Padres trim down roster, hot hitting Rizzo part of crew sent down

The San Diego Padres trimmed down their spring training roster to 47 players today. 6 players were optioned and 5 players were reassigned to the minors.

"As you move into March, you have to thin the room and move guys to the other side [to Minor League camp] – Padres manager Bud Black."

Hot hitting first baseman Anthony Rizzo is one of the guys sent to minor league camp. He has been red hot this spring, completing a 4-hit game yesterday. He is batting .444 this Spring with a homerun and 4 RBIs, also second on the team with 8 hits.

Rizzo was obtained from the Boston Red Sox as part of the Adrian Gonzalez trade and has shown potential for the future. He will be starting the season out with the Triple-A Tuscon Padres so that he can get playing time. If Brad Hawpe and Jorge Cantu struggle as the starting first basemen, then the fans will be anxious to see Rizzo take over the big league job.

Here are the rest of the moves that were made to trim down the roster:

Pitchers Simon Castro, Jeremy Hefner, Evan Scribner, Aaron Poreda, Anthony Bass and catcher Luis Martinez were sent down to Triple-A Tucson and shortstop Jeudy Valdez was sent to Class A Lake Elsinore. The Padres also reassigned pitcher Anthony Bass, infielders James Darnell, Anthony Rizzo, Andy Parrino and catcher Jason Hagerty to Minor League camp.