MadFriars' July Player of the Month: Brett Kennedy
July saw a final, undeniable pivot toward the future by the San Diego Padres as the team began the month with an unprecedented (and continuing) shopping spree on the international free agent market, and ended with a collection of trades that continue to add top-end talent to the minor league system. On the field, July was a month of strong performances from key prospects up and down the system.
As they do each month, the team from MadFriars.com looks at the top performers in the Padres minor league system. Remember, these reports are not meant to be revisions of their top prospect rankings, but rather a look at noteworthy recent performances.
El Paso Chihuahuas (Triple-A)
The Chihuahuas have been the best offensive club in the offense-happy Pacific Coast League all year, and July simply continued that trend. While Austin Hedges cooled off a bit from his torrid pace in June, the 23-year-old catcher still posted a strong .309/.347/.564 line, hitting six homers and striking out in just 15 percent of his plate appearances. Because the Padres want to keep control of Hedges until the 2022 season, he may stay in El Paso all year despite his continued outstanding performance.
Hedges wasn't even the top performer at his own position in July. Hector Sanchez, claimed off of waivers from the White Sox in May and sent to El Paso in late June. And all he did through the month was murder PCL pitching. The 26-year-old long-time Giants property hit .378 with an outsized .662 slugging percentage. Though primarily a catcher, the switch-hitter worked at first base and DH for the Chihuahuas.
Among the key prospects knocking on the door of the majors, Hunter Renfroe had a team-best seven homers with an .879 OPS, while Manuel Margot, who missed time sporadically with a heel issue, hit .329 and struck out only five times in 90 trips to the plate. Sometimes-overlooked infielder Carlos Asuaje's .951 OPS was second-best on the squad.
On the mound Carlos Pimentel paced the rotation all month, while Aaron Northcraft was valuable after he was promoted back to Triple-A from San Antonio. Pimentel, a free agent signee last winter, showed the form that helped him take the PCL ERA last year, posting a 2.87 ERA across a team-high 31.1 innings in six starts. Northcraft, 26, got another crack at the rotation in El Paso, and delivered a solid 3.57 ERA in three starts.
El Paso Player of the Month: Hector Sanchez
San Antonio Missions (Double-A)
Through the first three months of the year, the Missions were on pace for a franchise record in losses. In July, the club righted the ship a bit, getting solid performances on both sides of the ball and posting a 16-14 record. Gabriel Quintana paced the club offensively, smacking a team-high seven homers and an .845 OPS. The slugging corner infielder continued a career-long trend of striking out too often and not walking enough, but when he made contact, it was loud.
Center fielder Franchy Cordero gave the top of the lineup a much-needed spark after joining the Missions on June 30. The 21-year-old has finally converted on his many tools and quick bat to produce this year, while finding a new home defensively in the outfield. For July, he hit .287/.343/.450 with seven steals against only three times caught, a marked improvement on earlier in the year. Undrafted free agent Nick Schulz continues to contribute to the middle of the lineup, with an .834 OPS fueled by a team-best.405 on-base percentage for July.
The pitching staff shaved a half run off their June ERA, posting a solid 3.20 mark for the month. Seth Simmons, picked up a few days after he was released by the Diamondbacks in May, had the most improbable line of anyone on the staff. A career reliever, the 5'9" righty jumped into the Missions' rotation, and put up a 2.59 ERA in July seven starts.
Dinelson Lamet's success was much more predictable. The top pitching prospect in the upper minors got his legs under him in his first full month in the Texas League, posting a 3.69 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 31.2 innings over six starts. Kyle Lloyd also dealt all month, turning in four quality starts. Meanwhile, the back-of-the-bullpen trio of Kyle McGrath, Jose Torres, and Brad Wieck continued to dominate, combining for a 0.70 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 38.1 innings.
San Antonio Player of the Month: Seth Simmons
Lake Elsinore Storm (Advanced-A)
San Diego State Aztec Ty France has reached base at an impressive .416 clip since signing as a 34th-round pick last year, but his approach hadn't translated his physical strength into in-game power until his first month in the Cal League. Playing mostly third base, France hit .351/.430/.543 for the month, somehow managing to get hit by eight more pitches – taking to bolster his on-base percentage, while tying for the team lead with four homers.
He was matched by Edwin Moreno, a left-handed hitting outfielder several of us thought could put up monster numbers in the hitter-friendly Cal League this year. Instead, he got off to a brutal start, but the 22-year-old turned it on in July, hitting .316/.340/622, though he had an unsightly 27:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 103 plate appearances. While Luis Urias only played in 16 games, he was a beast when he was on the field. The 19-year-old infielder posted a 1.043 OPS for the month, his best showing yet in an impressive campaign.
