Padres Minor League Week in Review: April 10-16

MadFriars Player of the Week: RF Fernando Tatis Jr.

With 116 players on active rosters across the system, it seems strange to pick a player who has finished in the top-4 in the National League MVP twice, but what Fernando Tatis Jr. did in Triple-A last week made national headlines. In four games, Tatis hit an absurd .700/.700/1.650 with six homers and 13 RBI, a slash-line that looks like something out of a video game turned down to beginner mode. The performance was such a draw that Stadium, the national sports network, picked up the broadcast to show a wider audience. Thankfully for Padres fans, the Tatis era in El Paso has come to an end, and he is scheduled to join the Padres when he is eligible to come off of the restricted list Thursday. Despite playing just 8 games, Tatis Jr. is tied for second in the PCL in homers, one behind former big leaguer Jo Adell.

MadFriars Pitcher of the Week: RHP Nick Hernandez

While there were some good performances in the system last week, no one dominated quite like Nick Hernandez. The veteran hurler got into two games against Frisco and simply overmatched hitters, striking out 11 in four innings. Hernandez didn’t allow a run and gave up just two hits. The 28-year-old righthander signed with the Padres in the offseason after spending the previous six years in the Houston Astros system. Despite throwing just five innings this season, Hernandez is tied for fifth in the Texas League with 11 punchouts. He’s struck out a remarkable 68.4% of hitters he has faced this year. He pitched all of last year in Triple-A and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him back at that level soon.

El Paso Chihuahuas (Lost series to Albuquerque Isotopes, 4-2)

Top Performers: Beyond Tatis, Yorman Rodriguez impressed in a week when more eyes may have been on the Chihuahuas than ever before. Rodriguez hit .471/.500/.941 with four of his eight hits for extra bases, including two home runs on a night when Fernando hit three. Rodriguez, originally signed as a catcher, has played more first and third base in recent years after shoulder surgery limited his ability to stay behind the plate. That may change this year as the El Paso staff claims that the shoulder is where it was before surgery. With Brett Sullivan being promoted, more opportunities should be available. … On the mound, lefty Jay Groome had his best start of the year, going six innings and striking out five against a solitary walk. 

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Catcher Brett Sullivan had several good games before being called to the big club, yielding a .308/.333/.462 line that included a pair of doubles. … Matthew Batten, who now has 326 games with the Chihuahuas under his belt, had a rough week with nine strikeouts in five games in 26 plate appearances for a .130/.231/.174 line. On the season, his on-base percentage is still .368. … Luis Liberato hit .400/.522/.667 with a double and home run. The lefthander had a brief call-up last year with San Diego and is comfortable at all three outfield positions. … Righthander Julio Teheran had a better start than his numbers indicated, going five innings with six strikeouts against a pair of walks where the ball seemed to be doing everything in the zone except going straight for most of the night. … Jake Sanchez, from Brawley High School and veteran of the Mexican Leagues, had a great night in relief on Tuesday, with a shutout inning. Friday, he tossed three more, finishing the week with five strikeouts in four innings with no walks and just a single hit allowed. … Drew Carlton, who signed with the Padres in the offseason as a minor league free agent, also had a quality week with four shutout innings with four strikeouts against two hits. … One note on Tatis. After Friday’s game, I shared an elevator with five Isotopes players. One of them asked the others if anyone had ever seen anything like what Tatis did; “It was like he was playing Wiffle Ball out there.” Defensively, Tatis’s routes are still a work in progress, but he gave some indicators of what will come with a few excellent running catches in right and a difficult play against the wall. (John Conniff)

San Antonio Missions (Lost series against Frisco RoughRiders 4-2)

Top Performers: Left fielder Tirso Ornelas burst on the scene as a 17-year-old who posted an .807 OPS in the Arizona Summer League, but since then, he’s struggled to get to his raw power effectively. Now 23, the Tijuana native has showed reason for optimism early this year, elevating the ball more frequently than ever before. That translated to a .250/.458/.688 line powered by a pair of homers and six walks this week. Whether he can continue to keep the ball off the ground will be a key thing to watch this season. … Beyond Hernandez’s dominance, Brian Gonzelez‘s start was the highlight of the week for the Missions pitching staff. The 27-year-old lefty allowed just one unearned run in 3.2 innings while striking out five in a San Antonio victory Saturday.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Korry Howell bounced back from a rough opening series to hit .350/.350/.600 in 22 plate appearances and swiped two bases in the series. The 24-year-old, who has played exclusively in the outfield this season, is still looking for his first walk of the year. … Minor League free agent Brantley Bell was the only other Mission to finish the week with an OPS above .700. The 28-year-old minor league free agent signee went 5-for-15 with three doubles on the week. … It was a tough series for the rotation as Jackson Wolf, Duncan Snider and Efrain Contreras got hit hard. Wolf, the top starting prospect on the staff, didn’t make it out of the second inning, while Snider was tagged for eight hits in 3.1 innings. Contreras made two starts, but managed just 2.2 total innings and issued seven walks. … Nolan Watson gave the club three scoreless frames in his start. Out of the bullpen, Jared Koenig struck out five over three innings in a pair of run-free outings. (David Jay)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (Split series against Lake County Captains 3-3)

