San Diego Padres Minor League Week in Review: April 9 through April 14

Top Performers: After winning the series’ first game, the Padres Triple-A affiliate dropped the next five in cold, wet  Sacramento. After being sent down from the big club to get regular at-bats, Graham Pauley, 23, let loose with six hits in his next five games, posting a 1.013 OPS as he collected a pair of home runs and two walks. Defensively, he’s appeared at third base three times and once at each of the outfield corners. Last year with the Storm, TinCaps, and Missions, he received limited time in the outfield, all in left. … Jeremiah Estrada, who the Padres claimed off waivers from the Cubs in the offseason, had an excellent week with six strikeouts in two innings across a pair of outings. He gave up one walk and a hit. The right-hander works with a four-seamer topping at 96 mph to accompany a slider and an occasional changeup.

Others of Note: Kevin Plawecki, 33, has seen time at both catcher and first base with the Chihuahuas this season. He’s off to a hot start at the plate with three doubles and five hits in three games and 12 plate appearances. … Clay Dungan, 28, a left-handed hitting infielder the organization picked up in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft from the Kansas City Royals, continues to perform well with a .955 OPS this week in 21 plate appearances with five hits, three of them doubles, and five walks. On the season, Dungan has 22 RBIs in his 14 games with El Paso. .. Right-hander Nolan Watson, 27, was the best of the starters this week with a 1.35 ERA in two starts and 6.2 innings with six strikeouts against two walks. Unfortunately, he left his second start after just one inning, having already been visited by the trainer. His impressive performance reflects Watson’s ability to control the game and limit the opponents’ scoring opportunities. Watson was a first-round pick by Kansas City in 2015 and joined the Padres organization in 2022. Last year, he threw 126 innings between El Paso and Double-A San Antonio for a 5.21 ERA, consistently showing his endurance and ability to perform over a long season. … Finally, lefty Paul Fry, 31, who was in the Blue Jays organization last year, had two appearances, only allowed one hit without giving up any runs across four innings. Fry mainly relies on a slider with a low 90s fastball to offset it, demonstrating his pitching strategy and style. (John Conniff)

San Antonio Missions (Split series with NW Arkansas, 3-3)

Top Performers: After scoring 39 runs in three games against the Sod Poodles in Amarillo, the Missions scored just 17 in six at home against NW Arkansas, but they managed to split the series at Wolff Stadium. San Antonio did not homer in the entire six-game set. … Nathan Martorella was one of the few offensive bright spots for the Missions, as the first baseman continues to hit. The 23-year-old went 6-for-17 with six walks and a pair of RBI. He did not have an extra-base hit during the series. Through nine games, Martorella is hitting .452/.561/.613 with nine walks and just five strikeouts. … After a shaky 2024 debut, Robby Snelling looked sharp on Friday night, earning the win. Snelling went five innings and allowed just one earned run. Snelling had some issues with free passes late last season with Double-A, but his command was excellent Friday night. Through two starts, Snelling has a 2.00 ERA. …  25-year-old Jared Kollar made his first start on Wednesday night and pitched well, earning the win. He pitched five innings, allowing just one run on three hits and striking out five without allowing a walk. The former undrafted free agent shares a rotation with some of the Padres’ top prospects, but the former Rutgers hurler has more than held his own. Last season, Kollar pitched to a 4.62 in 12 starts with the Missions. 

Top Prospects and Others of Note: The season’s first two weeks have not been kind to Jakob Marsee. After a quiet start in Amarillo, the former Central Michigan star had a rough series. Marsee went 2-for-22 with two doubles, four walks, and eight strikeouts. In the season’s first nine games, the 22-year-old has seen a sharp increase in his strikeout rate. After punching out in just 21% of his plate appearances in 2023, that number is over 31% in the early going. Despite the contact issues, Marsee has walked in 17.8% of his plate appearances. The lefthanded-hitting outfielder can do damage on the basepaths, but he will need to make more contact to utilize his skillset. … Woo-Suk Go made a pair of relief outings, finishing on a positive note Sunday with a scoreless inning, picking up the save in the process. Go struggled earlier in the week, allowing a couple of runs to score in extra innings. Go did not walk a batter in those three innings while striking out four. (Kevin Charity)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (Won the series vs Lake County Captains 3-2)

