Padres News: Keeping Luis Perdomo a Risky Move
Credit: USA Today Sports
On Saturday afternoon the San Diego Padres announced that they will indeed keep Luis Perdomo to start the season. He will be on the 25-man roster and is eligible to stay with the team only if he remains on the roster for the complete season. The move is somewhat of a surprise as Perdomo has been hit hard and hit often this Spring. The 22-year-old right handed pitcher has gone 0-2 this Spring with a 14.63 ERA. He has allowed 18 hits and 13 runs in his eight innings pitched. The Padres coaching staff indicated that Perdomo got off to a rough start, but has thrown the ball better is recent outings.
The starting staff right now is set as Tyson Ross, James Shields, Andrew Cashner, Drew Pomeranz and Colin Rea are set to start the season in the rotation. A tweet Saturday afternoon (from his sister) indicated that Rea has won a spot in the rotation, but nothing has been confirmed from the ball club. Perdomo had been a starter throughout his minor league career, but it looks like he will not be doing that for the Padres.
For his five-year career Perdomo has a 16-31 record with a 4.10 ERA. The pitcher went 6-12 last season with a 4.83 ERA and struck out 118 batters in 126 innings pitched. Not a bad year for the former Cardinals farm hand, but that was at the A-Ball level. He makes a huge jump to the major leagues and it will be an uphill battle the whole way for the him.
Should the Padres have used a roster spot on Perdomo? Only time will tell. He will probably be used in mop-up duty when the Padres are either behind big or up big. That usually entails long relief duty and that might be the best chance for the Padres to get an extended look at Perdomo against major league type hitters. There are no doubts about the stuff he has, but its the same common story about being consistent. There are tons of young pitchers with great stuff who never even sniff a major league clubhouse.
Keeping a project like him on the roster limits the team greatly. The other 24 players will be leaned on heavily to pull the slack of this young man. Perhaps in time and if he can get comfortable, Perdomo could prove to be a useful player. He has the ability to be special if he can put it all together.
Keeping two Rule-5 guys on the 25-man roster is indeed a very risky move. Both Jabari Blash and Luis Perdomo have an intriguing future but each is still very raw in terms of utilizing their skills. Blash has unreal power but the Padres will have to live with his high propensity to strike out. Perdomo has the same kind of enticing qualities. He will make batters look foolish one inning only to get knocked around hard the next. Its inevitable. Is keeping players like Perdomo on the squad worth the risk? We shall see. He needs to pull his weight and show progression early or the team might just cut their losses with him.
With the likes of Fernando Rodney, Brandon Maurer, Kevin Quackenbush, Matt Thornton and Carlos Villanueva the Padres have a solid group of relievers. These guys will need to stay fresh though. It comes down to the starting pitching and their ability to go deep into games. That shouldn’t be an issue with the big three of Ross, Shields and Cashner. If they can go deep into games and keep the sixth and seventh inning relievers fresh, then Perdomo might be able to be kept with no issues. I see the plan but whether or not the team can stick to it is another story.
James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.