The Padres have placed catcher Francisco Mejia on the 10-day injured list and recalled fellow backstop Austin Allen from Triple-A El Paso, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune relays.
The switch-hitting Mejia has been dealing with a left knee sprain “for weeks,” though the joint is “structurally sound” and shouldn’t require a long-term absence, Acee writes. The injury has contributed to a rough opening to 2019 for Mejia, a touted 23-year-old who has slashed a meager .167/.207/.259 (24 wRC+) with an 18:2 K:BB ratio and endured a power outage (.093 ISO, zero HRs) across 58 plate appearances.
Friars primary catcher Austin Hedges hasn’t been that much better than Mejia at the plate over 91 attempts, having hit .157/.231/.213 (45 wRC+), so Allen won’t have a high bar to clear in his first major league action. The 25-year-old has gotten his initial taste of Triple-A ball this season and batted an effective .279/.358/.529 (113 wRC+) with six home runs in 120 tries. Both MLB.com (No. 19) and FanGraphs (No. 20) rank Allen as a top 20 prospect in a loaded Padres system and hold his offensive potential in high regard. However, as the outlets explain, there are questions about whether the 6-foot-2, 220-pounder will be able to stick behind the plate.
Paging Brad Hand
Austin Hedges’ offensive numbers have decreased since this article was posted 25 minutes ago. An excellent defensive catcher who can’t hit is tolerable on a team if they are the only automatic out. Unfortunately Wil Myers is equally terrible right now. Time to give Allen a look, and hopefully if Mejia really has been injured, its legitimately what was part of the problem. I’m inclined to think it has more to do with his utter lack of plate discipline.
Mejia certainly lacks plate discipline at this point of his career. Would like to see him start more than once every 5 gms. Let’s see what we actually have in him. Hard to get comfortable at the plate when at bats are so few & far between. Throw him in there for 3,4 gms in a row & let him find his rhythm. Seen enough of Hedges to know who he is at the plate. Which ain’t much.
You are absolutely correct…unfortunately.
Mejia is so bad behind the plate that he ranks 67 of the 75 guys that have caught a game this season.
Hard to have someone that bad catching many games with as many young pitchers as the Padres have. Hedges inspires confidence with his defense and game calling. Mejia not so much. Padres pitchers throw 30% less breaking and offspeed pitches, the kind of pitches you often bury in the dirt for a strike out, with Mejia behind the plate than with Hedges there.
Mejia’s upside on offense is not enough to make up for his deficit behind the plate
I’ve watched Meija move fair caught balls so the ump calls them found, over and over. Watch him when he returns, it’s disturbing.
Wuuuuut
Myers hit a massive hr and scored go ahead run in 9th tonight. So no not equally bad
Myers had been about 1 for his last 30. If we are at a place with him where we are defending him by saying he isn’t as bad as Hedges, then I have concerns…especially at $80 million.
3 days ago he has the same batting average an Manny Machado.
Hedges offensive numbers went up since this article was posted and he is hands down the best defensive catcher in the game.
Last season he was above average on offense for catchers.
Anyone see enough of Luis Torrens in ST or playing in the minors to say whether his defense is keeping up with his .294/.400/.456 bat through 19 games for Amarillo?
I realize he’s still a way off and may only ever be a backup C in the majors, but I like the patience the San Diego FO is having with him.
Campusano will be pushing Torrens soon.
Just like they say in the NFL, if you have two catchers, you have none.
Name one team that has one catcher getting 150 games a year. 140? 130? There was ONE catcher that played in 140 games last year. There were none that started 130 at catcher. If you don’t have 2 quality catchers you are a losing team.
The Red Sox had zero quality catchers and they were the best team in the sport. The Brewers catching situation was solved by Erik Kratz. You absolutely do not need 2 quality catchers. Depending on what your term of quality even is.
The Red Sox had 2 quality defensive catchers last season. They did not have a great hitting catcher, but since they only bat 4-5 times a game but are involved in every pitch behind the plate, their defense is much more important.
Add the A’s to the list. I mean I don’t even know what you’re really even arguing here. that no team had a catcher who nearly played every game? I mean that’s true but not at all informative. You physically need 2 catchers but there’s plenty of instances where you get little to nothing from a backup and the team is just fine. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
Not in today’s game. A handful of teams had a catcher go beyond 110 games started behind the plate. Of the ten playoff teams, only 2 had a catcher with 110+ starts. There were 50 catchers with more than 60 games.
Every team needs two quality catchers.
Well said
That’s cute with the whole two catchers thing. Ask the Dodgers how that worked out the last two seasons.
What a waste of a trade chip…. Mejía is never going to get the playing time he needs with Hedges still on the team. Mejía was the #25 prospect in baseball…. not on the padres…. in all of baseball! And that was primarily due to his bat. Now they put him on the roster, start him once every 4 days or so, of course he can’t find a rhythm, and he bats .175ish while also not getting the reps on defense he needs. Prospect status killed, trade value killed, player development killed. Whether you are for hedges playing or for Mejía playing…. there’s really no denying this situation was handled very poorly by management. If Mejía wasn’t going to play regularly, he should have been on the minors putting up numbers, working on defense, and at least maintaining some value.
His entire Minor League career doesn’t go out of the window because of one month in the majors
Other teams still know who Mejia is.
I see him coming back to AAA and raking(because everyone does in EP) and being traded at some point.
Padres have other Catching options and other needs.