San Diego Padres Week in Review: July 20-July 26

El Paso Chihuahuas (Lost series at Las Vegas Aviators 2-4)

Top Performers: Catcher Blake Hunt spent the first two months of the year on the IL, but the 27-year-old, who made his way back to his original drafting team as a minor league free agent this spring, has made up for lost time since getting underway. The first week after the all-star break was an especially impressive one as Hunt launched three home runs in Las Vegas to fuel a slugging percentage of 1.125. The backstop, who is now on the 40-player roster, is hitting .310/.381/.643 across 24 games, pulling the ball in the air at a strong 16.7% rate. … While the big league club opted for a ‘pitching chaos’ approach, the El Paso staff was also shuffling around multiple pitchers in multiple roles. Of the 17 pitchers who appeared for the Chihuahuas during the week, only one threw more than four innings. Against that backdrop, Jeremiah Estrada‘s 1.2 innings of scoreless work across three appearances was the top showing of the week. The rehabbing big-leaguer has yet to get back to his premium velocity, but he did record three strikeouts to get around as many walks.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: The offense enjoyed being in one of the sport’s most generous offensive environments. Outfielder Nick Solak – who, like Hunt, had a brief stint with the big league club last month – posted a 1.222 OPS across five games and led the squad with eight RBIs on the week. Five of his 11 hits went for extra bases. … Bryce Johnson drew five walks and had seven hits to fuel a .480 on-base percentage playing in Sin City. He has raised his Triple-A OPS to .783 on the back of reduced swing-and miss rates. … Outfielder Carlos Rodriguez drew a team-high seven walks to fuel a .433 OBP. While his slugging percentage on the year is only .401, he managed a .500 mark across the six-game series. … Will Wagner, whose spot on the 40-player roster makes him one of the key bats to watch for the Chihuahuas had a rough week, going just 4-for-24 with five strikeouts. … Sean Boyle made a pair of starts on the week, eating up 10.1 innings while allowing seven runs. The righty only struck out six while walking three. (David Jay)

San Antonio Missions (Split series vs Frisco RoughRiders)

Top Performers:  In a week when the offense was shut out twice and struggled to hit, Ethan Salas continued to reach base. Salas went 5-for-15 in the series with five walks and a double.  While his power production has gone down since May, he is hitting .320 with a .407 OBP in July. Since June first, Salas has walked 17 times while only striking out 15. … After allowing two runs over four innings on Tuesday, Eric Yost faced Frisco a second time Sunday and turned in his first six-inning shutout since last September. The right-hander scattered three hits, walked two, and struck out five. In total for the series, Yost allowed two earned runs over 10 innings, striking out 10. In 16 appearances with the Missions this season, Yost has delivered a 3.11 ERA and held opponents to a .191 average, though his 4.82 FIP suggests regression is coming.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Jake Cunningham has now been with the Missions for a month. While his stats have taken a slight step back from the huge numbers – including a system-best 15 home runs – he posted in Fort Wayne, Cunningham has continued to hit. The outfielder went only 5-for-22 on the week, but two doubles and a home run, while collecting six RBIs. The former Orioles prospect has 18 home runs on the season with a combined .882 OPS. … Tucker Musgrove continues to be one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball. The righty pitched three perfect innings in the series, striking out six.  In 28.2 innings this season, Musgrove has 58 strikeouts and an 18.21 K/9. Encouragingly, this was the first week Musgrove did not walk a batter. … After being shut down in June and then sent down to Double-A in July, Garrett Hawkins seems to have righted the ship.  Hawkins threw three innings, allowing no runs on two hits and striking out five.  Since being sent down, Hawkins has a 0.83 WHIP and a 14.9 K/9. Hawkins broke out last year after missing nearly two years with Tommy John and had a 1.50 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 60 innings. … Reliever Josh Mallitz has been an enigma all season.  When he locates his pitches like he did while working five scoreless innings last week, he is nearly unhittable. Mallitz permitted only one baserunner and struck out five. When the 2024 undrafted free agent can’t land the ball where he wants, … he had a 33.00 ERA after April.  Overall, Mallitz has a 4.50 ERA and has punched out 25.9% of opposing batters.  (Ben Davey)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (won series over Lake County Captains 4-2)

