Down on the Farm: April 26
Credit: Fort Wayne Tin Caps
San Antonio Missions
Nick Schulz 1-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K
Schulz continued his hot start to the season with another home run on Wednesday. He has cooled off a little bit over the last ten games, but is still slashing .282/.391/.641 with four home runs during that time. Schulz has had a quiet professional career to this point, but this strong offensive performance is definitely drawing some attention. It will be interesting to watch how Schulz’ season progresses going forward.
Lake Elsinore Storm
Josh Naylor 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 R
Let’s talk about Josh Naylor again. It seems he may be finally putting it together at the plate for the Storm over the last week or two. Over his last ten games, Naylor is now slashing .390/.457/.634, with 16 hits, including three home runs with 10 runs batted in to go with it. During that time, Naylor is making harder contact, driving the ball more, and striking out less frequently; the three things Naylor needs to do in order to develop into a big league player someday. Naylor will never be a great defender, and he will never be much of a contact hitter, but if he can cut down on strikeouts and collect a lot of extra base hits, he will hold value one day.
Cal Quantrill 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Another day, another strong start for the Padres’ first round pick from the 2016 draft, Cal Quantrill. Quantrill hasn’t been dominant, but he has been fairly consistent over his first handful of starts this season. Quantrill has given up a lot of hits so far this season, but the strikeouts have been there (22 in 21.1 IP) and the walks have been kept low to this point. The Padres have clearly been somewhat cautious with Quantrill given his Tommy John history, but so far he has looked completely healthy and back to form.
Fort Wayne TinCaps
Brad Zunica 2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI
It seems that Brad Zunica is turning into a three true outcomes type of player. Over his last ten games, Zunica has walked five times, struck out seven times, and hit one home run. Zunica has added in one double and one single, but more often than not when Zunica has come to the plate he has done one of those three things. The on base percentage has been over .400 thanks to his high walk rate on the year (24.5 percent), but Zunica is also striking out in just under 37 percent of his at bats. At this point, Zunica looks like Ryan Schimpf or Jabari Blash, but leaning more towards Blash. That’s a rather risky profile.
Logan Allen 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Logan Allen continued his Midwest League dominance on Wednesday with another strong start. Allen is currently eighth in the league with 25 strikeouts, and top 20 in ERA and WHIP. There was some confusion as to why Allen started the season in Fort Wayne rather than Lake Elsinore, but it is clear that Allen won’t be in the Midwest League very long if he continues this string of dominance. Allen has now given up only four earned runs on the season, and has struck out 25 batters over 18 innings. Definitely a lot of encouraging signs for the young left-hander.
Editorial and Prospect Writer for East Village Times. Twenty-five years young, Patrick has lived in San Diego for his entire life and has been a Padres fan nearly as long. Patrick lives for baseball and is always looking to learn new things about the game he loves through advanced stats.