On the mound Brett Kennedy found his stride, posting a 2.87 ERA with a fantastic 39:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The 11th-round pick in 2014, Kennedy works off a solid fastball/slider combination and, when he's on like he was throughout July, can be a true workhorse for the rotation. In three starts, Walker Lockett gave up just two earned runs over 19 innings to earn his second promotion of the year.
Lake Elsinore Player of the Month: Brett Kennedy
Fort Wayne TinCaps (Low-A)
Slugging third baseman Carlos Belen has been a favorite among the Padres' player development staff since he first came stateside as a 17-year-old in 2013. With massive raw power and surprising good hands defensively, he's had the tools to dream on. In July, they came together. The right-handed hitter posted a .294/.319/.505 line as 15 of his 32 hits went for extra-bases. Fellow corner masher, first baseman Brad Zunica, provided a left-handed answer to Belen in the middle of the lineup, hitting .281 with a team-high six homers on his way to a .542 slugging percentage.
Perhaps the most encouraging performance in the organization in July was Ruddy Giron, who began to shake out of a year-long slump. The still-19-year-old shortstop hit .299/.358/.381 for the month, with only 15 strikeouts in 107 plate appearances, stabilizing in the field as well.
Big lefty Jerry Keel turned in five strong starts to earn a promotion to Lake Elsinore. The Southern California native struck out 26 and walked only four as he posted a 3.58 ERA in 27.2 innings. While continuing to work under controlled innings and pitch counts, the club's top pick from last year, second-rounder Austin Smith, had his best professional month yet as he gave up only three earned runs in 19.1 innings across four starts. His big fastball doesn't play up in games yet because of command and secondary issues, but he walked only five hitters in July.
One pitcher to keep an eye on is Jose Castillo, a lefty who came over in the Wil Myers trade. After early-season injuries pushed him back, the big Venezuelan worked 18.1 innings of relief for the TinCaps in July with a stellar 28:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The club is figuring out whether to work him back into a starting role. The Padres got a tantalizing taste of what Chris Paddack can do as he allowed one run over 14 innings in three starts after joining the club from the Marlins, but then went down with an elbow injury. He's facing Tommy John surgery and won't be back in games until 2018.
Fort Wayne Player of the Month: Carlos Belen
Short-season Teams Tri-City and Arizona
Playing in a home ballpark that suppresses offense, a pair of interesting middle infielders were the only Dust Devils to post an OPS above .800. Shortstop Chris Baker, a late-round sign out of the University of Washington, went .318/.388/.430 while tying for the team lead with eight stolen bases. His double-play partner Nate Easley, son of former Padre minor league instructor Damion, hit .309/.421/.383.
With tight innings limits on most of the newly-acquired pitchers, finding meaning in their stat lines is difficult, but Joey Lucchesi used his unconventional delivery to post an impressive 1.80 ERA with 18 strikeouts and just one walk allowed in 15 innings. Emmanuel Ramirez, in his second season stateside and therefore given a bit more free rein, posted a 3.34 ERA with 32 strikeouts in a team-leading 29.2 innings.
When the Padres took Hudson Potts (nee Sanchez) with the third of their first-round picks, while they liked the flexibility created by his below-slot bonus, they also firmly believed in the bat. The 17-year-old (he's the youngest in the draft class by several months) has rewarded that confidence early, posting a .316/.337/.474 line while playing second, third and shortstop in a team-high 98 July plate appearances. In much more limited AZL exposure, Luis Anguizola, a Panamanian-born US collegiate draftee, and catcher Jose Lezama, making his stateside debut at 18, both produced at the plate, with .880 and .874 OPS marks respectively.
The only AZL pitcher to toss more than 20 innings was 19-year-old Jean Garcia, who is repeating the level. The big Dominican righty delivered on that work load, putting together a 2.25 ERA with 20 strikeouts and five walks in 28 innings. Even bigger Dominican righty Starlin Castro struck out 17 in 10.1 innings of relief as he worked to a 1.74 ERA, while 17-year-old Andres Muñoz struck out 14 while allowing only one run in 9.2 innings.
Short-season Player of the Month: Hudson Potts
System Player of the Month: Brett Kennedy
In previous months, there's been a clear and obvious choice. This month, we saw a number of strong performances, but no massive outbursts beyond that of Hector Sanchez. I went with Kennedy here because of the upside he offers as an innings-eating rotation workhorse. A year ago, the 21-year-old was just adjusting to the pro game after signing out of Fordham as an 11th-rounder. Now he's filling up the strike zone and working his way through a challenging offensive league impressively. To put up the numbers he did in the heat of the summer is quite impressive.
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