Down on the Farm: July 29- Austin Allen Continues to Rake

El Paso Chihuahuas (52-55) Lost 9-2

Saturday night ended up being another tough outing for left-hander Dillon Overton. He has now given up thirteen earned runs over his last two starts and 10 innings pitched. He did have three solid outings of three earned runs or fewer prior to those two bad starts, but Overton has lacked consistency in his short time with the Padres organization. Diego Goris had the only RBI for the Chihuahuas while Christian Villanueva continued his strong play with two more hits. Franchy Cordero struck out three times in four at bats while Travis Jankowski got one hit on the night in what may be one of his final rehab starts with the Chihuahuas.

San Antonio Missions (61-45) Lost 2-1

It was a quiet night at the plate for the San Antonio Missions as they only managed three total hits against the Frisco Roughriders. Collin Wiles held the Missions to just three hits in his seven innings of work. Chris Huffman had yet another strong start for the Missions, going five and two-thirds and giving up only one earned run, but it was not enough for the right-hander to get the job done. Noah Perio collected two of the three hits for the Missions and Nick Torres had a tough night at the plate with an 0-3 with three strikeouts.

Lake Elsinore Storm (49-57) Won 18-1

The Lake Elsinore Storm’ bats erupted in a big way on Saturday night, as the Storm put up 18 runs on 17 hits which included an 11 run ninth inning against the Visalia Rawhide. Austin Allen led the way with four hits, including two home runs, while six different players went deep for the Storm, including Michael Gettys, Fernando Perez, Kyle Overstreet, Edwin Moreno, and Carlos Belen. On top of that, all those players had multi hit games, as well as leadoff man Rod Boykin, making for a very successful day at the plate for the Storm. Lost in all that, right-hander Jacob Nix bounced back in a big way after a string of rough outings, tossing seven strong innings with just five hits, one earned run, and eight strikeouts.

Fort Wayne TinCaps (48-57) Won 3-2

It was a bit of a quiet day at the plate for the TinCaps, but they did just enough to squeak out a 3-2 victory over the Dayton Dragons. Fort Wayne was down 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning when Fernando Tatis Jr. singled, stole second base, and scored on a single by Reinaldo Ilarraza to tie the game at one. The TinCaps would add two more runs in the next inning after a Marcus Greene double, a Buddy Reed single and stolen base, and a single by A.J. Kennedy that turned out to be the game winning run after the Dragons scored another run in the eighth. Adrian Morejon threw five strong innings in his TinCaps debut, giving up just five hits and one earned run while maintaining his stellar strikeout to walk ratio (2 to 0 on the night). Lake Bachar came in for a four inning outing and got the job done, giving up just two hits and one earned run.

Tri City Dust Devils (23-21) Lost 5-4

To continue the theme here, it was also a quiet night offensively for the Tri City Dust Devils who managed only six hits as a team outside of the four hit night for leadoff man Robbie Podorsky. The Dust Devils weren’t able to overcome a big five run third inning by Vancouver, as recent 12th round Padres draftee Thomas Cosgrove struggled on the mound, giving up those five earned in four innings of work. The Dust Devils tried to claw their way back, scoring one run in each of the fourth through seventh innings, but it was not enough to get the job done.

AZL Padres (15-13) Lost 7-4

In his second AZL outing, right-hander Michell Miliano had some struggles, giving up three hits and two earned runs in his one inning of work. Danny Sexton also struggled in relief, giving up four earned runs of his own. At the plate, there wasn’t much doing for the AZL Padres, as the team only collected seven hits on the night. Jonny Homza, Jason Pineda, and Jose Lezama all drove in runs, but it wasn’t enough for the AZL Padres to get the job done. Newest Padre Esteury Ruiz went hitless in four at bats.

DSL Padres (16-27) Lost 2-0 (Suspended due to rain after one inning)

Players of Note
Trey Wingenter– RHP, Double-A, San Antonio Missions
1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

It’s amazing that Trey Wingenter continues to mow down hitters as he has been doing over the last few months. After giving up two earned runs in his last outing, which were the first earned runs he had given up since early June, Wingenter bounced back with a scoreless frame on Saturday night. He’s not always overpowering, but he has pretty consistently been getting the job done for the Missions this season. It remains to be seen how fast he will move up to Triple-A, but Wingenter seems like a good candidate for September call-up to the Padres big league roster if he keeps this up.

Austin Allen- C, High-A, Lake Elsinore Storm
4-6, 1 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 R

Over the last few weeks, Austin Allen has been putting up video game numbers at the plate. After winning back-to-back Cal League player of the week honors, Allen is looking to make it a third straight week after his over the top performance on Saturday night. Allen is now slashing .476/.500/.952 over the last 10 days and .385/.414/.713 over the last 30 days. With 10 home runs over the last month, and those kind of video game numbers, Allen may have to join his pitching staff in San Antonio sooner rather than later.

Jacob Nix- RHP, High-A, Lake Elsinore Storm
7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

Coming off of his worst outing of the season, and three bad outings in his last four games, Jacob Nix rebounded in a big way on Saturday night, striking out eight batters and giving up only one earned run in seven innings. Fresh off a 14 hit, nine run outing his last time out, Nix looked so much better last night. Nix probably still has some work to do to join his former Lake Elsinore teammates in San Antonio, but this was a good start for what will hopefully be a solid string of outings for the right-hander.

Adrian Morejon- LHP, Low-A, Fort Wayne TinCaps
5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

In perhaps the biggest news of the night, Adrian Morejon made his TinCaps’ debut last night after making seven solid starts with the Dust Devils to start the season. Morejon wasn’t dominant, but he still showed his great feel for all his pitches as well as maintaining his stellar K-BB ratio. Morejon now has 37 strikeouts to only three walks on the season. For an 18-year-old pitching in full season professional ball now, that’s a pretty absurd fact. If he continues to impress for the rest of the season, Morejon could realistically start next season as a 19-year-old in

Robbie Podorsky- CF, Short Season, Tri-City Dust Devils
4-5, 1 3B, 1 SB

Since joining the Padres organization in June after being selected in the 25th round by the Padres, all Robbie Podorsky has done is hit. After hitting .400 in a short AZL stint, Podorsky has slashed .371/.451/.500 over his first 60 plus at bats with the Dust Devils. Now Podorsky is a 22-year-old playing in a lower level so his performance must be kept in content, but it still represents a strong start for a player selected near the bottom half of the draft out of a small college. If he keeps hitting like this, Podorsky could find himself in Fort Wayne before too long.

Michell Miliano- RHP, AZL Padres
1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Following in the footsteps of Adrian Morejon, Osvaldo Hernandez, and Henry Henry, right-hander Michell Miliano is yet another teenage arm beginning to throw in the lower levels of the Padres system. Signed by the Padres last year as part of their big J2 class for the 2016-2017 signing period, Miliano is getting his first taste of professional action as a 17-year-old. After a scoreless first inning in the AZL, Miliano ran into some trouble in his second inning, giving up a single, double, and triple, and two runs scored. He still showed some good feel for his pitches, as he struck out two batters, but it wasn’t the best night for the right-hander. As a 17-year-old pitching in professional baseball, that is to be expected. Miliano was turning heads in extended spring training, so it’s good to see him finally getting a taste of AZL action.

Patrick Brewer

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.