MadFriars Week in Review: August 13 through August 18

El Paso Chihuahuas (Swept by the Reno Aces, 0-6)

Top Performers: It was a rough week at home for the Padres’ top affiliate, but there was some good news. Mason McCoy, 29, is having the month of his career with a .446/.475/.696 slash line in August. This week, the former Iowa Hawkeye had 11 hits in six games, including five doubles and five RBI. The shortstop, who has been better known for his stellar defense through his eight year career, signed as a minor league free agent in the off-season after spending last year in Triple-A with the Seattle and Toronto organizations, where he posted a .693 OPS in 487 plate appearances. … Jayvien Sandridge, 25, allowed only a single run in two appearances and four innings of work, giving up just two hits. He punched out five, but did walk four batters – the full Jayvien Sandridge Experience – as the 6-foot-5 lefty with the big fastball was able to keep the traffic under control.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Jose Azocar, 28, had a solid week, with 10 hits in six games for a .370 batting average and a .630 slugging percentage. Azocar, who spent much of the first half of the year with San Diego, pushed his Triple-A OPS up to .796 in 180 plate appearances. … Tirso Ornelas, 24, bounced back from a recent cold stretch to collect three extra-base hits, including his 18th home run. He also led the team with four walks to post a .423 on-base percentage. For the year, he continues to have a career-high slugging percentage of .519. … Brandon Lockridge, who came over from the New York Yankees in the trade for Thomas Balboni Jr. and the salary owed Enyel De Los Santos, had a nice week with eight hits in six games and a .894 OPS. … Eguy Rosario had a rough series, going just 3-for-21 with 10 strikeouts. It dropped his OPS for the year to .893. … In a week in which the staff pitched to a 8.67 ERA, Tom Cosgrove, 28, continued to get batters out. He worked 2.1 innings of scoreless relief and now hasn’t allowed an earned run in seven consecutive outings. … Omar Cruz, 25, finally had a bit of a hiccup, giving up two earned runs in three and two-thirds innings, but still struck out seven against one walk and four hits. Cruz has been stellar since moving up to Triple-A, posting a 2.51 ERA in 28.2 innings with 37 strikeouts against only 10 walks. (John Conniff)

San Antonio Missions (Split Series with the Amarillo Sod Poodles, 3-3)

Top Performers: Ryan Bergert, 24, had the best outing of his career, throwing six perfect innings with nine strikeouts. He only needed 87 pitches, of which 65 were strikes as he led a pair of relievers to the Missions’ first no-hitter since May, 2022. It was only the second time in an up-and-down year that he has gone that deep into a game. While he’s pitched to a 5.12 ERA overall, he’s been much better since he returned to action in mid-July. His sweeper and particularly his rising four-seamer have worked more effectively as he’s posted a 1.42 ERA with 22 strikeouts and five walks over his last 19 innings. If he can continue to be more efficient in his next few starts, he will go into the offseason in the discussion among the Padres’ top starting pitching prospects in the upper levels. … Ripken Reyes, 27, a longtime favorite in San Antonio, had his best week of the season with a .545 on-base percentage as he had six hits, two of them doubles and three walks. In his third year with the Missions, he’s struggled at the plate with a .286 on-base percentage but continues to be able to play nearly anywhere the team needs him defensively.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Romeo Sanabria, 22, continues to enjoy Texas League baseball as he hit .421 this week with eight hits in six games and drew four walks for a .522 on-base percentage. The only negative is that they all were singles, but he still led the team with seven RBI. In his first 44 Texas League plate appearances, the Miami native is hitting .378/.455/.460, which is impressive for a player who was in the Arizona Complex League this time last season. … Robbie Tenerowicz, 29, has been playing more third base with the promotion of Sanabria, and so far, it hasn’t slowed his bat down. He connected on three doubles for an .873 OPS against Amarillo pitching. Tenerowicz has mainly played first base the last two years but logged 85 games at the hot corner with Double-A Chattanooga with the Cincinnati Reds organization in 2021. … Victor Lizarraga, 20, didn’t have a no-hitter but threw six shutout innings and struck out eight batters, two off his season-high, against one walk. After having a rough start at the beginning of the month in Springfield, it was a big bounce-back outing for the San Diego native. … San Antonio had quality performances from all of its starters, with Austin Krob, 24, making two appearances and giving up a single run in nine innings against eight strikeouts and three walks. … Henry Baez, 21, continued to impress in Double-A with six shutout innings in his no-decision. He gave up seven hits, walked four, and only struck out two, but as his managers have said, he will find a way to compete even when he doesn’t have his best stuff. He has a 1.93 ERA in four starts and 23.1 innings with the Missions. … Sam Whiting, 23, went five innings and only allowed one earned run his second Double-A start. This is the third level the UC Santa Barbara alum has pitched at this year. He had a 2.28 ERA in 27.2 innings with the TinCaps before his promotion. … In the bullpen, Jose Geraldo, 25, and David Morgan, 24, were solid in their two appearances. Geraldo struck out eight batters in four shutout innings of work against one walk and one hit. Morgan hit two batters but still struck out three in three and one-third shutout innings, only giving up one hit. (John Conniff)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (Lost series vs Dayton Dragons 1-5)

