San Diego Padres: Bryan Mitchell Set To Take On Diamondbacks

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Bryan Mitchell is back on the active roster and will start Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Hide the kids, Bryan Mitchell is coming back to the starting rotation when the San Diego Padres suit up to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday evening.

Mitchell was placed on the disabled list on June 20th with an elbow impingement and has been making rehab starts with the High-A Lake Elsinore Storm through the month of August. He made six starts in total, with a variety of results over the course of his rehab.

In total, Mitchell went 1-3 with a 4.13 ERA, posting a 28/12 K/BB ratio, and 1.24 ERA across 28.1 innings. The strikeout-walk ratio is respectable, especially for Mitchell who had 35 walks and just 23 strikeouts in 48.1 major league innings, before the injury.

However, Mitchell gave up six home runs with Lake Elsinore and struggled to keep the ball on the ground (43% groundball rate). His FIP also isn’t very encouraging, finishing up his rehab stint with a 6.12 mark.

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As of Sunday afternoon, Mitchell is the only September call-up for the Padres. Sure, he has had success in the minor leagues, when he was with the New York Yankees organization. Sure, the Padres traded Jabari Blash for Mitchell and Chase Headley, taking on Headley’s big contract to complete the trade (cut just weeks later). Unfortunately, Mitchell has shown nothing since joining the Padres.

He isn’t a prospect at 27 years old and the Padres are already witnessing a number of young rookies make their pro debuts and find immediate success. Bryan Mitchell has no business on this roster.

It’s hard to pile on a major league athlete, knowing what they have gone through to get to the major league level, but Mitchell is about as bad as you can get when you’re talking about major league pitching. As a refresher, he went 0-3 with a 7.08 ERA, 2.03 WHIP, 20% HR/FB rate, and a 15% walk rate in 12 appearances (seven starts) before his injury.

With the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-way dogfight for the National League West, get ready for an interesting experience on Monday night. Welcome back, Bryan Mitchell??