Ruddy Giron had a season to remember for the TinCaps in 2015. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
While no players will be on the field in a Padres uniform in the near future, the organization made a series of transactions impacting players from big league camp all the way down to the Dominican Summer League roster.
Last week, the team announced Esteban Quiroz as the player to be named later in the deal that brought Tommy Pham over from Tampa and released minor league free agent signee Gordon Beckham. Both infielders received non-roster invitations to camp this spring.
Esteban Quiroz makes hard contact for El Paso. (Photo: Jose Salgado)
Quiroz, 28, spent one year in the organization after the Padres acquired him in a roster-shuffling deal following the 2018 campaign. A long-time contributor in the Mexican Pacific League, the undersized second baseman posted a .271/.384/.586 line that was 22% above league average production for El Paso in 2019.
With Owen Miller and Jake Cronenworth – the other part of the Padres’ return for Quiroz, Xavier Edwards and Hunter Renfroe – likely to take the majority of playing time in the Chihuahuas’ middle infield if and when the 2020 campaign begins, Quiroz’s role was somewhat unsettled. While Quiroz is essentially big-league ready, he does not require a spot on the 40-man roster.
Beckham’s chances of making the big league club took a major hit when the Padres signed Brian Dozier after Spring Training began. A one-time first-rounder, Beckham has been a below-replacement level player while suiting up for six different organizations over the past six years.
On Monday, the organization released pitchers Ramiro Batista, Starlin Cordero, Dominic DiSabatino, Oliber Guzman and Dylan Hoffman and infielder Ruddy Giron.
Giron, now 23, originally signed in 2013. After a rough stateside debut in 2014, he made a splash with a stellar half-season in Fort Wayne a year later. However, he never recaptured the magic of that summer and saw diminishing playing time over the last two years. He managed just a .560 OPS in 29 games across two levels in 2019. His departure leaves just nine players who remain in the organization from before A.J. Preller became General Manager.
None of the pitchers released had reached full-season ball. Cordero, 21, whose fastball could hit triple digits, never found a way to channel it consistently. In 92.1 innings across four seasons in the US, Cordero walked 71 and uncorked 32 wild pitches.
DiSabatino and Guzman each returned to action in 2019 after missing two seasons following Tommy John surgeries. DiSabatino, who turned 24 last week, logged only 37.1 professional innings after earning a day-three maximum signing bonus out of Harford Junior College in 2016.
The Padres selected Hoffman, 25, in the 39th round out of Waldorf University last summer. The son of third base coach Glenn Hoffman appeared in six Arizona League games. Batista, who signed last April as a 20-year-old out of the Dominican Republic, allowed 52 runners to reach in 23.2 innings in the DSL.
In a typical spring, the team releases between 20 and 30 minor league players prior to setting full-season rosters. With the season in limbo, it is unclear how many additional moves await before action resumes.
[…] The organization released six players at the beginning of April, headlined by infielder Ruddy Giron. For context, the Padres released 33 minor leaguers last year between March and April and 23 during the same period in 2018. With a minor league season in limbo, a shortened draft, and looming reductions in the size of minor league rosters in 2021, the release of 32 players who weren’t considered top prospects in a deep system shouldn’t come as a surprise. […]
[…] the deal for outfielder Hunter Renfroe, top prospect Xavier Edwards, and eventually Esteban Quiroz as a player to be named later. But the most interesting player in the deal may end up being Cronenworth, a potential two-way […]