Once again this year, the team from MadFriars.com will report on top performers throughout the San Diego Padres minor league system each month. These reports are not meant to be rankings of players in the organization, but rather news about performances worthy of attention.
El Paso Chihuahuas (Triple-A)
After many of the Padres' top prospects were traded away this off-season, the club needs the key players it held onto to produce. Certainly, Austin Hedges did more than even the most hopeful of Padres fans might have expected. The 22-year-old catcher mashed to the tune of a .355/.420/.581 line at the plate and continued to show that he is among the best defenders at any level of the game. After a disappointing 2014 at Double-A, Hedges and the organization have to be thrilled to see him get off to such a stellar beginning to the campaign.
Other early standouts include one-time top prospect Brett Wallace, who signed as a minor league free agent this winter. The 28-year-old slugger, who is playing for his former Arizona State University coach Pat Murphy, collected hits in 16 of 19 games and shares the team lead with three homers.
Outfielders Rymer Liriano and Abraham Almonte have both been major contributors at the top of the Chihuahuas lineup. Liriano got off to his customary cold start, but put together a nine game hitting streak on his way to a .271/.393/.443 line which includes a team-high 11 walks. Almonte, the 25-year-old center fielder who came to the Padres in exchange for Chris Denorfia last summer, owns a .282/.341/.500 line and paces the club with 18 runs scored. Poway native Alex Dickerson, who missed most of last year following surgery on his heel, has six extra-base hits in 49 at-bats
Not surprisingly, the pitching numbers in the offense-happy Pacific Coast League don't look quite as strong. Even so, Bryce Morrow and Robbie Erlin have both been solid in the rotation. Morrow, who signed out of the independent leagues in 2013, had under-the-radar success last year. Through four starts this season, he owns a 3.20 ERA. Erlin, something of a forgotten man in the organization even though he is only 24 years old, has a 3-1 record and 4.50 ERA, powered by a team-best 19 strikeouts.
In addition to the big league contributors in the Chihuahua bullpen, power righties Leonel Campos and Marcos Mateo have combined to blow away 29 hitters in 21.2 innings and have surrendered only one run each.
El Paso Player of the Month: Austin Hedges
San Antonio Missions (Double-A)
While everyone was watching to see what Hedges would do this season, 2012 supplemental first-rounder Travis Jankowski had dropped off many observers' radar. A stellar April has ensured people are paying attention now. The 23-year-old center fielder rode a 16-game hitting streak to a .356 average and a .460 on-base percentage that is good for third in the Texas League. Using his plus speed, Jankowski has swiped a league-leading 10 bases without getting caught.
With Jankowski dominating in the leadoff spot, shortstop Trea Turner navigated his first month waiting to go to the Washington Nationals quite well in the two-hole. The Padres' first-round pick last summer, Turner owns a .282/.354/.408 line after bypassing the High-A Cal League and jumping straight to Double-A. He continues to play a crisp defensive shortstop as well. After a disappointing 2014 season with Lake Elsinore, outfielder Alberth Martinez is off to a strong start in San Antonio. The 24-year-old Venezuelan has three of the club's nine total home runs and only has nine strikeouts in 60 plate appearances.
On the mound, the Missions have been paced by righties Colin Rea and Elliot Morris. Morris, who has a big fastball and is just starting to figure out how to use his two-seamer and breaking pitches, sports a 2.66 ERA along with a team-best 23 strikeouts in 20.1 innings over four starts, but has also paced the staff with 12 walks allowed. Watch that number in coming months to get a read on his development. Rea has been virtually unhittable, posting a 1.29 ERA while averaging seven innings across four starts. The big righty from Cascade, Iowa, has issued only two free passes in those 28 innings.
One time Cubs big-leaguer Jay Jackson struck out 16 hitters in only 10.1 innings of relief work to earn a promotion to El Paso. Righty Michael Dimock, who signed as a minor league free agent in the middle of last season, struck out 12 while allowing only three hits and no free passes in nine relief innings.
