San Diego Padres: Sunday Was Fun, If You Watched The Right Game

The future of Major League Baseball was on display Sunday afternoon, including a few exciting San Diego Padres prospects.

I didn’t watch the San Diego Padres game on Sunday. The afternoon started with the Padres and Dodgers game on mute in the background, with the MLB Futures Game featured on my iPad on my lap. The Futures Game is the top “can’t miss” game I look forward to every year, with many of the games’ top prospects showcasing their skills against prospects from all levels of the minor leagues.

Warning: This post isn’t for the always angry, “this franchise sucks,” “I want a 100-win team now” curmudgeon.

Take Seuly Matias, for example. Matias is a Kansas City Royals prospect in full season A-ball who is hovering just over the Mendoza-line with the Lexington Legends. In Sunday’s showcase, Matias took New York Yankees AAA pitching prospect, Justus Sheffield, opposite-way for a solo home run.

While Matias has the potential to develop into an elite prospect, his approach at the plate is full of holes. He showed the world what he is capable of, though, against one of the top pitching prospects in the game. He’s now on the radar of a lot of people who don’t live near Lexington, Kentucky.

Enough about Matias, there were San Diego Padres prospects who made a lot of fans on Sunday.

Warning: This Fernando Tatis Jr.at-bat is one of the most beautiful things you have seen this season (especially if you watch Padres major league baseball every night)

A 102 mph pitch on the inner half, turned on and driven into left field.

Baseball was fun on Sunday. Tatis went 2-5 at the plate, with two scorching singles and a run scored. He played both shortstop and third base, showcasing his silky-smooth feet, quick hands, and an absolute cannon for an arm.

The star of the show was Buddy Reed. Many were never high on Reed and his prospects to climb up the organizational ladder, while some have come around on him after having an eye-opening first-half of the season in Lake Elsinore (now in AA San Antonio). Regardless of where you stand on his outlook, Buddy Reed gained fans from all over the country on Sunday.

Listening to Buddy Reed in his in-game interview, watching him call home run shots for his teammates, and seeing him rob Fernando Tatis (see below) of a hit, all reminded us of what drew us to baseball when we were young fans. When is the last time you laughed while watching Padres baseball (outside of listening to the team of Grant-Orsillo in the booth)?

I turned off the Padres game in the background and watched the rest of the Futures Game outside on a beautiful Sunday afternoon as I fired up the grill. I’ve watched plenty of San Antonio, El Paso, and Lake Elsinore games, however, it all came together in this year’s Futures Game.

More from Friars on Base

• Padres fighting with hated rival to sign quality veteran relief pitcher
• Jurickson Profar free agency update likely rules out Padres reunion
• Fernando Tatis Jr. may not take to outfield move after Xander Bogaerts addition
• Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. trade rumors, Seth Lugo chase, Manny Machado
• Padres barely missed out on high-end veteran starting pitcher

Luis Urias went 0-2 in the game with two strikeouts. He was also hit in the elbow by Hunter Greene (who threw 19 fastballs, all over 100 mph yesterday) but no worries Friar faithful, elbow protection saved the season, literally! He was on the unfortunate side of a number of terrible strike calls, obviously frustrating the young man, however, he still possesses one of the best hit tools in the minor leagues. The view of him and Tatis out there on the infield was quite the sight to see.

After enjoying the game and the positive banter back-and-forth online, I checked the box score of the Padres game, intrigued by how Eric Lauer fared against a very good Chicago Cubs team. I was disappointed for a second but then re-watched clips of Tatis and Reed and saw that light through the crack at the end of the tunnel.

Next: Don't Expect A Big Return If Padres And Yankees Work Out A Deal

Post after post from outlet after outlet has highlighted the tools and projections of Tatis, Urias, MacKenzie Gore, and other top prospects and of course, many of the names you see in the Padres Top-30 list won’t cut it as major leaguers, however, there’s real talent coming up. There are fun personalities. There’s fun. It’s coming. Stop being so bitter all the time.