Quote from Jeremy Hill on September 9, 2023, 2:38 pm

Homer Bush Jr is starting in LF for The Missions. I think it's mostly about being a speed and D guy for their playoff run, but it's an interesting promotion.

Quote from Stergios on September 10, 2023, 4:47 am

Daaamn, Marsee and Pauley continue to produce.  Any chance that they make the big club out of the gate next year?

Quote from fenn68 on September 10, 2023, 6:31 am

Not likely to START 2024 unless the Padres make some wholesale changes in the OF. Both probably could use another half season in the minors playing everyday rather than sitting on the bench or playing part time. Assuming the Padres want to put out a team that will be a contender … not going to risk raw rookies TO START the season. With a decent start in the minors … both will be considered mid-season call-ups to cover injuries.

Do admit both of these prospects have developed more / faster than I had expected. Getting to (and performing well in) AA in their first professional full season after being lower draft picks (Marsee 6th round, Pauley 13th round). Both only have 50-60 AA AB, so need to see a bit more playing at the level to see if their 2023 meteoric rises are real.

I can see Marsee (22) as a CF with speed and a good eye at the plate with a strong OBP being up the with Padres given the struggles of Grisham and the low ceiling of Azocar. He has the easier route and is a couple years ahead of Zavala, Head, and Bush. If not a starter, a plus 4th OF potential.

It is Pauley (22) that is the wild card. A 13th round pick as a 2B/3B out of Duke and not an elite college hitter does not scream ML potential. Apparently the Padres “tweeked ” his swing / approach at the start of the season and he took off … both average and power. Padres have been playing him a 2B/3B/LF … maybe they see him as a utility guy in the future but given the Padres current INF (and Merrill coming) they may just drop him into LF and set him up to contend for LF in the ML post Soto or DH.

Both do have a plus in being LHH since the core of the Padres going forward are RHH … Tatis, Machado, Bogaerts, Campusano … and Kim if the hangs around.

Quote from Randy Manese on September 11, 2023, 1:23 pm

Padres are not known for developing players, both hitters and pitchers, in the minor leagues but this year seems to have changed that past history.  In particular, have to give a shout out to the hitting coaches in Lake Elsinore and Ft. Wayne, Jed Morris and Aaron Bray, respectively.  Both were brought in from other organizations and it seems to me both have worked very well with our hitters at those levels to make them better and more impactful with there swings.

At Lake Elsinore, it seems the hitters were more patient and improved their walk ratio and K rate.  At Ft. Wayne, it appears they got the players to tweak their swing slightly to get on the ball quicker with more impact.  I'm sure it's a lot more technical than that but I've been very pleased by guys such as Pauley, Marsee, Robertson, Pichardo and others have improved their career stats or what we might have been expecting them to produce based on what we've seen before from them.   At Ft. Wayne, it will take time for some of the players like Fabian and Zavala to adjust since early on K rates are usually higher, but over time the adjustments the coaches are making are seeming to work.

Pitching development also has improved and that's why the farm system has moved up in evaluation over the past year.  Good work by a lot of coaches in the minors!

Quote from fenn68 on September 14, 2023, 3:52 am

Maybe with the frustrating ML season I am getting desperate to find positives somewhere and over reacting to those small sample size results in the minors.

To that end, I can’t recall the minor league successes in the past from as many lower round draft picks coupled with the faster movement up the system. Sure in the past some have excelled in ROK/A ball only to flame out at upper levels … but the current group has yet to flame out even at the higher levels. Reason for hope in both pitching and hitting.

I will add to this “watch list” Homer Bush, Jr who was a 4th round pick out of Grand Canyon College this summer. As I recall his scouting was as elite speed and plus defense BUT a significant concern with his hitting (usually a killer fault in prospect and likely the reason he ended up in the 4th round).

Yet, surprising results as the Padres raced him up the system. ROK (44 AB … 1.123 OPS), A ball (85 AB … 710), AA (13 AB … 814).  With his speed (21 SB, only 2 CS) and a low K rate (only 24K in 142 AB). Given the speed and defense … any offense should elevate him at worse case to a ML 4th OF (hopefully more) … and, for me, getting that feeling this quickly after the draft is just a surprise for a 4th round pick.

Add Bush to Pauley, Marsee, Martorella, Castanon as position players with the likes of Krob and Bergert as pitchers … something appears to be going right with the scouting / development staffs.

Quote from Stergios on September 17, 2023, 4:25 am

Guys, Pauley.  Wow.. (energetically knocking on wood)…

Quote from Jeremy Hill on September 19, 2023, 8:54 pm

The Missions held on to win a back and forth slugfest 12-11 in 10 innings in game 1 of their playoff series. They were up 6-1 on the back of 4 HRs early. Martorella hit a pair of 2 run shots and Bush and Cummings each hit solo shots. The Sod Poodles came back to tie it, but The Missions got a run on a throwing error and went into the 9th up 7-6. The Sod Poodles got a game tying HR to send it to extras. Bush and Cummings singled in runs and Castanon hit a 3 run bomb to put The Missions up 12-7. They gave up 4 in the bottom half of the inning, but held on for the win. Martorella, Bush and Castanon has big days. The offense as a whole was pretty good. With the exception of Lake Bachar the pitching was much less impressive.

Quote from Randy Manese on September 19, 2023, 11:04 pm

The high altitude at Amarillo makes it El Paso "lite" and the low wall in RF does not help pitchers.  Snelling looks to be fading after a long season but hopefully we get good games from the starting staff in San Antonio.  Line-up still missing Marsee and Merrill with injuries and they thankfully sat Salas with a week or so to go in the season to keep from further overwhelming him at this level.  If Marsee and Merrill continue to be out, then the starting pitching will have to carry this team, even though Bush and Hollis have filled in admirably in their absence.   Hope the Missions can wrap up this round in San Antonio on Thursday.

Quote from LynchMob on September 20, 2023, 9:57 am

From today's DFR ...

Snelling, Graham Pauley, and Ethan Salas were named as California League postseason all-star roster earlier in the day.