Rymer Liriano Shines In His Triple-A Debut

In El Paso’s thrashing of the Sacramento River Cats last night, outfielder Rymer Liriano made an immediate impact in his debut for the Chihuahuas. Following his promotion from Double-A San Antonio, Liriano went 3-4 with two doubles and four runs scored in the team’s 16-7 victory.

The six foot, two hundred and thirty pound Liriano was signed by the Padres’ back in 2009, and he has steadily made his way through the farm system. According to FoxSports San Diego’s John Conniff, he is the type of player Padres’ fans have dreamed about. Liriano is the elusive “five-tool player” who can run, throw, field, hit and hit for power.

In addition to his talent and potential upside, Liriano’ work ethic is something not to be over shadowed. He has battled back from Tommy John Surgery, an injury that he sustained in the off season playing catch with brother in 2011.

Liriano stated in his interview with Conniff,

"“I couldn’t feel my fingers and got really scared. I called up the Padres’ trainer in the Dominican and he told me to rest it for a while but after a couple of months I still couldn’t throw without pain.  I came back to San Diego and had an MRI and then we decided to do surgery.The trainer said I recovered pretty quickly, but for me it was too slow. I would go in the cage and start swinging the bat with one hand.  I wanted to play so bad.”"

It has only driven him to push harder to get where he is at now. Liriano is the Padres’ number six rated prospect by Baseball America in 2013 and was an All-Star for the San Antonio Missions in June’s Double-A Texas All-Star game, which he went 1-3 with a stolen base and a run scored.

Liriano was batting .264, 15 home runs, 54 RBI, and 17 stolen bases with the Missions. At 23 years old, Liriano is on his way toward the big leagues, but he still needs to some work on plate discipline. Despite his solid numbers, he is a free-swinger whose also struck out 102 times in 371 AB.

However, as Liriano has shown since signing with the Padres’, he is committed to the organization. His drive might lead him to a possible September call-up when the rosters are expanded, but it seems more logical that the Padres’ will see how he progresses at El Paso before making a decision on him for next year.