Top Performers: After five games, the TinCaps were 0-5 and had scored a minor league-worst four runs. Top prospect Jackson Merrill was 1-for-19, and the team as a whole was hitting .160. Then suddenly, the offense was clicking. Over the final four games of the series, the TinCaps went 3-1 and scored 33 runs, with Merrill going 7-for-17 with three doubles and a home run. In a weird statistical coincidence nine games into the year, Merrill has two walks, two strikeouts and two stolen bases.  In both games he walked, he also struck out and stole a base. … The TinCaps hit five home runs during the series, but none bigger than Carlos Luis’s grand slam on Saturday.  Through the first nine games, he leads the club with a .300/.417/.500 slash line. … Righty Ryan Bergert was one of the few pitchers to throw twice in the series.  The 2021 sixth round pick tossed five strong innings allowing only one run on four hits, three walks and six strikeouts.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: After struggling in his first start of the year, Victor Lizarraga rebounded to allow just one earned run over four innings.  The Padres’ #5 prospect lowered his ERA from 16.88 to 8.10. … After allowing just one baserunner in his first three-inning start, #9 prospect Adam Mazur, struggled to find consistency this week. He allowed three runs on five hits over three innings while striking out three.  … Padres #12 prospect Garrett Hawkins, made his season debut on Wednesday. Last year’s Cal League Pitcher of the Month in both April and July tossed three innings of one run ball despite three walks. … Jairo Iriarte, who comes in at #13 on our list, struck out four over three innings in his start this week and now has 10 Ks over six innings while allowing three earned runs on the year.  … Joshua Mears (#15), continues to be plagued by contact issues. After going 4-for-7 with a double and walk between Thursday andFriday, Mears went 0-for-8 with six strikeouts over the weekend. He has now struck out at least once in all but one game this year and has a 41.4% K rate. … Rounding out the plethora of top 20 prospects on the roster, #17 Brandon Valenzuela only caught two games over the week, going 1-for-7. … The TinCaps got their first four hit game of the year on Saturday from catcher Colton Bender. He went 5-for-9 over two starts on the week. … Despite only hitting .219 so far this season, center fielder Jakob Marsee leads the club and is ranked fifth in the league with four stolen bases. (Ben Davey)

Lake Elsinore Storm (won series at Inland Empire 66ers 4-2)

Top Performers: The Storm embarked on their first road trip of 2023 and won the series against Inland Empire. Lake Elsinore won the first three games of the six-game set before dropping the next two. A win in the final game of Sunday’s doubleheader gave them the series victory. Through nine games, the Storm are 7-2 and have allowed just 17 runs. … Last week, we wrote about the performance of catcher Anthony Vilar and he followed that up with another fantastic effort against Inland Empire. In four games, the former Miami infielder-turned-catcher hit .300/.563/.600 with a double, a triple, and six walks. Through two weeks,Vilar has a remarkable .438/.609/1.000 slash-line. Vilar is just shy of enough plate appearances to qualify among league leaders but if he did, he’d be the league leader in OPS by a wide margin. The 24-year-old is one of the players to watch on what appears to be a very good team. … Infielder Graham Pauley also had a big week for the Storm. The former Duke infielder finished right behind Pauley with a 1.027 OPS, collecting a double, homer, and four RBI. In a small sample last season, Pauley impressed with his bat in his cameo with the Storm. So far in 2023, the momentum has carried over. The Georgia native is fourth in the Cal League with a 1.102 OPS. … On the pitching side of things, 21-year-old Jesus Gonzalez turned in an excellent outing in relief on Tuesday. The southpaw pitched 4.2 innings, allowing just one run while striking out seven. The strikeouts stood out, as a season ago Gonzalez had the lowest K/9 among any Cal League pitcher who worked more than 90 innings. He opened this season as the long-man in a bullpen supporting a rotation that features a lot of youth.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: After slugging over .500 in his brief appearance in the Cal League last year, 18-year-old Samuel Zavala had another quiet series. In five games, Zavala went 3-for-18 with four walks and nine strikeouts. While no one can draw any conclusions after just eight games, the young outfielder is struggling to make the same kind of contact as last year. He’s striking out in 38% of his plate appearances this season – up from the 26% K-rate he produced with the Storm in 2022. There are some positives to look at, however. Zavala is walking in 18% of his plate appearances which is significantly higher than last year. It’s still way too early to try any conclusions on Zavala (or anyone), who doesn’t turn 19 until July. He will have a chance to right the ship a bit at home this week against Modesto. … Left-hander Robby Snelling made his second career start on Saturday and it ended much like his first – with zeroes on the board. Snelling worked three innings and allowed just one hit, although he did walk a pair. Snelling racked up five strikeouts, beating the three he notched in his previous outing. The young lefty has allowed just two hits in his six innings of professional work. For now, it seems like Snelling will work in abbreviated outings as he gets acclimated to professional baseball. … Right-hander Isaiah Lowe pitched on Friday night and made the most of his opportunity. Lowe completed 3.1 innings and gave up an unearned run on four hits. He didn’t walk anyone and he punched out four. Lowe signed with the Padres for $400,000 after being drafted by the club in the 11^th round last season, turning down an opportunity to play college baseball with Wake Forest. Lowe has touched 97 mph with his fastball and has a physical frame that should allow him to find another notch or two on his heater. (Kevin Charity).