Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Latos looking like the real deal after 3 starts

Wednesday July 29, 2009

After 3 major league starts, Mat Latos has 2 wins and a 2.70 ERA after throwing an absolute gem today against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Band Box, er..I mean Ballpark.

Latos gave up only one hit in 7 innings tonight, it just happened to be a solo home run by Jerry Hairston. One bad pitch in 86 is a pretty damn good day on the mound.

It was his longest appearance of the season and brought his total innings to 16 2/3 for the Padres and 89 for the season.

The Padres front office has said they would like to limit him to about 100 innings this year, about double his 55 innings in 2008, so we may only see 2 more starts from him before he is shut down for the rest of the season.

Watching Latos dominate so far this year and the official announcement that Sean Gallagher is the PTBNL in the Scott Hairston trade, gives me hope for the 2010 Padres pitching staff.

Looking ahead to the 2010 MLB June draft.

Wednesday July 29, 2009

Chances are the Padres will draft in the 2nd to 5th position in the 2010 draft.

So who may be available then?

16 year old Uber-prospect Bryce Harper will more than likely be gone at that point to the Washington Nationals.

So who are the top dozen or so other prospects?

Let’s start with the College Bats
Christian Colon – SS – Call State Fullerton – A slick fielder with a good eye, but not much power at the plate.
Blake Forsythe – C – Tennessee – If you are wondering, yes they are brothers. Blake may be the better hitter.
Yasmani Grandal – C – Miami – A power hitting catcher with patience at the plate and a really strong arm. He didn’t hit for high average(.299), but took a lot of walks.

Now the College Pitchers
Justin Grimm – RHP – Georgia – Grimm brings a mid 90’s fastball, but needs work on his breaking stuff.
Anthony Renaudo – RHP – LSU – Renaudo has a low 90’s fastball with good control and movement and 2 plus breaking pitches. In the past I would have said he was a Padres type pitcher.
Kyle Blair – RHP - USD - A top 50 prospect coming out of high school, he was chosen in the 5th round by the Dodgers, but chose to go to USD instead. Brings a mid 90’s fastball & a nice change.
Nick Tepesch – RHP – Missouri - The soft tossing pitcher features a 89-92 mph fastball as part of his 4 pitch repertoire. While he has exceptional "stuff" he struggled with control this past season for the Tigers.

How about the High School Bats
Bryce Harper – C – Left high school at 16 so he could go pro. Enough said
Austin Wilson – OF – Harvard-Westlake HS, CA – POWER, POWER and MORE POWER!! A True 5 tool player, this kid has hit 500 foot home runs, has the best high school arm I have ever seen and has 6.4 speed in the 60. He could be a monster.
Trey Griffin – OF/SS – MLK HS, GA – Extremely athletic, Griffin may end up being a SS as a pro. He hits for average and power to all fields and has good speed in the field and on the base paths.

And finally the High School Arms
Yordy Cabrera – RHP/SS – Lakelan HS, FL – Born in the Dominican, Cabrera is one of a number of players that could go either way. His 96 mph fastball and good control for a HS player makes me think that teams will be drafting him as a pitcher.
A.J. Cole – RHP – Oviedo HS, FL – A 6’4” power pitcher who throws 95-96 now with room to grow. Cole is at the top of the list of prep pitching prospects.
Rudy Acosta – RHP – Mount Miguel HS, CA – A 6’ 5” local boy who throws 90-93 mph now and has 2 plus breaking pitches. At only 180 lbs he has a lot of filling in to do and his velocity should improve over time.
Justin O’ Connor – RHP/SS - Cowan HS, IN – Another of the 2 way players that should go high in the draft, O’Connor has a 96 mph fastball but needs work on his breaking pitches.
Cam Bedrosian - RHP - East Coweta HS, GA – Bloodlines are the reason I have included Bedrosian here. His father, Steve Bedrosian, was a MLB reliever for years so Cam will know better than most what it takes to succeed as a pro and Cam may have more talent than his dad did at his age.

I included 5 prep pitchers because they seem to be the players that we see the most change in during their senior years, for good and bad.

The 2010 June Amateur Draft is much too far away to predict either who will go 2nd to 5th or who the Padres will take, but I hope this has given you some players to watch during the 2009/2010 College and High School season.

Padres are leading the league in a dubious stat.

Wednesday July 29, 2009

No, I am not talking about player days on the DL or lowest batting average or runs scored. They do lead the league in all those categories.

The disgusting stat the Padres are leading the league in is, drum roll please –
Strike outs looking with men on base.

Can you say I really don’t care any clearer?

Why was Correia batting with a man on base & 2 outs in the 6th inning of a tie game?

Wednesday July 29, 2009

The pitcher batting in a crucial situation in a tie game with the fastest man on the team on base? When a single scores a run?

Do the Padres have that little faith in their pinch hitters?

Do they have that much faith in Correia, a guy with a 5 ERA, to shut down the Reds until the Padres get another base runner?

Are the Padres really trying to win games?

Or is Black just trying to get the pitcher 6 innings again?

Result - Correia strikes out looking and now the Padres go into the bottom half of the inning having blown an opportunity to score a go ahead run.

Josh Geer he has proved he is a minor league pitcher.

Wednesday July 29, 2009

In 17 starts and 102.2 IP, Josh Geer has given up 116 hits, 27 home runs, a .288 BAA and is sporting a 5.96 era.

When:
You have given up more than 10% more hits than IP
More than 23% of the hits against you go for home runs
You are giving up 1.6 home runs per game you start

You are no longer major league material.

EDIT - Today it was announced that Josh Geer will be going to the pen and Edward Mujica will be taking his place in the rotation.

Everth Cabrera bounces back.

Wednesday July 29, 2009

Everth Cabrera has rebounded from a prolonged slump at the plate (after he returned from the DL on June 19th his BA dropped from .333 on June 20 to .220 on July 24th), to go 12 for 24 with 7 stolen bases over the past 7 games and improve his BA to .267.

Cabrera's defense has been one of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal stretch for the Padres, while his bat was beginning to look like he belonged in A ball.

Now he is looking like he could be the Padres SS of the future.

We could be looking at one of the only good things to come out of having a bad season. Cabrera would not have played if the Padres were in contention. He would be riding the bench. So setting a major league record for injuries and having the season go down the drain early has allowed the Padres to see what Cabrera can do playing on a daily basis.

Henry Blanco was supposed to give the Padres a boost?

Wednesday July 29, 2009

Henry Blanco was supposed to give the Padres a boost?

WTF? The guy is hitting .218. How can he give any team a lift? How bad do you have to be to have a guy hitting .218 be an improvement?

Well maybe you have to be 39-62 like the Padres are right now. Alfonzo will still play half the games even with Blanco back from the DL and hes hitting about .190.

All I can say is ouch!