San Diego Padres Minor League Week in Review: April 23 through April 28

El Paso Chihuahuas (Lost series 4-2 at Tacoma Rainiers)

Top Performers: Infielder Clay Dungan paced the El Paso offense, going 6-for-18 with a pair of triples and a homer in the cold, damp air of Tacoma. The 27-year-old, a minor league Rule 5 pick by the Padres last December, now sports a .909 OPS through 25 games and has already matched the three home runs he hit in 89 games for the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate last year. He’s split most of his time with the Chihuahuas between second and third base, though he’s started two games at shortstop. … On the mound, Gabe Mosser bounced back from a nightmare outing the week before to toss four perfect innings against Tacoma on Friday night, striking out six. One of three members of the Padres’ 2018 draft class still in the organization (Reiss Knehr and Seth Mayberry are both on the 60-day IL), Mosser has been a versatile contributor across the organization.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Big league veteran Donovan Solano went 5-for-18 with a homer in his first full week since joining the El Paso roster. The 36-year-old infielder, who signed a minor league deal earlier this month after failing to land a 40-player roster spot from any organization through the offseason, saw time at both first and second base. A righthanded hitter, Solano will hope to make the Majors for part of an eleventh season at some point this year. … Outfielder Tim Locastro went 6-for-16 with two doubles and a home run, good for a 1.100 OPS despite striking out six times. … Jackson Wolf had his best outing since returning to the organization, holding Tacoma to one run over 4.2 innings despite allowing eight baserunners. He’s walked 12 in 14.2 innings on the year and will have to tighten up his control as the season progresses. … Both Jeremiah Estrada and Lake Bachar struck out the side in their one inning of work for El Paso. Estrada, of course, has built on that with a pair of impressive scoreless outings for the Padres. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Bachar get his shot to contribute to the big league bullpen at some point this year. (David Jay)

 

San Antonio Missions (Spit series with the Wichita Wind Surge)

Top Performers: Big lefty Jayvien Sandridge had quite a week.  In three appearances of an inning each, the 6-foot-5, 240-pounder  struck out nine batters against two walks and one hit to earn a pair of saves.  The Padres signed the Hagerstown, Maryland native out of the Reds organization as a minor league free agent.  Before the book on Sandrige, even with the high strikeout totals, he walked too many batters, which hasn’t been the case since he came over to San Diego.  His live fastball can sit in the 96 to 98 mph range, and his slider and changeup have been coming along quickly.  If he maintains his command and the continued development of his two secondary pitches, he will be in Petco Park sometime this summer. .. WIth the wind blowing in at Nelson Wolff Stadium, there wasn’t a lot of offense as Cole Cummings and Jakob Marsee were the only two Missions batters with an OPS above .700. Cummings had a .391 on-base percentage with four walks, two stolen bases, five hits, two doubles, and probably a few more extra-base hits if the wind hadn’t eaten them.  Marsee is starting to come out of an early season slump and, even during his batting struggles, continued to play outstanding defense in center.  This week, he hit .278/.381/.333 with five hits and two walks. He also stole two more bases to bring his total to ten in the year, tied for the best in the Texas League. 

Top Prospects and Others of Note:  Victor Lizarraga pitched well in the series finale against Wichita, with his longest start after not throwing any innings in the spring. He has yet to allow a run in three appearances this year (8.2 innings). Jared Kollar made two appearances this week, one following Lizarraga, and struck out six against three walks in seven scoreless innings. The Padres signed Kollar as an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers after he began his college career at Division II Seton Hill. The 25-year-old righty had a 3.36 ERA between Fort Wayne and San Antonio in 2023. This season, he is off to a strong start with 17 strikeouts against three walks in 18 innings. … It was a tough week for Ryan Bergert, Adam Mazur, and Robby Snelling, who all had their worst stats of the year. Mazur, in particular, ran into some bad luck but still struck out eight against no walks in 4.1 innings while allowing six runs. (John Conniff)

Fort Wayne TinCaps  (Lost series vs Great Lakes Loons, 6-0)

