San Diego Padres Minor League Week In Review: April 16-21

El Paso Chihuahuas (Spit series with Albuquerque Isotopes)

Top Performers: Nate Mondou, 29, had a big week with a pair of home runs and three doubles and two walks for a .353/.429/.882 line. The left-handed hitting  5-foot-7 former Wake Forest Demon Deacon had a solid year with the Triple-A Charlotte Knights last season with a .814 OPS. He has primarily played first base this year but has also seen time at second and third base. … Lake Bachar, 29, continued to make a strong push for a big league opportunity with 3.2 scoreless innings in three appearances with five strikeouts against one walk. Not far behind was Jeremiah Estrada, 25, who also tossed three scoreless innings with six strikeouts without giving up a walk or a hit. Estrada’s fastball has an average velocity of 96 mph, and on the season, he has an impressive 2.35 ERA in the Pacific Coast League, which is impressive.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Graham Pauley, 23, only stuck around for four games this week but still found time to blast two home runs and pick up five walks and a single against a one strikeout. Defensively, most of his starts were at third base, but he also had a pair of games in the outfield, where he had some limited experience (15 games) last year. … Tirso Ornelas, 24, is off to a very slow start but had a nice bounce-back week with a .313/.389/.750 line with four extra-base hits in five games. … Big league veteran Kevin Plawecki (1.112 OPS) and Bryce Johnson, 28, (1.075 OPS) rounded out a good week for the Chihuahuas offense. Plawecki was with the Nationals, Rangers, and Padres organizations last year and has been splitting his time between first base and catcher. Like much of the Chihuahuas’ roster this year, Johnson also came via minor league free agency. The switch-hitter logged 30 games in the majors with the Giants last year, posting a .163 batting average. He had a solid .280/.373/.455 line with Triple-A Sacramento. Defensively, he can play all three outfield positions but has been El Paso’s everyday center fielder. … Daniel Camarena, 31, had a solid week, giving up just one run over a team-high 5.2 innings. The former Cathedral Catholic star had a rough go of it in the home opener, allowing five runs in two innings, but since then, he has only given up one in 8.2 innings. … Austin Davis – who owns the organization’s best nickname, “Big Fudge” – was nearly perfect in his two innings of work this week. He faced six batters, struck out five, and got the other to pop out to catcher. The 31-year-old, who saw action in the majors every year between 2018 and 2022, finished last year in the American Association after getting released from Triple-A by the Astros. The 6-foot-4 lefty has 10 strikeouts against three walks in 7.2 innings for El Paso. (John Conniff)

San Antonio Missions (Lost series to Corpus Christi Hooks 2-4)

Top Performers: It was a slow week for the Missions, who dropped four of six at Corpus Christi and managed just nine runs total in the losses. Catcher Brandon Valenzuela paced the offense, going 5-for-16 with five walks, though he had just one double among the hits. The 23-year-old switch-hitter had started the year slowly, but should be a key contributor in the middle of the San Antonio lineup all year. … Righty Adam Mazur turned in the best of several strong starts for the Missions, blanking the Hooks over five innings. The Padres’ second-round pick in 2022, Mazur is off to a stellar start to the year, allowing just one earned run through his first 16 innings while posting a 16:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He came into the year looking to land his changeup more consistently, and has had good success with it so far.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Lefties Robby Snelling and Austin Krob each held Corpus in check in their starts. Snelling walked three for the second time in three starts, but allowed only two hits and one run over 4.2 innings. On the season, Texas League batters have managed just a .149 average against him. Krob, 24, struck out a season-best six batters over five innings in his one-run outing. After walking just over 9% of the batters he faced across the two Single-A levels last year, he has allowed just two free passes in his first 10 innings. … Ryan Bergert needed 77 pitches to get through 4.2 innings but has an impressive 17:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 12.2 innings. He’ll look to build on his efficiency as the season continues. … The Missions bullpen got four strong innings from both righty Jason Blanchard and lefty Omar Cruz. Blanchard, 26, didn’t allow a run now has 14 strikeouts without issuing a walk in 9.2 innings. Cruz, who the Padres claimed back from the Pirates organization in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft, gave up one run across two outings, but struck out five and allowed only two hits. … Jakob Marsee continued a slow start, going just 4-for-24 with six strikeouts against just four walks. When he got on, the fleet outfielder did damage, swiping three bases on the week to push his league leading total on the year to eight. … Outfielder Robert Perez, Jr. was the only Mission aside from Valenzuela with an OPS over .700 for the week. The 23-year-old, who had spent his career with the Mariners before signing as a minor league free agent over the winter, hit .238/.360/.429 with a homer in South Texas. … After a scorching first 10 games, Nathan Martorella had a tough week against the Hooks, going 5-for-26 (.192) with seven strikeouts while playing in all six contests. (David Jay)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (Won series in Dayton, 4-2)

