Quote from Randy Manese on April 20, 2022, 11:56 pm

Lawson pitched into the 3rd inning and was unremarkable.  His best inning was the 2nd, when he got a couple of hard outs.  1st inning was very wild, in fact, the whole night he seemed to be yanking the ball to his glove side and down low.  He threw mostly fastballs and sliders and possibly 3 curves; announcers said his FB topped out around 92.  Got out of a jam in the first with a DP but location was bad in the 3rd - he probably should have gone only 2 innings but he appeared healthy so I can see the point of having him get close to 50 pitches.  Despite the results, you have to be happy to see him back on the mound and hopefully we'll see him shake off the rust and become a prospect again.  Long way to go but still young.  Amarillo is a tough place to try to rehab!

Quote from Randy Manese on April 22, 2022, 11:49 am

Euribiel Angeles has looked very good in the Lansing-Ft. Wayne series and probably is just 2 years away from getting a shot in the majors - he could be a solid middle infielder at the major league level, more likely a 2nd baseman.  However, for Sean Manaea (even throwing in Adrian Martinez) - I'd make that trade any day of the week, especially if we can sign Manaea to an extension.  Manaea may not be an ace, but he is very durable and consistent plus, from what I've heard, a great clubhouse guy.

Quote from Randy Manese on April 22, 2022, 9:31 pm

A lot to report on a very good Lake Elsinore-Fresno game.  Unlike previous games, Iriarte was all over the place with his control - even his warm-ups sailed over the catcher's head or way to his right.  As a result he only got 37 strikes from 70 pitches and walked 4 batters.  HOWEVER, only 1 hit and 5 K's over 4 innings, so they still can't hit him.  This was followed up by a very good relief appearance by Jose Castillo, who did give up a solid hit but struck out 2 in his 1 inning of work.  Looked comfortable out there and was around the plate with all his pitches.  Finally, it looks like the guy we got in the Manaea trade can pitch a little and Collett did well to get the save.

On the offensive end, Wood finally back in the game.  Noted he didn't have any braces on his wrist and when he swung and missed, it didn't seem to adversely affect him.  Wood got one hit and I thought he actually beat out an infield grounder but the ump didn't give it to him.  Ferguson and Merrill combined for the clutch hits/runs that was a 2-0 victory for the Storm.

So good to see Wood and Castillo playing again and looking like they have before.

Quote from Randy Manese on April 22, 2022, 11:16 pm

Weathers on the mound again but with mixed results.  Came out to pitch the 5th and promptly gave up 2 hits; only clean inning was the 3rd and I believe there were two baserunners on in the other innings.  Missed early with breaking stuff and then lost velocity in the 5th.  He's got a lot of work to do before he comes back up.

On the other side, Mazara looks ready to replace Beaty as our LH OF bat.  Thompson hit another HR but he's right-handed and not as selective as Mazara at the plate.  Need a roster spot in order to bring up Mazara on the 40.  Could be Sullivan or Tyler (again) or might place Adams on the 60 IL.  Beaty has an option.

Quote from Notmyopic on April 23, 2022, 5:57 pm

Me oh my, another two homer game for Mears.  If only he could cut down a bit on the KO rate, we might have something.

Quote from MrPadre19 on April 23, 2022, 7:50 pm

And two homers for Hassell and a Grand Slam for Wood.

I can’t even imagine what Mears,Wood and Hassell are gonna do in El Paso and that hitters league.!

 

Quote from MrPadre19 on April 23, 2022, 7:54 pm

Not a Padre topic but I like to speculate on Prospects buying their rookie cards and reselling etc.

One of the guys I’m big on is Andrew Painter…..19 yr old pitcher for the Phils.

So far for the season he has 3 starts….12 ip and “30” Strikeouts with 3 BB’s.

Has a o.o0 ERA but is 0-1.

30 K’s in 12 innings.😳

I don’t think I have enough of his baseball cards……lol

 

Quote from Randy Manese on April 23, 2022, 9:58 pm

Balls were flying out of the at visitor parks for the Padres' top prospects.  Mears another 2 HRs, crushing the second one over 500 ft to left-center in the first game of a doubleheader;  Hassell had 2 HRs in the second game - the first down the left field line and the second a line-drive just above the yellow line in right .  At Fresno, back to back HR's by Wood (a granny) followed by Merrill's first home run of the season!  San Antonio has the worst record but posted 21 hits today and actually has scored a ton of runs in this series at Amarillo but got no pitching - a win today, however.  Esteury Ruiz looking like a completely different hitter from 2019 and 2021 - his game will play if he continues in the same vein.  El Paso was the only loser but did get a good effort from Westphal.  Speaking of good efforts, Hawkins had a perfect game through 4 innings at Fresno but lost velocity in the 5th and started to get hit hard.  Lake Elsinore's relief pitching was a little shaky but they hung on for the win.

Quote from Randy Manese on April 24, 2022, 10:12 am

Having watched all their games on MiLB this year, the thing about Mears and Wood is they don't seem to be the typical slugger types even though they are probably 80 and 70 power rankings, respectively.  Mears doesn't chase too many pitches out of the zone, but does have swing and miss, mostly on change-ups and sliders that just catch the outside of the plate.  Almost all of his HRs are to left or left-center, which means to me if he could let the ball get a little deeper into the hitting zone, he would strike out less (by seeing the pitches better) and get some opposite field bashes.  Wood has such a big strike zone and he sometimes is too selective.  He'll be a much better hitter for average but still need to recognize breaking balls better.  Both guys aren't sell-out kind of hitters, but stay within themselves and just have that natural power (Mears) or leverage (Wood) that makes the ball fly off their bats.  These are going to be two special hitters for us more so than any of the power hitters we've had in the minors in the past - like Renfroe, Reyes or others that had more flaws in their swing then these two.  Excited to see what they do the rest of the year and whether, at some point this season, they are promoted to the next level.