San Diego Padres: Luis Perdomo’s Coffee Wasn’t Strong Enough

The El Paso Chihuahuas took the field for an early-morning doubleheader in Iowa, with young San Diego Padres RHP Luis Perdomo on the mound.

Most normal human beings struggle to wake up and get to the office by nine in the morning, on a good day. Now imagine a minor league baseball player getting ready to suit up for a doubleheader at nine in the morning in the middle of Iowa. San Diego Padres RHP Luis Perdomo tried it and probably doesn’t want to do it again.

Perdomo has been pitching extremely well since being optioned to AAA El Paso early in the season. He entered Monday morning’s contest against the Iowa Cubs with a 3-2 record and a 2.89 earned run average.

Through his first seven starts, Perdomo had lasted at least six innings in all but one. He had also given up more than five hits or more than two earned runs only once. In 46 innings of work, Perdomo posted a 40/10 K/BB ratio. Extremely pleasant numbers to see out of Perdomo, who was largely known for his command issues.

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After seeing these numbers and having not watched Perdomo since his first AAA start back in April, I figured to fix the second pot of coffee catch him in his 9:30 am start (Iowa time).

Perdomo started the first inning with a lot of straight fastballs to Cubs hitters. Mostly sitting at 91-92 mph, Perdomo pumped five fastballs in at 94 mph. He sprinkled in a few changeups, giving up three hits and one earned run.

His slider was seldom used but did produce a few swings and misses.

It wasn’t until the second inning when Perdomo started using his slider/cutter more often, unfortunately, he struggled to his spots. When he was able to find the lower half of the zone, Cubs hitters feasted on his 94-95 mph fastballs. When a groundball pitcher such as Perdomo can’t hit the bottom of the zone, games like today happen.

Iowa hitters climbed into the box confidently in their second trips to the plate against Perdomo. Victor Caratini drove a line-drive home run over the left-centerfield fence before David Bote took a Perdomo 3-2 pitch to the warning track to end the fourth inning.

Perdomo lasted four innings, giving up eight hits, five earned runs, and two walks. He struck out three, one of those was the opposing pitcher.

Next: Padres Offense Taking Advantage Of Opportunities

After numerous bullpen days by the San Diego Padres, it’s clear that Luis Perdomo will not be making his return to Petco Park anytime soon. Taking an optimistic approach, maybe the Padres still truly believe in Perdomo and want him to spend a significant amount of time in the minors before giving him a second chance.

Let’s see how he responds in his next start after struggling with his command today.