Top Performers: TinCaps were outscored 48-12 as the Dodgers affiliate swept them at home. Homer Bush Jr. had the club’s most productive weekend, reaching base six times over the weekend – three times on infield hits. For the week, Bush had four hits, walked five times, and stole four bases for a share of the organizational lead with 10 on the year. The 22-year-old is still looking for his first extra-base hit of the season after 70 plate appearances. … In a rough week for TinCaps starters, the bullpen was thrust into early action frequently. 25-year-old Joan Gonzalez stepped up with, by far, his longest outing of the year. The righty went 3.1 innings, allowing no runs on one hit, striking out three. The Bethune-Cookman product, who signed as an undrafted free agent after playing in the MLB Draft League last summer, has allowed one earned run all season in 9.2 innings.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Like many of the TinCaps, this was a hard week for Ethan Salas. The youngest player in the Midwest League went 3-for-15, with four walks.  Of the 12 outs he made, eight were strikeouts. Salas is hitting .217/.351/.283 after three weeks. … Righty Dylan Lesko recorded eight outs, six of them by way of strikeout, but he also walked six and gave up six earned runs in the process.  Lesko has now walked 16 and struck out 17 batters in 14.2 innings. … With every start, Jagger Haynes is pitching deeper. Last week, he lasted 2.2 innings before having to be removed. He allowed one baserunner in each of the first two innings before the wheels came off in the third.  He still finished by tying his career high with five strikeouts. The lefty has a 21.21 ERA in three starts. … Braden Nett made it a trifecta of TinCaps starters who made it exactly 2.2 innings. The 21-year-old righthander, who put himself on the map with a strong showing in last year’s Arizona Fall League, only gave up one earned run while walking two and striking out three. Over three starts, Nett had walked six and struck out eight in 5.2 innings. … Henry Baez allowed the first five batters he faced to reach base, surrendering four runs. He did not allow a hit or a walk through the rest of his five-inning outing while striking out eight, one off his career high. It was his first start of the year without issuing a walk. … Devin Ortiz has been the most consistent hitter all year.  He picked up five hits (all singles) and walked five times in the series. The former Virgina Cavalier is hitting .300/.417/.450 on the season. (Ben Davey)

Lake Elsinore Storm (Lost series at Rancho Cucamonga, 5-1)

Top Performers: The Storm hit the road for a 12-game trip that began with a commuter trip to Rancho Cucamonga. The series was an ugly one for the Storm as they lost five of six and fell to 9-10 overall. Lake Elsinore allowed 45 runs in the six-game tilt. … Despite the Storm struggling against the Quakes, infielder Jay Beshears continues to impress. Beshears hit a solid .350/.480/.400 with a double and five walks in five games. After struggling in his pro debut last season, the former Duke infielder has impressed in April. In 18 games, Beshears has a 182 wRC+ that is buoyed by a ridiculous 27.5% walk-rate which ranks second in the league. He also has a team-best .459 slugging percentage.  … The Storm had an ERA over seven in the series but Eric Yost pitched well in his first professional start. The 21-year-old worked 4.2 innings on Friday night, striking out a career-high seven batters. Yost allowed a run on five hits without walking a batter. Coming into the outing, the Storm righthander had allowed seven runs in seven innings. He was drafted in the 17th round last year, out of Northeastern. 

Top Prospects and Others of Note: The series in Rancho had a pair of highly anticipated professional debuts, as shortstop Leodalis De Vries and catcher J.D. Gonzalez joined the club. De Vries, 17, started five games and hit .200/.304/.350 with a double, a triple, and four RBI. The prized teenager also struck out eight times in his five games. … Gonzalez also got into five games, going 4-for-16 with a double, three walks, and three RBI. The 18-year-old was drafted by the Padres in the third round last year. … Dillon Head had a solid series, hitting .261/.320/.478 with a double, two triples, two walks and two RBI. Head has performed well in recent weeks after a low start to the season. In 92 plate appearances, Head has produced roughly league-average offense with a 24% K-rate. … After starting the year on the bench, Wyatt Hoffman performed capability after being pressed into duty for the Storm. Hoffman went 6-for-19 with a double, an RBI, and a stolen base. The 25-year-old is the oldest player on the Storm roster and is in Riverside County for the third straight season. Overall, Hoffman is hitting .244/.367/.299, which gives him an eight percent below league-average offensive production. The former Pacific Tiger doesn’t possess much in the way of power but his defensive versatility helped cover the absence of Rosman Verdugo, who was activated a few days ago after a trip to the injured list. Hoffman also made a pitching appearance in the series, retiring a pair of batters without allowing a run.