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#1671 · August 27, 2021, 2:51 pm
With regard to Lake Elsinore position players moving up to Ft. Wayne, you have to look across the Padres' minor league spectrum to see what will possibly happen. The successful position player draft picks in the Arizona Complex League who already haven't moved up - Merrill, Wood, Ferguson, Alvarez-Lopez as well as most of those who are a little older (21 or older) will probably be pushed to Lake Elsinore.
Lake Elsinore this year has the most hitters with possible big league potential in their entire minors, while Ft. Wayne generally has position players with hitting deficiencies as evidenced by few, if any, able to get above a 700 OPS. Homza, before he got hurt, might be the exception and one can still hope that Ornelas will show enough to remain a prospect but dearth or true prospects at Ft. Wayne. Therefore, expect some winnowing of these current Ft. Wayne players who are not showing much at Ft. Wayne and not ready to move to San Antonio. I expect another year of signing minor league free agents to fill the AA and AAA levels until our current position at our lowest minor league levels mature. Abrams and Campusano are the only top prospects are nearly ready to contribute.
#1673 · August 28, 2021, 2:45 pm
That's good news!
Push your best prospects- see what they have.
Are there any decent prospects in Ft. Wayne? Seems like our top guys are in Elsinore and San Antonio.
#1674 · August 28, 2021, 2:47 pm
They have been the most impressive position players at Lake Elsinore and it will be interesting to see how they adjust to the next level for the remainder of the season at Ft. Wayne. Don't know if this means that Wood and Merrill will be promoted to Lake Elsinore because both are still very young and Wood's K rate is still quite high despite the desire to push him up to the next level. Looking forward to seeing all the minor league transactions that occurred today.
In the DSL today, Padres went to a record of 25-7 getting 22 walks and 13 hits in the process and winning 17-11. Fun team to keep track of even if it is way way down the food chain of minor league baseball.
#1675 · August 28, 2021, 3:51 pm
Quote from fenn68 on August 28, 2021, 1:19 pmAbout time:
Jeff SandersQuite a bit of #Padres minor league activity today: Robert Hassell III will have company as Euribiel Angeles and Brandon Valenzuela also headed fromto
FW made roster room by:
- Y. Rodriguez "back" to El Paso
- Feole to IL
- Malone down to LE (probably to focus on catching)
No word on other LE adds but would expect 5th round pick Ferguson (INF) would get one of the calls. There are a couple of position players on the IL and rehabbing ... so maybe one of them.
#1676 · August 28, 2021, 4:51 pm
Noticed after virtually the entire season starting at 3B … Cordoba is now getting time at 1B. Given his bat has been excellent this year and the 2022 Padres’ bench may be looking for depth … could this work at 1B be an attempt to give him some positional flexibility (think in for Hosmer vs LHP)?
Cordoba has played in his career 2B/SS/3B/OF but has apparently bulked up a bit and might now be able to fit a 1B role too.
He is hitting … he has positional versatility … has to be a contender for the 40 man this winter.
#1677 · August 29, 2021, 6:17 pm
Campusano showing he's worthy of a call-up by hitting a double and a home run against rehabbing right-hander Jose Urquidy (Astros). Only two hits El Paso has so far.
#1678 · August 30, 2021, 4:39 am
"worthy" yes ... but with the active roster only expanding from 26 to 28 fitting him in might be questionable with Paddack, Lamet, Arrieta, and Strahm all potentially coming off the IL in SEPT.
Adding Campusano for me would be waiving the white flag on the season.
#1679 · August 30, 2021, 5:19 am
On Campusano ... any new info on his catching defense? That may delay his move to the ML considering Nola and Caratini are pretty well set.
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Going to be a winter issue for Preller .... will Campusano be part of a 3 headed monster at C/DH/1B in 2022 or will the Padres be better off dealing Campusano while his stock is high for a more established add at some position. Not going to deal Nola (too good offense/defense) and Caratini would not yield much of a return.
Note that there have been comments that Campusano's "motivation" is a bit lacking at times ... has to be a downer on his ultimate potential.
#1680 · August 30, 2021, 8:55 am
Being retired, I have he luxury of watching parts of 4 or 5 minor league games a day from all over the country. In comparison of Campusano to other catchers, I have not seen him as deficient on his catching defense. I saw him in person in Lake Elsinore and I believe he has improved his framing and he has remade his body such that he is much more agile behind the plate to get to wild pitches and limit passed balls. He has a strong and fairly accurate arm but stolen bases against are hard to judge when you don't necessarily have pitchers that keep runners close. He'll never be a Hedges behind the plate, but in my opinion, he'll be average or slightly better than the average catcher you see play every day in the majors. Currently, although the Padres rarely say anything about injuries, it seems he has either a nagging arm or shoulder injury that has limited him to DH or 1b and has caused him to miss several games altogether in a series.
The label of lack of motivation is a tough one to shake just like one of being a dirty player. At 18 or 19 that could have been true but I haven't observed whatever one can observe as a lack of motivation in his game. Does he run out every hard hit ball to the infield hard? Well, no but playing the demanding position of a catcher in the heat and humidity of South Texas in the summer may cause you to slow up and try to conserve energy when the infielder already has the ball in his mitt and you are unlikely to beat it out for a hit after hitting a scorcher to that infielder. I've seen him move very well when balls are hit into the gaps to get that extra base. Campusano is not a rah-rah type of guy but he has shown me intensity and determination and the results have been very good this year after skipping over Hi A and AA and the adjustments that he had to make to be successful. So, one man's lack of motivation may be another man's strategy to use his energy in the best way possible to help the team. Again, labels are hard to shake whether they are accurate or not.
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