San Diego Padres: These Pitchers Deserve A Shot

San Diego Padres RHP Bryan Mitchell struggled to put in a quality performance on the mound, yet again. Here are a few pitchers down on the farm who deserve a chance to start a game.

Bryan Mitchell has now had 30 innings to prove his value to the San Diego Padres. Touted for his plus-curveball and ability to induce a high rate of groundballs, Mitchell has shown no value thus far. The 27-year-old has been unable to find the strike zone and has posted a -0.5 WAR through his first six starts.

On Sunday, Mitchell worked one of his better outings of the season (minus his 5.2 innings, three hits, zero runs outing against the Houston Astros). He recorded his best strikeout rate of the season and his lowest FIP, 3.61. His previous lowest game FIP was 6.01, from the previously mentioned Houston outing.

Mitchell’s final line on Sunday read: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 5 K.

However, overall, Mitchell has struggled tremedously this season. Among all qualified pitchers, Bryan Mitchell leads the league in a number of categories. His WAR (-0.5), FIP (6.42) and BB/9 (6.98) all lead Major League Baseball.

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Of his 519 total pitches thrown this season, 228 of them have been for a ball, the fifth most in the league. The result of this has been a 16.4% walk rate compared to a 10% strikeout rate.

In his post-game comments to the media, San Diego Manager Andy Green had this to say about Bryan Mitchell’s performance,

"“It’s a performance game,” Green said. “We acquired him because we believed in his potential. We believed in what he can do. It’s about time to stand up and start doing it. … There’s still that faith there, there’s still that belief that he’s got it inside of him. I think it’s time for it to start coming out.”"

Sounds really similar to what Green had to say about Luis Perdomo, huh? We all know what happened almost immediately after Green made those comments about Perdomo, will the same happen to Bryan Mitchell?

When asked about his outing, Mitchell told reporters, “Honestly, today is the best I’ve felt.”

If that’s true, then a “good” Bryan Mitchell isn’t that good. He produced just three swings and misses all afternoon and walked nearly one hitter per inning.

The Padres have a few options down in El Paso that they could give a chance to. Here are three in particular that have earned that opportunity.