San Diego Padres: Who’s Hot, Who’s Not for Friars

After taking three of four from the Giants over the weekend then losing their last two to the Dodgers, the San Diego Padres have a few players who are on fire, and some who are not.

Over the San Diego Padres’ last seven games, Christian Villanueva has been, by far, the most productive Friar of the bunch. In twenty at-bats over that time, Villanueva has hit .450 with an OPS of 1.577, two doubles, three home runs, seven runs batted in, five walks and four runs scored.

Over 81 MLB at-bats between last season and this current one, the 26-year-old rookie from Guadalajara has 162-game averages of 62 home runs and 125 RBI. While those numbers are impressive and really fun to play with, they’re in no way sustainable.

On the other hand, cut those numbers in half and 31 homers and 67 RBI would surely suffice this season. There’s really no reason to think those numbers aren’t attainable. But let’s continue with the rundown…

Padres that have cooled off at the plate

After a torrid start to the regular-season, Jose Pirela has slowed down when compared to his hot start out of the gate, but still had a .267 average with a .746 OPS, three doubles, a triple, and five RBI over the Padres’ last seven games.

Franchy Cordero has come back to the Friars and done well, hitting .231/.259/.462 with six hits, two home runs, four RBI, and two swiped bags. Not bad for only a handful of rehab at-bats.

Freddy Galvis has cooled off considerably but is still taking a decent amount of bases-on-balls. His .185 average over the team’s last seven games is only better than two other players over that time, Eric Hosmer (.143) and Carlos Asuaje (.136).

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Padres’ hot and cold pitchers

We have to start with the San Diego Padres’ bullpen, who has been terrific over the team’s last seven games.

Brad Hand (three innings), Jordan Lyles (five innings), Phil Maton (5.1 innings), Kyle McGrath (three innings), and Craig Stammen (three innings) didn’t allow an earned run and struck out 22 batters between them, walking only four.

Adam Cimber (eight innings), allowed one earned run on three hits (one home run), striking out ten and walking two. This young Friar is dealing right now.

Tyson Ross allowed one unearned run on seven hits over six innings, striking out five and walking one in a win over San Francisco.

Bryan Mitchell had a tough week (nine innings, six earned runs on nine hits with eight walks), but there were some positives.

Kazuhisa Makita had an uninspiring week after his decent start, with a 22.50 ERA, walking four hitters in two innings of work.

Next: Positives to Take Away from Loss to LA

Tyler Webb, the left-handed reliever the Padres brought onboard this week, had a rough go in his Friars debut last night, but not enough to justify a spot on this list. Actually, we’re all looking forward to seeing what Ty Webb brings to the table.