Best Team in Years? Final Week In Review

Liriano, Medica, and other rookies look to impact position players for the Padres in 2015. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Changes for Position Players in 2015?

Many players got to come up and show what they can do at the Major League level for the Padres, including Tommy Medica, Rymer Liriano, Jake Goebbert, Jace Peterson, Cory Spangenberg, And of course players like Yongervis Solarte and Abraham Almonte are young and were acquired in trades. So who stepped up? Unfortunately, no one really did. Sure, Tommy Medica had spurts of getting hot. He almost hit for the cycle, but he ended the year at .234 with 9 home runs, and more alarming struck out 75 times in just 240 AB’s. To compare that, Jedd Gyorko had a forgetful 2014 by only hitting .210. He struck out 100 times but in 400 AB’s.

Rymer Liriano came up to much fanfare, but only hit 1 home run in his 109 AB’s with a low OBP as well. Spanenberg only played the last month of the season and amassed 62 AB in 20 games, but he managed 2 homers and 4 stolen bases for a .290 average and .313 OBP. Of course that sample size is too small to measure much, and having just locked up Jedd Gyorko to a long-term deal it’s not financially feasible to play him over Gyorko at this point. Nonetheless, the Padres brass are hoping that these young players were able to get a taste of the big league life this season and think about it all off-season. Then, when next season rolls around, they feel confident that they have in fact been here before, can brush off the nerves and play the ball that got them to this level. Because another year of Alonso, Gyorko, Grandal, Venable and others hitting .220 or lower and still starting has to end now. The minor leaguers need to step up and force that change. They have the talent, now they need to get it done.