San Diego Padres Call Up Javy Guerra as 26th Man for Mexico Series

For the San Diego Padres’ series in Monterrey, MX this weekend against the Dodgers, both teams are allowed to carry a twenty-sixth man on their roster. The Friars made their choice today.

The San Diego Padres made the decision to call-up minor-league shortstop Javy Guerra to fill the extra roster spot afforded to them by MLB for their upcoming series with the Dodgers in Mexico.

Guerra, 22, was acquired by the Padres in the Craig Kimbrel trade in November 2015 that also saw the team bring in Logan Allen, Carlos Asuaje, and Manuel Margot. Nice return, huh?

After two seasons in the Red Sox’ organization (2013-2015), seeing his slash line jump from .269/.286/.408 in 2015 to .279/.329/.449 in 2016, the Padres saw the young shortstop as a future key piece to their rebuild.

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Guerra was a slow starter in the Padres organization

He began his time in the Friars’ minor-league system with High-A Lake Elsinore in 2016.

Over 391 at-bats he hit .202/.264/.325 with nineteen doubles, 41 runs batted in and an eye-opening 141 strikeouts.

Maybe this was just an anomaly. Maybe the jolt of being traded was simply too much for the young Panamanian native to handle.

He would raise his numbers just by slight margins in 481 at-bats between Lake Elsinore and Double-A San Antonio the following season (.222/.266/.349), but still struck out 159 times.

Alarming, to say the least.

A slight uptick in productivity this season in El Paso

In 90 at-bats this season for Triple-A El Paso, Guerra is hitting .244/.296/.511 with 38 strikeouts and just seven walks. Clearly, his bat isn’t the primary reason that the 22-year-old is making his first appearance in an MLB dugout this weekend.

He has started one game at second base for El Paso this season, but he is a shortstop by trade. Though he’s already committed three errors in 23 games at shortstop this season, he’s viewed as an above-average fielding infielder.

Next: Pitching Matchups for Weekend Series vs LAD

Whether Javy Guerra sees any playing time this weekend remains to be seen. Nevertheless, it must still be a thrill for the young man.