PadresRunDown.com Top-Shelf Analysis of Padres Minor Leagues and Prospects

Padres MiLB, July 20, Players of the Day

Hitter(s) of the Day

Edinson Rincon (SS): 1-2, 2B, R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, SO, HBP

Dan Robertson (Low-A): 2-3, 2B, R

Craig Cooper (AA): 3-4, 2B, R

Chad Huffman (AAA): 2-5, 2 2B, RBI, SO

Pitcher(s) of the Day

Chris Fetter (Low-A): 4.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR – Low-A debut

Erik Davis (Low-A): 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR – Monday’s game

Brad Brach (Low-A): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR

Anthony Bass (High-A): 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR – High-A debut

Corey Kluber (AA) 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 0 HR – AA debut

Commentary

Edinson Rincon received high praise from Baseball America in their July 17 Prospect Hot Sheet and I noted that here on Friday. After posting that, I saw on MadFriars.com that Denis Savage talked to a scout about the Eugene squad and the scout had this to say about Rincon:

“I wouldn’t trade that guy for anything,” the scout said. “He has tremendous tools at the plate and makes it look easy. He is strong, has a great approach, and will hit a ton of homers one day.

“The only thing he needs is for someone to hit him a million ground balls. I kind of think his lower body hasn’t caught up to his upper body. It looks like his legs don’t know how to move that frame. I think he will be fine defensively, especially with that bat.”

Nice!

I do not like unearned runs. They are an unknown variable that can potentially compromise my analysis. In Monday night’s Eugene Emeralds at Tri-City Dust Devils tilt, Nick Greenwood and his defense got into trouble. Here is the action from the bottom of the fourth (from the MiLB.com recap):

- Kent Matthes reaches on fielding error by third baseman Vincent Belnome.

- Joseph Sanders flies out to center fielder Jason Codiroli.

- Ben Paulsen singles on a ground ball to right fielder Ty Wright. Kent Matthes to 3rd.

- With Orlando Sandoval batting, wild pitch by Nicholas Greenwood, Ben Paulsen to 2nd.

- Orlando Sandoval walks.

- Austin Rauch called out on strikes.

- Alexander Feinberg singles on a ground ball to left fielder Matt Vern. Kent Matthes scores. Ben Paulsen scores. Orlando Sandoval to 2nd.

- Joey Wong reaches on fielding error by second baseman Dean Anna. Orlando Sandoval scores. Alexander Feinberg to 2nd.

- Tim Wheeler strikes out swinging.

As you can see, Mathes reaching base was no fault of Greenwood’s, however, Greenwood contributed with a wild pitch, a walk, and a single. Because of all the un-earned runs, I cannot justify putting the outing in the Pitchers of the Day list.

Here is Nick’s line from Monday night:

5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO, 0 HR

Chris Fetter is an older (collegiate senior) draftee at 23 years old. So he needs to move quickly. After 22.2 innings in the short-season Northwest League, the Padres promoted Fetter to Low-A Midwest League.

How do you rank/rate a guy like Brad Brach? It used to be that you developed starting pitchers and if they didn’t succeed as starters at the highest levels of the minors THEN you tried them as relievers. Now teams draft and develop pitcher as relievers from the beginning. Brad Brach certainly hopes the Padres believe in the latter paradigm… On the negative side of the equation, Brach features a fairly average fastball and changes speeds off that and he is old for his league (23). On the positive side, Brach has thrown 44 innings so far this season and has allowed 19 hits, 8 walks, and 1 home run compared to 61 strikeouts… Seriously, top 20? 25? 30? Somewhere below that?