Tag Archive for ‘will venable’ rss

Rizzo’s Debut

by Geoff Young on Jun 10, 2011 (29) Comments

Anthony Rizzo made his big-league debut Thursday night at Petco Park. The Padres beat Washington, 7-3, although this was a mere footnote to the “crowd” (if three is a crowd, then 16,464 qualifies), which cheered everything Rizzo did but which seemed uncertain how to occupy the spaces between his moments. The public address announcer helped [...]

Thoughts from Tucson, Part 1

by Geoff Young on May 30, 2011 (3) Comments

Caught a couple games in Tucson this past weekend. On Friday, right-hander Matt Buschmann started for the T-Padres and shut down the Salt Lake Bees. Working exclusively out of the stretch, Buschmann tossed a complete game, allowing one run and using just 97 pitches in the process. He isn’t a prospect, but that is a [...]

Musical Outfielders

by Geoff Young on May 24, 2011 (56) Comments

The Padres have optioned outfielder Will Venable to Triple-A Tucson and recalled outfielder Blake Tekotte from Double-A San Antonio. I don’t know what is wrong with Venable (.224/.293/.291 in 151 PA this year) or how to fix it, but he vows to improve his approach. At his best, Venable is a useful if flawed piece [...]

Bartlett Blows Moseley’s Shot at Immortality, Hawpe Just Blows

by Geoff Young on Apr 21, 2011 (12) Comments

Jason Bartlett gave his best effort, but sometimes effort alone isn’t enough. Had he realized his ninth-inning fly ball to center field off Cubs closer Carlos Marmol would drive home the game’s tying run, Bartlett might have taken a different approach. He could have hit the ball a little shallower or, like so many of [...]

Me, Elsewhere: Things to Fear in the West

by Geoff Young on Apr 19, 2011 (2) Comments

My latest at Baseball Prospectus ($) looks at the crazy hot starts of Jonathan Herrera and Troy Tulowitzki in Colorado, and Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier in Los Angeles. Kemp and Arizona’s Justin Upton are of particular concern because both are young and talented, and both seem to have figured out the strike zone. The [...]

Opening Day Links and Open Thread

by Geoff Young on Mar 31, 2011 (22) Comments

Well, it’s here. First, we have links to whet your appetite…

Spring Sluggers

by Geoff Young on Mar 30, 2011 (7) Comments

There has been recent discussion about whether spring training statistics are predictive in some way. John Dewan at ACTA Sports suggests they might be: For the most part, we agree with the common perception that they don’t have value. A bad spring training means nothing. An average spring training tells us nothing. Nevertheless, we did [...]

Best Single-Game Hitting Performances in Padres History

by Geoff Young on Mar 17, 2011 (9) Comments

I’ve had this on my to-do list for a while. Now’s as good a time as any… Using Baseball-Reference’s Play Index tool, I found the top 300 single-game performances by Padres hitters as measured by RE24 and WPA. One of these measures runs, the other wins… so they’re not on the same scale. It makes [...]

Mailbag: On Lineup Construction

by Geoff Young on Mar 03, 2011 (10) Comments

We had some good discussion about possible lineups for the 2011 Padres in last week’s open thread. Several suggestions were made regarding specific order, but a few “big picture” comments caught my attention.

Has It Started Yet?

by Geoff Young on Feb 28, 2011 (3) Comments

Hey, look, a box score. The Padres lost, 13-12, to the Mariners (those rapscallions!) in 10 innings. Nick Hundley, James Darnell, and Logan Forsythe all homered for San Diego. Starter Tim Stauffer got shelled. Samuel Deduno took the loss.