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Joey Lucchesi

Roster Notes: Padres, Paddack, Rangers, Cubs, Scahill

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The Padres #5 ranked prospect per MLB.com (#34 overall) is angling to get the nod on Opening Day, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. Chris Paddack threw four scoreless innings, which included a stretch in which he struck out five consecutive Oakland A’s batters in his most recent spring start. Last season, Paddack made seven starts in Double-A after cruising through High-A, where he notched an eye-popping 14.3 K/9 versus 0.7 BB/9 in 52 1/3 innings. Double-A didn’t slow him much, going 3-2 with a 1.91 ERA in 7 starts, 8.8 K/9 to 1.0 BB/9. Still, from Double-A to an Opening Day start would be quite the jump for the 23-year-old, just a year removed from missing all of 2017 to Tommy John surgery. The competition is fairly wide open, however, as the Padres, by design, brought very little in the way of established talent to camp. Since the offseason departures of veterans Clayton Richard (traded to Blue Jays) and Tyson Ross (signed with Tigers), Robbie Erlin boasts the most experience in the group, and he’s not even a lock to make the rotation. Fellow southpaws Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer each have a shot to get the Opening Day nod, as well. Let’s check in on the Rangers’ and Cubs’ camps as teams begin to whittle their spring rosters…

  • The Rangers culled their number of players in camp to 60. Pitchers Taylor Guerrieri, Michael Tonkin, Miguel Del Pozo and Brady Feigl were all assigned to minor league camp, per the Rangers’ executive VP of communications John Blake (via Twitter). Guerrieri, 26, joined the Rangers after making his major league debut last season with the Blue Jays. A former first round pick of the Rays, he was a starter in the minor leagues until missing most of the 2017 season due to injury. Toronto claimed him off waivers before last season, where started 7 games in Triple-A before appearing 9 times out of the Blue Jays pen, pitching to a 5.02 FIP in a small-sample 9 2/3 big league innings. Tonkin, 29, appeared in parts of five seasons for the Twins from 2013 to 2017 with a 4.57 FIP across 141 games. Del Pozo, 26, reached as far as Double-A in the Marlins system before joining the Rangers as a non-roster invitee. While Feigl, 28, is back in the Rangers system where he has pitched for the past two seasons.
  • The Cubs made a number of roster moves today, with promising righties Adbert Alzolay and Jen-Ho Tseng being optioned to Triple-A, while Justin Steele and Oscar De La Cruz were sent to Double-A, per the Athletic’s Patrick Mooney (Twitter links). Also on the move, Duncan Robinson, Ian Clarkin, Colin Rea, Ian Rice, Charcer Burks and Jacob Hannemann are being moved to minor league camp (Twitter link). Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter) adds Craig Brooks, Alberto Baldonado and Evan Marzilli to the list of players headed to minor league camp. The Cubs spring roster has now been cut to 54.
  • Rob Scahill, meanwhile, was released outright by the Cubs, per Mooney (via Twitter). Scahill has pitched at the big league level for parts of seven seasons running, topping out at 31 appearances in 2016 spread between Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. In total, the 32-year-old boasts a career 3.95 ERA (4.67 FIP) in 124 games for Rockies, Pirates, Brewers and White Sox.

Joey Lucchesi Hires CAA Sports

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Padres lefty Joey Lucchesi has hired CAA Sports to represent him, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic (Twitter link). His new representation is reflected in MLBTR’s Agency Database.

The 25-year-old Lucchesi is coming off of a rather promising first campaign in the majors. He turned in 26 starts in 2018, working to a 4.08 ERA with 10.0 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.

Lucchesi was a bit homer-prone, allowing 1.59 per nine, but otherwise did nothing but impress. He carried a 10.6% swinging-strike rate and 18.6% K%-BB% (placing him among the top thirty starters that threw at least 100 frames).

A former fourth-round pick, Lucchesi should be in line for another full season in the San Diego rotation. Indeed, as Lin notes, he’s even a candidate to toe the rubber on Opening Day. Lucchesi is still two seasons away from arbitration eligibility, though it’s certainly possible that the Friars will consider dangling an extension offer in the meantime.

Injury Notes: Richards, Cozart, Bleier, Pomeranz, Padres

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The Angels announced tonight that right-hander Garrett Richards exited the game due to tightness in his left hamstring, while Zack Cozart departed early due to a strained left shoulder. As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes, Richards’ fastball velocity was down nearly three miles per hour from its usual levels before he exited the game following a two-run second inning for the Mariners. Richards is slated for an MRI tomorrow. Cozart, meanwhile, incurred his injury while making a diving attempt at shortstop and said after the game that his shoulder “separated or popped out a little bit” upon hitting the ground. It’s not the first time he’s had that type of issue happen, he adds, and he’ll be examined further tomorrow.

