(Associated Press)
Among some of the worst Major League Baseball teams, the Padres of San Diego seem to be no stranger. A plentiful amount of struggling teams in the Major Leagues resort to a rebuild process. Though those teams go through the typical process of bringing new staff members on board, drafting decorated young players with untacked potential, and parting with their veterans to amplify cap space for future signings. The San Diego Padres, however, have executed this process so well, likely better than most rebuilding teams, that the future of the Padres looks to be nothing but promising.
The headline deal erupting in San Diego is a blockbuster trade that would help the Padres obtain All-Star out-fielder, Matt Kemp. Despite his recent setbacks due to a plague of injuries, Kemp has enough fuel in his engine to keep playing at the standard that he once did in his prime and still imposes an offensive and defensive threat. Though Kemp appears to be San Diego’s biggest strength as of late, he is not nearly as invaluable as the Padres’ developing infield. Four men, a majority of those four home-grown prospects, are more valuable than the 2x Gold Glove award winner, 2x Silver Slugger award winner, All-Star, and at the time, 2x Most Valuable Player candidate.
Projecting the future is tough, better yet, tough would be an understatement, however, the Padres’ front office did a fantastic job in gearing their team the way they planned to have it. Therefore, distinguishing what the Padres’ have in store for their infield makes it all the more easier, being that San Diego drafted and signed an extraordinary amount of infielders over the past four years.
( AP Photo/ Don Boomer)
Acknowledging that both Jedd Gyorko and Yangervis Solarte will assumingly be occupying two positions in the field through 2017, the third-base position and first-base are the only availabilities. Considering the flexibility of both players, eligible to play third, short, and second, more precisely, a utility infielder and first-basemen are warranted for. Yonder Alonso, a Padre free agent in 2018 with an arbitration eligible in 2015, is not producing any numbers that scratch the surface of an average baseball player. Likewise, according to Fan Graphs, Alonso was in the bottom tier last year amongst all first-basemen who participated in at least 80 games, in a vast amount of statistical categories.
A middle of the lineup replacement for Alonso could very well be Gabriel Quintana, an underrated prospect. Quintana is only just beginning to reach the Double-A portion of San Diego’s farm system, but has shown some flashes of serious talent. Through 130 Single-A Adv. games, Quintana hit 139 balls of his 529 at bats, in which 35 were doubles and 84 were runs batted in. Interestingly enough, Quintana only went 55 at bats without a run batted in, of his 139 total at bats. With a lacking batting average of just .263 due to his poor pitch awareness and unacceptable strikeout-to-walk ratio, he managed to compile 18 homeruns with his astonishing .302 on-base percentage and OPS percentage of .733. More so, Quintana’s defense is considered to be a, “work in progress” at third base, which can ultimately guide him over to first-base and bloodlessly overthrow Alonso.
Another liable first-base candidate for the time being could be Jake Bauers, who posted much more respectable numbers than Quintana, but there is a lot of time for development, as he is three years younger than the maturing Quintana.
As for the utility infielder, the Padres are loaded, thus, making it difficult to decide who may have the best advantage. Playing time aside, the Padres essentially filled their Major League roster with infielders, being that seven of the nine position players on the 40-man roster hit for a combined batting average and on-base percentage of below.300. On the bright side, a player on the verge of soon replacing perhaps Alexi Armarista or Tommy Medica, is Cory Spangenberg.
(Associated Press)
Spangenber performed well in September carrying over into early October, but had a minuet amount of opportunities to prove himself. Though his one month stint only translated to 20 games, 62 plate appearances, and 18 total hits, he outperformed every other September Call-Up player and still managed to post more indicating statistics than the Padres’ starting infielders throughout the season. Spangenberg is also classified as a second-base to third-base caliber player, making him an asset to the Padres’ defensive alignment.
On the other hand, the Padres’ spend their first round pick in 2014 wisely, selecting Trea Turner 13 overall. With an expected arrival date somewhere in 2017, the 21-year old has lots of time to fundamentally and physically better himself as a baseball player, but is already exemplifying how well he can play. Turner also displayed how speed is not just his only attribute, but hitting, fielding, and plate discipline are all collaborated in as well.
It will certainly be difficult to puzzle the pieces together for San Diego being that the team needs to offensively and defensively start playing at a respectable standard. It is always good to have options and with such shifty infield, San Diego is just a few steps away from becoming a serious postseason contender.
Follow OPSN’s Brock Landes on Twitter for more MLB updates @Brock_Evan28
Filed under: MLB, MLB Postseason, San Diego Padres Tagged: Jedd Gyorko, MLB Postseason, Prospects, San Diego Padres, Trea Turner, Yonder Alonso