Top Performers: Tyler Robertson is off to a hot start and delivered the team’s first walk-off win this week. He had eight hits in his last four games, including four doubles and a home run. Even with the 0-fer game, the first game of the week, Robertson finished the week batting .533/.563/1.000… After ending last season by giving up 12 earned runs over 15 innings in Fort Wayne, righty Henry Baez started this campaign with back-to-back scoreless appearances. This week, he pitched four scoreless innings, allowing two hits, three walks, and two strikeouts. His command has been spotty to start the season (five walks in six innings), but he has a .158 average against.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Any list of Fort Wayne prospects begins with Ethan Salas. The 17-year-old had a single, double, and two walks in the first two games of the series but went hitless over the weekend. He is currently hitting .222/.323/.259 with two stolen bases this season. … Homer Bush Jr. had a very pedestrian week. He had one hit in four of the five games, scored four runs, and stole three bases, but no extra-base hits and only one RBI. He is hitting .286/.355/.286 eight games in. … Our favorite Aussie, 23-year-old Jarryd Dale, returned to Fort Wayne this week and made his presence known. He had four hits in three games: a triple, two runs, 3 RBI, and a walk. … Outfielder Kai Murphy collected at least one hit in every gaed, hitting .357/.471/.500 for the week. … First baseman Griffin Doersching is hitting .345/.424/.552 to start the season. He single-handedly won the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader when he fell a triple shy of the cycle in a 3-0 TinCaps win. Doersching has 10 hits in eight games this season; He had 10 hits in the entire month of April last year in Lake Elsinore (.516 OPS). .. Righty Enmanuel Pinales made his debut on Tuesday and looked like every bit the sleeper prospect. He allowed one earned run over four innings, striking out five and walking one. The Dominican right-hander is trying to build off the 2.87 ERA he had in 37.2 innings in Lake Elsinore last year. … Glass half full, top prospect Dylan Lesko struck out four in three innings, allowing only one hit. Glass half empty, he allowed four walks and was consistently behind batters all afternoon. Lesko is now two years post-TJ, and command should be coming back, but he could not locate his fastball for whatever reason. He is still cruised, throwing mainly his changeup and curve for strikes. … Lefty Jagger Haynes hopes to finally have a healthy season after missing large parts of each of the last four years. .. Two straight rainouts pushed his season debut back to Thursday when he pitched with some rust. Haynes recorded one out, walked four, and gave up two hits. He’ll be hoping for better weather and less rust this week. … Braden Nett also had a disappointing debut. The flame-throwing RHP, who turned heads at the Arizona Fall League, faired slightly better than Haynes. He picked up four outs before allowing four earned runs. He walked two, struck out three, and allowed four hits. … Lefty Ryan Och has faced 12 batters this season and struck out 50% without a walk. (Ben Davey)

Lake Elsinore Storm (Lost series at Modesto Nuts, 3-1)

Top Performers: The Storm hit the road for their first trip of the year. They lost three of the first four games to Modesto, then had their last two games canceled due to rain, leaving the field unplayable. Lake Elsinore returns home this week to take on Visalia. … The Storm struggled offensively in Modesto, but Jay Beshears swung a hot bat again. The former Duke infielder went 6-for-14 in four games last week with two doubles, five walks, and four strikeouts. Through the season’s first two weeks, Beshears is second in the league with a 1.325 OPS. … Southpaw Javier Chacon appeared out of the bullpen and looked sharp, earning the win. The 21-year-old Cuban hurler worked four innings and allowed an unearned run on three hits, walking one and hitting a batter while striking out four. Chacon has battled injuries throughout his time in the system, and when healthy, he possesses swing-and-miss stuff. Last year with the Storm, he struck out 19 batters in 17 innings. On the flip side, he walked 18 batters in those 17 innings. In a much smaller sample this season, he’s issued just one free pass in five innings. 

Top Prospects and Others of Note: After struggling in the opening series, outfielder Dillon Head looked much better against Modesto. Head hit a collective .263/.300/.368, with two doubles, an RBI, and a stolen base. He struck out four times in 20 plate appearances. Through seven games, Head has a .508 OPS. … Romeo Sanabria went 6-for-18 but failed to tally an extra-base hit. Through two weeks, the Miami native has a .728 OPS. … Outfielder Ryan Wilson had a nice week, going for 7-for-14 with three RBI. All of Wilson’s hits were singles. Last season at Davidson, the former ninth-rounder had 17 homers with an OPS north of 1.200. … Hard-throwing reliever Kobe Robinson appeared in two games and delivered for the Storm, throwing 3.1 innings of shutout ball. He allowed just two hits and struck out three batters. The Tennessee native is back for his third campaign with the Storm. He has a fastball capable of touching the upper 90s but has struggled with bouts of wildness. Given his talent and success, Robinson could get an opportunity in Fort Wayne sooner rather than later. (Kevin Charity)