down to get physical attendance back up … which seems to me is still the driving core of overall revenue (ie. getting people to attend games is what makes and keeps them being fans which also create peripheral revenue by then watching more games on TV/internet).
Those top 3 guys (Decker, Darnell, Rizzo) sure appear to be premier prospects at this point in time. I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited about a trio of Padre prospects EVER. They are in the “high minors” … have track records that made them “consensus prospects” coming into the season … and are now coming up on sustaining their HOTness for 100 ABs … WOW!
I want the Padres to be patient with all of them … let Rizzo really develop and get used to being a monster hitter and make sure he sustains it thru some dry spells and a second time around the league (although I realize that doesn’t happen much in the large PCL). Besides, I’d like to see the Padres call up Blanks and have him play 1B before Rizzo gets the callup. I’m just saying there are many reasons to not run Rizzo … and I pretty much feel the same way about Decker and Darnell.
I’m as excited about Gyrko as the big 3 … and it sure seems like Kevin Goldstein @ BP has a man-crush on him.
A lot of the PCL is otherworldly in terms of favoring the hitters. Someone on the ESPN Baseball Today podcast (I think Keith Law) has often said that Albuquerque is the most hitter friendly park in at least the high minors if not all of the minors. Rizzo’s performance is impressive, but I really hope the Padres don’t rush him up. The players doing well in San Antonio and Lake Elsinore numbers are really impressive as those have rated as pitcher’s parks.
As a team, our Padres are ‘hitting’ .209/.292/.312 …. hmmmm
at home: .195/.278/.288
on road: .226/.310/.344
WOW! that is terrible! WOW! That is not a Brad Hawpe problem alone. Though, he still sucks.
Pitching has been very good especially on the road.
Seriously, 3 HR in Petco? Come on Harang.
oh, Hawpe sucks!
@Elliott
Due to arbitration concerns the earliest the Padres will call up Rizzo June, but even then I think they will call up Blanks and give him a shot at 1B before they throw Rizzo into the fire.