Some more injury news from around the game…

  • Orioles lefty Richard Bleier suffered an arm injury in Wednesday night’s game, which manager Buck Showalter suggested could be related to his left lat muscle (link via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko). The injury was immediately apparent, as Bleier winced on his follow-through, dropped his glove and immediately began clutching at his shoulder (video link). Bleier already had an x-ray taken Wednesday night, and he’s headed for an MRI on Thursday. While there won’t be an update until that test is complete and the results have been viewed by doctors, but Bleier said that there was “no question” that he was unable to make another pitch, calling the pain “severe” and adding that he’s never experienced that type of injury. While the 31-year-old lefty is hardly a household name, he has a superlative 1.93 ERA on the season and, in fact, has a sub-2.00 ERA for his entire career — a span of 119 innings dating back to his 2016 debut with the Yankees.
  • Drew Pomeranz has been on the shelf for nearly two weeks, but the Red Sox lefty doesn’t sound especially close to returning. WEEI’s Rob Bradford tweets that Pomeranz says the pain in his arm has mostly dissipated, but he has limited mobility in his neck, which is still preventing him from even throwing. Pomeranz, 29, originally hit the DL due to tendinitis in his left biceps, though it would appear that he’s experiencing additional discomfort at this point. Knuckleballer Steven Wright has stepped into Pomeranz’s spot in the rotation and tossed 13 2/3 shutout innings in two starts.
  • The Padres announced tonight that outfielders Wil Myers and Franchy Cordero and left-hander Joey Lucchesi are all set to begin minor league rehab assignments tomorrow. San Diego has been without Myers since April 29 due to a left oblique strain, while Cordero has been out since late May due to a forearm strain. In the absence of both corner outfielders, the Friars have been utilizing a mix of Travis Jankowski, rookie Franmil Reyes, Manuel Margot, Hunter Renfroe and Matt Szczur in the outfield, though the impending return of both Myers and Cordero will shuffle that arrangement. Myers has taken just 40 plate appearances with the big league club this season, hitting .300/.300/.450, while Cordero hit .237/.307/.439 through 154 PAs and began to draw some notoriety for his prodigious home run distances and exit velocities on Statcast. As for Lucchesi, he was among the most impressive rookie pitchers in all of baseball through his first nine starts, pitching to a 3.23 ERA with a 48-to-15 K/BB ratio and a 43.8 percent ground-ball rate in 47 1/3 innings. He’s been out since May 15 due to a hip strain.

Padres Place Joey Lucchesi On 10-Day DL

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The Padres have placed young lefty Joey Lucchesi on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced by infielder Carlos Asuaje, who had just been optioned down.

A hip strain is the official diagnosis for Lucchesi, who has been a revelation as a rookie. In his nine starts, he has reeled off 47 1/3 innings of 3.23 ERA ball with 9.1 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. It is not known how long he’ll miss, but the 24-year-old will surely be handled with care by the Friars.

There’s no reason at present to believe that Lucchesi is dealing with a significant problem. If anything, early indications are that it’s not a major issue, as MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell wrote after Lucchesi threw five frames last night.

Erring on the side of caution is generally good policy with respect to young hurlers, particularly in the midst of a season that is exceedingly unlikely to result in a postseason berth. In this case, too, Lucchesi may be best off with at least some loose limitations on his workload. Last year, he threw 139 frames, adding nearly one hundred frames to his 2016 tally and representing a big step up from his first year as a professional.

NL West Notes: Lucchesi, Turner, Souza, D-backs

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The Padres rotation — like other parts of the roster — came with some surprises. As Dennis Lin of the Athletic tweets, Joey Lucchesi is going to take the ball for the team’s second game of the season. And while veteran righty Tyson Ross didn’t open the season on the active roster, he’s expected to be added in short order, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune adds on Twitter. Acee notes that there’ll be some competition early in the season to see who’ll be able to stick as a long-term piece in the unsettled rotation mix, noting that Lucchesi has a chance to stay if he performs well.

Lucchesi, 24, was a fourth-round pick in the 2016 draft and will be the first pitcher taken that season to appear in the Majors. He ranks ninth in a stacked Padres farm system according to both MLB.com and Baseball America, having turned in a combined 2.20 ERA with 9.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and 50 percent ground-ball rate in 139 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A last season.

More from the NL West…

  • Justin Turner is moving closer to swinging a bat, but he’s not yet been cleared to do so, reports Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times. The Dodgers’ third baseman was diagnosed with a nondisplaced fracture in his wrist late in Spring Training after being hit by a pitch, and Turner tells McCullough that he was initially projected to require two to three weeks of rest before being cleared to swing at all. McCullough writes that Turner will be out until at least May, though his exact timeline remains rather nebulous at present. Turner says that upon being diagnosed with the fracture, he was told the recovery could take anywhere from four to 10 weeks depending on how his wrist responds. “There really is no timetable,” says Turner.
  • The Diamondbacks may not need to fill in for outfielder Steven Souza for quite as long as had been feared, as Zach Buchanan of The Athletic reports on Twitter that Souza’s pectoral strain is progressing better than anticipated. That’s promising near-term news for the D-backs, but the team’s long-term outlook remains subject to quite a lot of uncertainty, as Buchanan explores in a subscription piece. The key question, perhaps, is whether the organization can find common ground on a second extension with Paul Goldschmidt. As Buchanan explains, there’s no real indication at this point whether that’ll take place, though CEO Derrick Hall does tell him that “neither side feels an urgency” to explore a new deal at the moment.

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