Padres Spring Training Report – Mar. 4, 2014

Ok, so there’s no winning streak to talk about yet as the Padres fell today to the Diamondbacks at Peoria Sports Complex 8-6.  For going up against a team that’s been practicing longer, and that’s close to being season ready because of their opening up in Australia early, the Pads played them pretty tough.  So, no win streak yet, but there were, however, some other streaks, and a couple firsts today that are worth looking at.

• Carlos Quentin – Played in his first Cactus League contest of the spring, and in his first at bat hit a home run, crushing the ball over the left field fence.  It’s been a good spring for Q if for no other reason that his knees have not been hurting him for the first time in at least a couple of years.  He’s been able to participate in all the early spring workouts and drills, and from what I’ve seen has had a much more engaging and lighthearted attitude in the clubhouse with his teammates. It was pretty encouraging to see all of that translate into the game today with a long ball in his first plate appearance. Looking forward to seeing more of a healthy Q.
• Yonder Alonso – While we’re on the topic of firsts, Yo had 2 hits today including his first round tripper of the spring.  After missing much of last year because of having his hand broken by a pitch in May, and injuring it again in August, it’s great to see him swinging pain free.  Hopefully now that he’s healthy he can continue to progress from where he really left off at the end of 2012 having hit 39 doubles.
• Everth Cabrera – Smacked his first hit of the spring, in fact he got two of them, both opposite field doubles.  He looked to be seeing the ball better, and did a nice job of staying inside the ball on both hits.
• Tommy Medica – He had another hit today, giving him a 5 game hitting streak, and although his spring average went down after gong 1 for 3, he’s still hitting .642 and has 9 hits so far this spring.  He’s making a strong early case for himself to make the team with his bat, but having some versatility on defense wouldn’t hurt. Yes, he’s been working with Dave Roberts and Jose Valentin on his outfield play, but for now first base is still the only realistic option for him in the field.
• Eric Stults – Unfortunately his streak right now isn’t a positive one. He’s had two rough outings in a row now to start spring.  He gave up 3 runs in his fist outing, and did the same today in only 1 inning of work.  He has not been able to effectively locate his fastball, and has been inconsistent with his usually dependable off speed pitches.  It’s certainly not time to panic though especially with the style of pitcher Eric is.  It is not unusual for a “feel” pitcher like him, who relies on lots of off speed pitches  to take a little longer to get that feel for the breaking pitches especially in the dry Cactus League air.
• Nick Vincent – His is also a streak that is non-enviable in that he has twice now not been able to make it through his inning of work, getting hit hard in both outings allowing 8 hits and 7 runs total.  If you had asked me coming into the games which two pitchers looked most ready to compete Vincent would have been one with Quackenbush being the other.  No one could barely put a ball in play off him in the batting practice sessions, but he’s been leaving the ball up and out over so far in the games.  It’s been a rough start for him, but given what’s he’s done for the Pads working out of the bullpen the past two seasons you have to believe he’ll get that signature cutter working.

All in all some good signs that the Friar offense is waking up, posting 13 runs on 23 hits, and 3 HR’s the past two games.

For Cameron Maybin there’s obviously bad news to relay, but also surprisingly some possible good news as well.  First, the expected bad new is that he does have a torn biceps tendon which will likely cause him to miss 2-3 months.  so what could possibly be the good news?  Two things: First, there does not appear to be any additional damage to the shoulder capsule, so the only thing that needs to heal is that one tendon.  And second, it may not even require surgery.  There apparently have been a number of cases in similar injuries where the athlete and medical staff have decided to let the injury heal on it’s own, and it apparently can.  Cameron and the Padres doctors will not need to make that decision right away, but Cam will probably know which way he’s going with regards to a procedure or not in the next 7-10 days.

Other injury updates include Huston Street nursing a “slight, slight, slight goring strain” according to Buddy.  And Chase Headley continues to progress with his throwing and swinging program as his right calf heals.

Tomorrow’s  game will be against the White Sox at Camelback Ranch.  You can listen to the action live with Jesse Agler and me on the Padres.com webcast with the first pitch scheduled for 12:05 PST.

Hope you’ll join us!

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