San Antonio Player of the Month: Travis Jankowski
Lake Elsinore Storm (Advanced-A)
The story of the month as the Storm limped to a disappointing 9-12 record and last place in the Cal League's South Division was Ryan Butler. A 23-year-old righty who the club took in the seventh-round last year, Butler owns the league's best ERA, a minuscule 0.92 mark across 29.1 innings. He has fastball that hit triple-digits in relief last year, but the Padres want to see if he can develop enough secondary stuff to stay in the rotation. The early returns have been quite impressive. Having never thrown a slider until just before the draft last year, if Butler can find any consistent feel for the pitch, he could emerge as a force for the organization.
The only teenage pitcher in the league, Ronald Herrera, posted a solid 3.27 ERA in his four starts for the Storm. Acquired in the Kyle Blanks trade last spring, the Venezuelan righty limited damage by walking only six in 22 innings and has surrendered only one homer. After leading the TinCaps rotation last year, righty Kyle Lloyd was moved to the bullpen to open the year for the Storm. He's already played his way back into a starting role, posting a 2.30 ERA and 19 strikeouts, against only four free passes, in 15.2 innings. His split-fingered fastball is one of the top pitches in the organization.
Things have been less rosy at the plate for the Storm, who sport a .239 team average. Among everyday players, only outfielders Nick Schulz and Auston Bousfield have an OPS of 800 or better. Bousfield, a 21-year-old fifth-rounder from Ole Miss, has a team-best .386 on-base percentage and has added to his value by swiping six bases in seven attempts. Schulz, who went undrafted out of San Jose State last year, has been the most consistent power threat in the lineup, slugging .446 through 20 games. In part-time action, Kyle Gaedele has a club-leading three homers as he tries to bounce back from a lost 2014 campaign.
Lake Elsinore Player of the Month: Ryan Butler
Fort Wayne TinCaps (Low-A)
The Midwest League is not a happy place to be a hitter in April, but even in the early-season cold, several TinCaps position players have gotten off to hot starts. One of them is the biggest name on the roster, 19-year-old Michael Gettys, the Padres' second pick last year. A gifted athlete, he has certainly performed in his first month of full-season ball, posting a .306/.333/.486 line while playing strong center field defense.
As well as the Georgia native has performed, the early-season stars have been a pair of 21-year-olds with very different histories. Nick Torres, the Padres' fourth-round pick out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last year, got off to a stellar start, collecting six multi-hit games in his first seven contests on his way to a team-best .500 slugging percentage.
However, the shocking top performer so far has been Duanel Jones. The big Dominican took an unprecedented step backward to Fort Wayne after spending the last two years in Lake Elsinore, but rather than sulk about the demotion, he has been on fire. Jones, who is still not far from the league median age, has the second-best batting average on the circuit and has posted his best strikeout and walk rates for any month since he came stateside in 2011. He finished April with a .3368/.406/.474 line.
Meanwhile the TinCaps pitching staff has been a mess, posting a league-worst 4.95 ERA through the first month of the season. No staff has fewer strikeouts and only one Midwest League team has issued more walks. Only relievers Kyle McGrath, a lefty who was a 36th-round pick out of Louisville last year, 20-year-old righty Jimmy Brasoban, and Wilson Santos, who has more walks than strikeouts, have posted ERAs below 3.00
Fort Wayne Player of the Month: Duanel Jones
System Player of the Month: Austin Hedges
The combination of his performance in April, pressure on the player, and upside for the organization make this an easy call for Hedges. The Padres surprised many by pulling the trigger with a quick call-up, but Hedges' glove has been ready for the majors for some time. The positive of his development managing the pitching staff and providing a reliable back-up to Derek Norris apparently outweighs the risk of reduced plate appearances right now in the mind of organization leadership. After April, it's hard to argue with the idea of seeing what he can offer.
