The San Diego Padres have a comparatively incomplete roster going into this season in comparison with years previous. That is why spring coaching is as necessary a time as ever wherein to guage their expertise.
San Diego, which opens spring coaching Feb. 22, has simply two outfielders on the 40-man roster (Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jose Azocar) and two unproven pitchers (Pedro Avila and Randy Vasquez), who’re predicted by FanGraphs to spherical out the beginning rotation.
In distinction, San Diego has a wealthy farm system that may actually funnel gamers to the large leagues this season. The Padres prolonged non-roster invitees to seven of their top-15 prospects – catcher Ethan Salas, shortstop Jackson Merrill, pitcher Robby Snelling, pitcher Drew Thorpe, pitcher Adam Mazur, third baseman Graham Pauley and outfielder Jakob Marsee.
Plenty of solutions concerning the Opening Day lineup might be answered based mostly on spring-training performances. Listed below are three gamers to observe:
Outfielder Jose Azocar
Azocar should exchange final season’s beginning heart fielder, Trent Grisham, who was dealt to the New York Yankees within the offseason. Whereas by no means a gifted hitter, Grisham was constantly one of many prime defensive gamers at his place.
Per Baseball Savant, Azocar was inside the 97th percentile in dash velocity and 74th percentile in arm energy final 12 months. He has a .982 fielding proportion in heart discipline, nevertheless it’s his lack of offensive manufacturing throughout his two years within the Majors that’s regarding.
FanGraphs predicts he could have a .632 on-base plus slugging proportion in 2024, nicely under league common in 2023 (.734). His profession slash line of simply .249/.341/.633 can be regarding, so a great efficiency in spring coaching may considerably enhance his possibilities.
Catcher Ethan Salas
Anybody hoping Salas may make his MLB debut in the course of the 2024 season ought to in all probability pump their brakes, as a result of San Diego has a succesful catcher in Luis Campusano.
Salas has rocketed by way of the minors. At solely 16 final 12 months, he made his first look within the Cactus League, grounding out in his lone at-bat. As a 17-year-old, Salas noticed time in Low-A, Excessive-A and Double-A in the course of the common season. He was the youngest participant to document an inning within the Texas League (Double-A) with the following closest being 19-year-old Yamal Encarnacion of the Houston Astros.
In January, Dennis Lin of The Athletic wrote Salas may make his MLB debut earlier than he turns 20.
Proper-hander Randy Vasquez
Vasquez was one of many key items the Padres acquired within the deal that despatched Juan Soto to the Yankees. Per MLB.com, he is San Diego’s Fifteenth-best prospect and at 25, he is primed to stay within the Majors. He is predicted to be the fifth starter within the rotation with simply 41 days of service time, making him comparatively unproven.
Regardless of the shortage of expertise on the MLB stage, he has proven the flexibility to carry out when known as upon. In 2023, Vasquez performed in 11 video games (5 begins), positing a 2.87 ERA, and 1.274 WHIP. His means to start out when wanted is encouraging.
Even when he would not make that Opening Day roster, Vasquez is a powerful candidate to be known as up sooner or later. Regardless of which state of affairs involves fruition, Padres followers ought to control Vasquez, who could possibly be a key participant this season.
