Wil Myers leads a dark horse candidate for this postseason, but the San Diego Padres pose a new threat in the West. Their acquisition of Eric Hosmer as well as their minor league prospects will put the Padres as a leader in the National League.
Pitching is their main issue, but their farm system is readily addressing that, with seven of their top ten prospects being pitchers. One of their premiere players is Mackenzie Gore, a left-handed pitcher. Padres’ coach Darren Balsley said “Every time I’ve seen him (Gore) he’s been lights out. He’s what you want to see.” Gore is the listed as the best San Diego prospect by MLB.com, so clearly the scouts all conquer that he’s the best they’ve got. Gore is listed as San Diego’s second best prospect, baseball’s 19th best prospect, and the best left-handed prospect in all of baseball. Last season, in rookie ball (a league he won’t be in very long), Gore had a 1.27 ERA, gave up only seven hits and three earned runs, and struck out 34 batters in 21.1 innings. You should not expect to see him in the lower minor leagues come April. Anderson Espinoza, the man San Diego traded Drew Pomeranz to the Boston Red Sox for, is an optimistic question mark. Despite receiving Tommy John surgery last year, Espinoza is the 89th best prospect in all of baseball. In his last season, 2016, he had 4.49 ERA, a 1.385 WHIP, and struck 100 batters in only 25 games; this is coming from the future closer of the Padres. Clearly, they’ve got some great young talent warming in the pen. Myers is a constant to the team, and he had a fine season last year. Last season, he hit .243, but he also drove in 74 runs, had 138 hits, and at one of the best in all of baseball, he hit an impressive 30 home runs. This team leader will, as always, be who makes the team successful. They acquired Hosmer this offseason, and the man is an all-star home run machine. Playing every game last year, Hosmer knocked 25 long balls over the deep fences of Kauffman Stadium, batted in 94 runs, batted .318, came in 14th for the American League MVP, won a gold glove, and won a silver slugger. The former Kansas City Royal is sure to make a much needed addition to the Southern California lineup. The National League West should play in fear of the threat that is San Diego (and the AL West in fear of Anaheim, as predicted in part one of this series, “California Countdown Part 1: City of Angels Soars”). The best team in that division as of last year was the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the new arms and the new bat stacking Friar’s play pose a great foe for them. 2018 will be a crazy year. Jesse A. Cook “California Countdown Part 2: Head Of Family And League” March 21, 2018
1 Comment
drew
4/24/2018 04:50:17 pm
Eric Hosmer isn't enough to get the padres past a stacked division with players like Kershaw, Seager, Goldschmidt , Arenado, and Posey
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
MLBThe Otherside page for all things MLB. Archives
January 2019
Categories
All
|