San Diego Padres: A Temporary Farewell to Franmil Reyes

The San Diego Padres brief glimpse into the future has ended, for the time being.

On Thursday afternoon, San Diego Padres outfielder Franmil Reyes was optioned back to Triple-A El Paso, in order to make room for the return of Wil Meyers. Reyes didn’t come out guns blazing, but he was still extremely fun to watch when he was belting 442-foot homers into the upper deck. There’s no doubt that he enjoyed his short stay in San Diego as well.

I’ll be honest, I was sad to see him go so soon, but it’s apparent he didn’t dazzle quite enough in his short stint, and that’s okay.  He’s got a bright future as a slugger in San Diego and Friars fans have nothing but good things to look forward to on the horizon.

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His final line before being sent back to Triple-A looked like this: .228/.260/.457. That batting average and OBP could have been a lot better, but Reyes is still young and the plate discipline will come with time. His slugging percentage was, of course, fantastic. He ranked third among his teammates, just behind Christian Villanueva and Eric Hosmer. In just 29 games, he racked up an OPS of .717.

While overall, his average and OBP could have used some work, in his last three games as a Padre, his average and OBP were a matching pair at .316 each. It’s encouraging to see that Reyes was trending in the right direction.

I don’t imagine he spends a ton more time down in El Paso. In the 36 games he spent there at the beginning of the season, he had a fantastic 1.180 OPS. It could take another injury to bring him back, since the Padres outfield is still somewhat crowded, or maybe just a couple moves at the trade deadline. It’s already been rumored that they could have a market for the likes of Hunter Renfroe or even Travis Jankowski.

And while it would be great to have both of those guys still here when Reyes returns, they’re two of the bigger pieces in that outfield that would warrant a trade. Wil Myers is staying put, and despite his injury, they’ll want to see more from Franchy Cordero in the future. Manuel Margot is also starting to heat up, batting .319 in his last 15 games. It’s likely that the future could look something like a mix of Myers, Cordero, Reyes, and Margot in the outfield.

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Despite missing a few weeks with his call-up, Reyes is still one of the leaders in votes for the AAA All-Star game, to be played in Columbus, Ohio on July 11th.