Players of the Week: After setting a new career high with nine strikeouts on Tuesday, Braden Nett struck out six more over an abbreviated start on Sunday.  That gave him as many punchouts for the week as he had in his previous five starts. Nett gave up just one run to Dayton in nine combined innings, allowing six hits and three walks. The 22-year-old, who regularly hits 98 with his fastball, moved past last year’s totals in innings (45.1) and strikeouts (50).  He should get three more starts this season.  … While the TinCaps struggled offensively and on the mound all week, Joshua Mears had one of his better weeks of the year.  Mears had three multi-hit games to collect eight hits including a double and home run. After hitting .169 with a .595 OPS in July, Mears is hitting .333/.344/.571 in August. The powerful outfielder has been more aggressive at the plate, walking less but also taking fewer strikes to cut his strikeout rate to just 20% for the week.  Mears had K rates of 43.5% in High-A in 2022, and 42.3% last year. This season, he has reduced it to a more manageable 33.2%.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: With every swing Ethan Salas has taken the past few weeks, you can see it starting to click.  Salas reached base safely in every game this week and extended the streak to 12 games. The superstar catching prospect went 6-for-22, with 3 doubles, 4 runs, and five RBI.  He also walked more times (four) than he struck out (three).  That is a .273/.385/.409 for a very strong weak from the Padres’ top prospect. … Jagger Haynes carried a no-hitter through five innings, but allowed the first four runners to reach base when he came back out for the sixth. They all came around after he was lifted from the game. Despite his bad stat line (5.1 IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 7 K), he continues to generate a lot of swings and misses. The 21-year-old has 35 strikeouts over his last five starts.  While his walks have skyrocketed recently, he is near 100 innings after not tossing more than 25.1 innings in any previous year. … After allowing 14 earned runs over his last three starts, Enmanuel Pinales was back to being lights out. He threw five scoreless innings, striking out six as he held opponents scoreless for the sixth time in 18 starts. Despite surrendering 15 runs earlier this month, Pinales still has a 3.83 ERA during a breakout 2024 campaign. … Isaiah Lowe had a tough start, allowing five runs over 4.1 innings. The 21-year-old, who displayed excellent command earlier in the year, has now walked 10 in 13.1 innings in Fort Wayne.  After throwing 12.1 innings in an injury-shortened 2023, Lowe is up to 85.1 this year and it appears to be showing in his command. It’s still a fantastic year for Lowe, who has 97 strikeouts and a 3.27 ERA on the season. (Ben Davey)

Lake Elsinore Storm (Split series with the Inland Empire 66ers, 3-3)

Top Performers: The Storm returned home after a lengthy road trip and split against the 66ers. With two weeks left in the regular season, they have a playoff spot locked up, thanks to their first-half title. … At the plate, the Storm received more great work from outfielder Braedon Karpathios amid a full-blown breakout. The 21-year-old outfielder played in all six games, hitting .318/.444/.591 with three doubles, a homer, five RBI, and five walks. Since July 1, Karpathios has arguably been the best hitter in the Padres’ system, hitting .315/.460/.504 with a 21.9% walk rate. He has connected on four homers and drawn more walks (35) than strikeouts (34) during that span. He signed with the Padres as an undrafted free agent out of Harford (Maryland) Community College in 2022. … Lefty Luis Gutierrez tossed a career-high seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned) while scattering eight hits. Gutierrez managed to record 21 outs without a single strikeout to his ledger, generating 10 ground balls to keep the 66ers at bay. That has been a trend this year for a 21-year-old, as Gutierrez has a 51.5% ground ball rate that ranks just outside the top ten in the Cal League (minimum 40 innings). Overall, he has a 5.51 ERA for the Storm. 

Top Prospects and Others of Note: The 2024 draft class continued to pay dividends early on for the Storm. Catcher Brendan Durfee had his best week as a pro, hitting .353/.522/.471 with two doubles, five walks, and just one strikeout. The Padres drafted Durfee in the 14th round last month, marking the fourth straight year that the Padres have selected a player from UC Santa Barbara. … Jack Costello cooled off just a bit, but he still managed to put together another nice week for the Storm. The former USD third baseman went 6-for-23 with three doubles, a homer, and a team-high seven RBI. Costello has been incredibly productive since making his professional debut a few weeks ago. In addition to a spectacular 175 wRC+, he’s punched out in just over 5% of his plate appearances. The Simi Valley native played four years for the Toreros, putting up solid but not spectacular numbers. After homering seven times in 56 games in college this season, he already has four in 11 pro games. … Leo De Vries had a quiet series against the 66ers, although his performance on the field is not the primary concern. De Vries hurt his right shoulder diving for a ball in Saturday’s game – similar to an injury to his left shoulder sustained in May. The 17-year-old may be done for the year, though with a fast recovery and deep playoff run, he could get back into a Storm uniform before the end of the year. … Hard-throwing righty Miguel Mendez flashed premium stuff on Saturday, but his inefficiency cost him an opportunity to notch the win. Mendez worked 4.2 innings of shutout ball,  allowing two hits, but he walked three and hit a batter. He notched seven strikeouts to help mitigate the damage. Mendez is in his second season with the Storm and has grown considerably. In 66.2 innings, he’s punched out 79 batters, but 49 walks have resulted in an ERA just north of four. (Kevin Charity)