Down on the Farm: June 26
Credit: MLB
Eric Lauer– LHP, High-A, Lake Elsinore Storm
5 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
Apparently Eric Lauer is mortal after all. In what was his worst outing of the season, Lauer gave up six earned runs on seven hits over his five innings of work. Lauer’s trouble began in the third inning following a one-out walk, which was followed by a two-out triple, scoring the first run of the game for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. After another one-out walk in the fourth inning, Lauer gave up back to back doubles, plating two more runs for the Quakes. The fifth saw Lauer give up a home run, single, another walk, and another double. So all in all, Lauer just had one of those nights. He is still one of the very best pitching prospects in the Padres’ system and he is having a phenomenal season.
Zech Lemond– RHP, High-A, Lake Elsinore Storm
1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
I have been truly amazed by the complete transformation Lemond has made since being turned into a reliever at the start of this season. After three years of middling results in the rotation, Lemond has become a very useful bullpen piece, as he has maintained a sub-3.00 ERA while striking out over 20 percent more batters (23%) than he has walked (3%) so far this season. It remains to be seen if this success will translate to the upper levels, but Lemond has certainly turned his career around.
Fernando Tatis Jr.- SS, Low-A, Fort Wayne TinCaps
1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 R, 1 SB
Fernando Tatis Jr. is very quickly climbing the prospect ranks of many a Padre fan. I see more and more people raving about Tatis, and John Conniff of MadFriars even said he has the potential to be a Corey Seager-type bat on the EVT Podcast. Sky high expectations aside, Tatis Jr. has put together a heck of a season for an 18-year-old in full-season ball. There is still a fair share of kinks to work out, but he has been wildly impressive in all aspects of his game.
Reggie Lawson– RHP, Low-A, Fort Wayne TinCaps
6 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Man is it good to see Reggie Lawson do this well. Drafted in the competitive balance portion of the second round of the 2016 MLB Draft, Lawson was handled with great care late last season, as the right-hander saw only 10 professional innings in the Arizona Fall League. With just over a year having passed since being drafted, Lawson is finally starting to put it together. He has had a bit of a rough go of it early on, but this was easily his best start of the season. He’s still raw, but this is a great leap forward for the young right-hander.
Justin Lopez– IF, SS, Tri-City Dust Devils
4-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R
Luis Almanzar may be grabbing headlines with his early season performance for the Dust Devils, but fellow shortstop, we’ll just call him a shortstop even though they can’t all play shortstop, Justin Lopez has been impressive as well. He collected two more hits Monday and is continuing to make a name for himself on both sides of the ball. Speaking of good infielders that can play shortstop, Kelvin Melean also had four hits on Monday night. The Dust Devils are fun to watch.
Osvaldo Hernandez– LHP, SS, Tri-City Dust Devils
3 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
With a name like Osvaldo can you really go wrong? This wasn’t the best start for the young left-hander, but given that it’s only his third professional start stateside, I am willing to cut him some slack. Even though there were a lot of hits, Hernandez still got his share of swings and misses, and more importantly, strikeouts on the night.
Tucupita Marcano– 2B, DSL Padres
3-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI
AZL Brewers vs. AZL Padres
Jeisson Rosario- 0-5, 4 K
Blake Hunt- 1-3, 1 2B
Jordy Barley- 2-3, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Dan Dallas– 2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
AZL Padres (2) vs. AZL Mariners
Luis Campusano- 1-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Gabriel Arias– 1-4
Eguy Rosario– 0-4
Mason House- 1-4, 2 RBI
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.