San Diego Padres Daily Farm Report: May 9

Tacoma Rainiers 6, Chihuahuas 3

Key Stats: RF Samad Taylor 3-for-4, BB, SB (6); 3B Will Wagner 1-for-4, BB; 3B Clay Dungan 1-for-4, HR (4), 3 RBI; LHP Jackson Wolf 5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 9 K, BB; RHP Garrett Hawkins IP, H, BB; LHP Kyle Hart IP, H, ER, K; RHP Ethan Routzahn 2 IP, H, K

Prospect Watch: Lefty Jackson Wolf struck out nine batters for the best total by any Chihuahuas pitcher this year, but four of the seven hits he surrendered went for extra-bases, including a pair of homers, and he was charged with five earned runs in a losing effort. Wolf, 27, was the victim of some bad luck as he posted a stellar 43% whiff rate, racking up 20 swing-and-misses on 46 attempts. Outside of a monster home run hit by rehabbing big leaguer Patrick Wisdom, there wasn’t much loud contact against him. Half of the 12 balls hit in play were at less than 80 mph. On the year, the system veteran has a 5.59 ERA, but an xFIP almost a run lower. … Garrett Hawkins worked around a hit and a walk for a clean inning, but his fastball was once again sitting at 93-94 with more than three inches less induced vertical break than he shows when he’s dominant. The 26-year-old Saskatchewan native has a 5.52 ERA through 14.2 innings for El Paso this season, while his strikeout rate is down 50% from last year and his walk rate up to an untenable 17.4%. … Will Wagner, who was officially activated from the IL and optioned to El Paso earlier in the week, had a hit and walk in five trips to the plate. He owns an on-base percentage of .548 through his first seven games as he comes back from an oblique injury in spring training. … Samad Taylor continues to drive the Chihuahuas offense, collecting three more hits and a walk Saturday. He’s now batting .325/.396/.569 across 142 plate appearances with an impressive 18.3% strikeout rate.

Missions 3, Midland RockHounds 2

Key Stats: 2B Carson Tucker 3-for-4, 2B; DH Ethan Salas 1-for-4; CF Braedon Karpathios 1-for-4, HR (1); LF Tirso Ornelas 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI; RHP Eric Yost 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 6 K, 2 BB; LHP Harry Gustin 1.2 IP, H, K; RHP Sadrac Franco 1.1 IP, H, 2 K, BB

Prospect Watch: With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Braedon Karpathios unloaded on a middle-middle fastball and crushed a walk-off homer to deep right-center field. The blast was the outfielder’s first of the year as the 22-year-old continues to work to get on track in May. After a brutal start to the year, the Pennsylvania native is hitting .321/.387/.464 this month while cutting his strikeout rate below 20%. The organization has been working with Karpathios to turn on more pitches he can get his hands inside, which appeared to get his timing off a bit early in the year. He’s always been a stronger second-half performer since the Padres signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2022, so he’ll hope the earlier turn-around this season will crystalize his spot as a potential future big leaguer. … Until the blast, San Antonio’s only runs had come on a bases-loaded double by Tirso Ornelas in the fourth inning. The Tijuana native is slugging .739 in six games this month, pulling his season mark up to .467. He continues to hit the ball in the air and pull it at career highs. … Carson Tucker, one of the organization’s more interesting early performers, slid into the leadoff spot for the second time on the year, and rewarded the club with three hits in four trips to the plate. He’s now hitting .364/.419/.530 with solid underlying data. The 24-year-old former first-round draft pick continues to move around the infield defensively, though he likely fits best at second base. He is quickly asserting himself as a name to track going forward. … Starter Eric Yost turned in his longest outing of the year, allowing a pair of runs over six innings. The 23-year-old, who relies on mixing-and-matching around his plus curve ball, is commanding his fastball to all four quadrants a bit more effectively this season, helping him to impressive results. The Northeastern product has a 3.21 ERA and 33 strikeouts through 28 innings after struggling in a late-season promotion to San Antonio last season. Opponents are hitting just .179 against him so far this spring.

TinCaps 3, Beloit Sky Carp 1

Key Stats: CF Kasen Wells 2-for-4, 2B, SB (8); C Lamar King Jr. 3-for-4, 2 SB (8); RHP Abraham Parra 3.2 IP, 4 H, ER, 4 K, 3 BB; LHP Braian Salazar 1.2 IP, BB; RHP Clay Edmondson 1.1 IP, 4 K