Top Performers: Big first baseman Griffin Doersching single-handedly won Thursday’s game. He homered in the first, broke a tie with a home run in the fourth, then had a two-out double in extra innings to drive home the game-winning run. The 25-year-old finished the day with ten total bases and finished the week with seven hits and 14 bases. He is hitting .298/.355/.526 to begin the season. … Relievers continue to be the story of the TinCaps’ early success. Righty Ruben Galindo tossed 4.1 more scoreless innings, striking out seven without allowing a walk. In eight innings this year, he has allowed only five baserunners while not allowing a run, and has struck out eight. Not to be outdone lefty Ryan Och is finally healthy and shoving.  The 2021 draft pick threw 4.1 scoreless innings over two appearances. He allowed two hits, walked two, and struck out eight.  He has not allowed a run this year while collecting 14 strikeouts in seven innings.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Ethan Salas, the youngest player in A-Ball, collected four hits including three doubles in 18 at-bats. Encouragingly, he drew five walks against only four strikeouts. On the season, he is hitting .222/.345/.311.  …  Dylan Lesko had a less-than-glowing start to his game. He missed the zone with 11 of his first 13 pitches as he struggled to locate his fastball. He got out of the inning unharmed and allowed only two hits and one walk over his next four innings. In 12 innings this season, Lesko has only given up three hits but has walked 10. …  It was a tough week for Homer Bush Jr.  The outfielder collected just one hit in 14 at-bats though he did pinch run in Sunday’s game and stole his sixth base of the season before scoring the winning run. …  Albert Fabian was a run-scoring machine, crossing the plate seven times over a three-game span. He finished the week with seven hits, three doubles and three walks.  … After collecting only one out in his first start, Jagger Haynes set down five in his outing last week.  On the encouraging side, the lefty struck out four, but he walked three and gave up four hits. The 21-year-old power lefty is still making his way back from multiple injuries.  …. Righty Braden Nett has also been plagued by command issues.  He walked two over 1.2 innings this week, and in three innings this season has walked four and allowed six earned runs. … Henry Baez set a season-high with five strikeouts over three innings in his start. The 21-year-old’s bout with wildness continued as he walked two batters and hit two more. In nine innings this year he has walked seven, but has a 2.00 ERA thanks to holding opponents to a .212 average. … Tyler Morgan, last year’s 14^th round pick, made the most of his one relief appearance, continuing the bullpen’s strong showing. The righthander tossed four scoreless innings without walking a batter and struck out five. … Undrafted free agent Joan Gonzalez, who is already 25, collected his first save of the year.  He allowed one baserunner over three innings, striking out three.  He’s allowed one earned run over 6.1 innings this season. … Minor league free agent signee Mitch Miller, 26, allowed two hits and no runs over 4.2 innings striking out six. (Ben Davey)

Lake Elsinore Storm (Won series vs Visalia Rawhide 5-1)

Top Performers: The Storm have feasted on the Visalia Rawhide the past few seasons and last week was no exception. Lake Elsinore took five of six games at the Diamond. After a weekend and two full weeks of play, the Storm sit with an 8-5 record, a game behind Rancho Cucamonga. … Romeo Sanabria demolished Rawhide pitching loudly and frequently. Sanabria, 21, went 8-for-21, with a double, two homers, six RBI, and seven walks. He finished the series with an outstanding 1.250 OPS. The Miami native has played in all 13 games for the Storm and his wRC+ of 153 (league average is 100) ranks just outside of the top ten in the Cal League. … Carson Montgomery made two appearances  – one in relief and his regularly scheduled start. In five total innings, the Florida State product did not allow a run. He capped off the week with four shutout innings in a 10-0 Storm win on Sunday. Across his two appearances, Montgomery walked just one while striking out seven while relying on the best overall stuff on the Storm pitching staff.

 

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Dillon Head had a nice week at the plate and made several nice plays in the outfield. Head hit .333/.484/.500 with four multi-hit efforts, including his first homer of 2024. His excellent week also added 70 points to his batting average, which stands at .254 after three weeks. The Storm have moved him down to second in the order and thus far the results have been outstanding. … Outfielder/first baseman Ryan Wilson continues to produce despite not having an extra-base hit on the books this year. The former Davidson outfielder drew 10 walks, producing a .531 on-base percentage. Wilson scored six runs in the series, hitting at the top of the order for Lake Elsinore. He ranks third in the circuit with 16 walks and his .333 batting average is the seventh-best in the circuit. … Jay Beshears also continued to be an on-base machine. The infielder drew eight walks in 26 plate appearances but he failed to notch an extra-base hit. His keen eye at the plate led to the strange slash-line of .222/.464/.222. Beshears ranks second in the league with a 30.2% walk rate. … Righty Thomas Balboni had a pair of scoreless innings out of the bullpen and earned his first win of the season Thursday. In three innings, the 23-year-old allowed just one hit, and two walks while notching five strikeouts. The former Northeastern hurler struggled last year pitching out of the Storm bullpen but he dropped down to a sidearm delivery over the offseason and in 5.1 innings this year, he’s struck out 10 batters while pitching to a 3.38 ERA. … Bradgley Rodriguez pitched two scoreless innings, tallying one save. The flame-throwing righty has a 1.69 ERA in four outings this season. In 5.1 innings, he’s walked just one while striking out nine batters. (Kevin Charity)