Padres Minor League Roundup For August 8th

New Padres’ GM A.J. Preller. Mandatory Credit-utsandiego.com

The San Diego Padres told a familiar story on the field Friday night. It was a tale of excellent pitching coupled with a lack of offense. Yet another close, low scoring, frustrating loss. This time of year can get interesting for teams out of the hunt. It’s the time of year that general managers make decisions for the future direction of their franchise. Who will be back next year? Who will be replaced by their younger and hungrier counterparts down in El Paso and San Antonio?

The Padres outfield has been a perennial source of underachievement, injuries, and scandal; a prime position in clear need of upgrades and overhauls. If only the team had a top outfield hitting prospect waiting in the wings. EUREKA! EL PASO! That’s right, The Padres #6 overall prospect Rymer Liriano has been making an absolute mockery of pitchers since joining the Chihuahuas in July. The six-foot, two-hundred and thirty pound Dominican is hitting .473 in the hitter friendly PCL and is showing no signs of slowing down. If last night’s game was any indication, he’s just heating up. How about a stolen base stopping phenom?

After all, the Padres have allowed NINE stolen bases in the past five games. N-I-N-E. Well, it just so happens that Austin Hedges, the #1 overall catching prospect  in Major League Basesball, currently plays in San Antonio. While his bat still hasn’t quite matured, his average would probably be on par with those of our current backstops. The future is now. Well, almost. {related-category]