Top Performers: Righty Bryan Balzer picked up his first Midwest League victory with five stellar innings. The hard-throwing righty, who has begun to figure out the finer points of pitching in his second full season on the mound, allowed just one hit while holding the Captains scoreless. The 21-year-old got hit hard in his first start for the TinCaps, but has been on fire since then, working to a 1.08 ERA with 19 strikeouts and only five walks over 16.2 innings. He is on target to nearly double his workload from last season, when he threw 50 innings. … Ryan Wideman had one of the more unique lines of the season against Lake County. The speedy outfielder went 13-for-22, but because he didn’t draw a walk and couldn’t manage an extra-base hit, he finished with a .591/.565/.591 line. Wideman took advantage of being on first base so often, stealing seven bases in eight attempts to reclaim his minor league lead.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Infielder Justin DeCriscio did a stellar job out of the leadoff spot, batting .318/.423/.591 with only a pair of strikeouts in 24 trips to the plate. The University of San Diego product sports an .830 OPS since arriving in Fort Wayne in early May. His first professional season after the Padres drafted him in the tenth round has yielded a strong .854 OPS across two levels. … Infielder Rosman Verdugo only hit .250, but used a pair of extra-base hits and four walks to turn that into an .885 OPS. The 21-year-old, who is already in his fifth season in the Padres’ domestic minor league system, has made impressive strides in reducing his strikeout rate this year, dropping it to a manageable 24.2% clip while maintaining a strong 13.4% walk rate and improved power production. … After a loud June, outfielder Kavares Tears has once again seen his production bottom out. The left-handed hitter went just 2-for-16 with six strikeouts against the Captains. … Left-handed reliever Javier Chacon made a pair of scoreless multi-inning appearances, ultimately putting in a staff-high 5.1 innings in the series. The 23-year-old Cuban struck out eight while allowing just four baserunners. … José Leclerc made three scoreless appearances as he shifted his rehab assignment into high gear. The 32-year-old righty, on his way back from shoulder surgery last summer, didn’t issue a walk.

Lake Elsinore Storm (won series over Visalia Rawhide, 4-2)

Top Performers: The Storm won all three games over the weekend to earn their first series victory since the end of May. … Jorge Quintana had one of his best weeks against the Rawhide, delivering an OPS north of 1.000 while seeing time in all six games. Quintana posted the odd slash-line of .222/.462/.611 with two doubles, a triple, a homer, eight walks, and seven strikeouts. The 19-year-old shortstop has found another gear in July, after producing a paltry .599 OPS in June. In 17 July games, Quintana has a .916 OPS and 15 walks. He’s still striking out too much (26.9% K-rate in July), but he’s hit the ball with a lot more authority this month. … Luis Maracara, the 18-year-old righty who got to Lake Elsinore earlier this month, completed five solid innings – his longest start outside of the DSL in his career. Maracara allowed just one hit, a solo homer, before departing. Maracara walked two and struck out five, tying his season high. The young Venezuelan native built up in the desert and has shown some flashes with the Storm as he gets stronger. Maracara has walked 11 in 13.1 innings, but opposing hitters are batting just .224 against him in his small Cal League sample. 

Top Prospects and Others of Note: Yimy Tovar had a nice week at the plate, hitting .353/.455/.412 with a double, four walks, and a team-high RBI. He also struck out just once in 22 plate appearances. The 20-year-old hasn’t flashed any power in his time with the Storm, but he’s picked things up after a slow start. He has a .709 OPS in July after limping to a .406 mark in June. … Shortstop Bradley Frye connected on his third homer of the season and hit .318/.348/.500 with a pair of stolen bases and a double in the series. He also scored six runs. The 24-year-old out of Mercer has a .373 on-base percentage this month. … Lefty Kruz Schoolcraft had an uneven outing on Friday, showing excellent stuff at times while battling his command at others. Schoolcraft worked into the fifth, allowing just one run. He walked five and struck out four, leaving the bases loaded. Fortunately, Jordan Valenzuela was able to escape the jam. The left-hander has a 3.72 ERA in July, with one more start to come this week, assuming he makes his regular turn in the rotation. … Righty Yoesmerli Beltre tossed 4.1 scoreless innings last week, allowing just one hit. He struck out four and did not issue a walk. The 20-year-old has looked sharp out of the bullpen for the Storm, walking one and striking out 11 in 9.2 innings. He has a 2.79 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP so far for the Storm. (Kevin Charity)

ACL Padres season ended

The Arizona Complex League season wrapped up last Thursday with the Padres squad claiming a victory to finish the year 34-26, two games off the division lead and one away from the wild card. The 37 different pitchers who appeared in at least one game helped the staff put up a team ERA of 5.04, which was good for third on the offense-happy circuit. The offense averaged 5.6 runs per game, also the third-lowest in the desert and nearly two full runs below the league leaders. No position player finished in the top 10 of any stat. On the mound, Adler Cecil, who has already joined the Storm, finished third with 70 strikeouts across 41.1 innings.