Prospect Watch: The TinCaps picked up their ninth win in 10 games as their pitching staff continued to stymie Beloit hitters. Through the first five games of the series, the TinCaps have allowed only six runs. After a short start by Abraham Parra, who needed 84 pitches to get through 3.2 innings, four Fort Wayne relievers held Beloit to just one hit over 5.1 frames. Lefty Braian Salazar continues to post impressive results as the youngest member of the bullpen, despite spotty command. The Venezuela native, a key part of the Padres’ 2022 international free agent class, allowed just one walk over 1.2 innings Saturday. While he didn’t record any strikeouts in the outing, he has punched out 32.5% of opposing hitters through 18.1 innings so far. His 13% walk rate is higher than it will need to be, but he’s cut it down from 16.5% each of the last two years. Midwest League opponents are hitting just .180 against him. … Clay Edmondson followed Salazar and delivered his best outing of a tremendous debut season, striking out all four of the batters he faced to earn his seventh save in as many opportunities. The sidearming righty extended his scoreless innings streak to 11.1 while dropping his ERA to 0.63. He owns an improbable 21:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 14.1 innings at the back of the TinCaps bullpen. … Lamar King Jr. had three hits to run his on-base streak to a club-best 22 games. After a rough start to the year, he’s now hitting .348 during his streak. While his above-average raw power still isn’t translating into games – he has just eight extra-base hits on the year, the backstop has drawn nine walks and struck out only three times in 33 trips to the plate this month. He picked up two stolen bases for good measure on Saturday and now has eight in as many attempts on the year.

Storm 8, Inland Empire 66ers 6

Key Stats: LF Conner Westenburg 3-for-4, 2B, HR (1), 3 RBI; SS Jose Verdugo 1-for-5, HR (1), 2 RBI; CF Ryan Wideman 1-for-5, 3B; 1B Luke Cantwell 2-for-4, SB (5); RHP Tyler Schmitt 6 IP, H, 5 K, 3 BB; RHP Daichi Moriki IP, H, 2K, HBP; RHP Sean Barnett 0 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 2 BB

Prospect Watch: Righty Tyler Schmitt turned in his second straight stellar start to pick up the victory as the Storm moved back into first place with a win over Inland Empire. The 17th-round pick out of University of Illinois allowed just one single over six innings of shutout work, striking out five. After a slow start to the year, the Wisconsin native has tossed 11 straight scoreless innings while giving up only three hits in his last two starts. … Conner Westenburg continued to return stellar offensive results out of the nine-hole for the Storm, clubbing his first professional homer and coming up a triple short of the cycle. The Houston native signed as a priority undrafted free agent last summer after a solid four-year career at McNeese State. The outfielder is off to a stellar .329/.400/.494 start to his career, but he’s punching out at a 27.9% rate while drawing only five walks in 98 trips to the plate. He’s made use of his plus speed to post a .474 average on balls in play despite turning almost two thirds of his contact into grounders. … Diminutive shortstop Jose Verdugo also collected his first career homer, two batters after Westenburg. While he punched out in three other at-bats on the day, the 18-year-old has generally shown stellar bat-to-ball skills in his stateside debut, striking out at only a 17.6% clip. Verdugo, signed out of Mexico for $10,000 last January, has jumped ahead of most of the Padres’ higher-profile signees in his class. … Daichi Moriki, whose backstory is one of the most unusual in the organization, struck out two as he worked around a walk and hit batter for a scoreless inning of relief. Originally a first-round pick out of high school by NPB’s Hanshin Tigers, his command utterly collapsed as a professional and he was ultimately released after last season. The Padres signed him as a free agent (because he was released, he was not part of the posting system) this January. He got off to a brutal start, allowing 10 baserunners while recording just four outs in his first two appearances, but is slowly showing some signs of improvement working in a low-leverage role out of the Storm bullpen. Over his last six appearances, the 23-year-old has given up just one earned run in 5.2 innings, striking out eight, though he has still issued seven free passes in that stretch. It is improbable he’ll ever put things together enough to reach the big leagues, but his stuff and pedigree are interesting enough to track.

ACL Mariners 3, ACL Padres 1 (7 Innings)

Key Stats: LF Eduarlin Tejeda 3-for-3, CS (1); SS Santiago Vargas 1-for-3, 2B; C Ty Harvey 0-for-2, BB; RHP Ty Adcock IP, H, R (0 ER), K; RHP Dane Lais 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 3 K, BB; RHP Erick Batista IP, 2 K, BB

Prospect Watch: The Padres had another member of the 40-player roster get underway on Saturday morning as the complex league club hosted their rivals from across the parking lot. Reliever Ty Adcock, who signed a big league contract with the Padres in December and dealt with an oblique injury during spring training, made his debut, giving up one unearned run over his inning of work when a two-out double rolled under left fielder Eduarlin Tejeda‘s glove and the batter came all the way around to score. Adcock, 29, has logged limited big league time in each of the last three seasons. While he was drafted by the Mariners back in 2019, a series of shoulder injuries and Tommy John surgery kept him from making his professional debut until late in 2022. When he’s healthy, he throws a fastball sitting 96-98 and a wicked cutter. Because of his extensive injury history and early big league debut, Adcock was awarded a fourth option year, meaning that he should go to El Paso once built up, where he’ll provide additional big league bullpen depth. … Despite the defensive miscue in the first inning, Tejeda had a strong day at the plate, collecting three hits in as many at-bats. The 21-year-old switch-hitter is the rare player to spend three years in the DSL after signing for $10,000 in January, 2023, but he’s developed physically enough over his time in the organization to earn a chance stateside. He played everywhere on the field but center field and catcher last year while hitting .301/.446/.392 with a 15.8% strikeout rate.