San Diego Padres: Will Luis Perdomo Feel The Bryan Mitchell Effect?

The San Diego Padres will send Luis Perdomo to the mound tonight against the San Francisco Giants.

On Monday evening, the San Diego Padres sent starting pitcher Bryan Mitchell to the mound for his last start of the 2018 season. As noted by many of the local beat writers, this game could have been the deciding factor as to whether or not Mitchell would be given a shot at the 2019 rotation. Is tonight that same kind of game for Luis Perdomo?

It’s been noted over and over again how Perdomo was thrown into the fire after he was selected by the Padres in the Rule-5 draft and was forced to make the leap from High-A ball in the St. Louis Cardinals organization to the major league roster of the San Diego Padres.

However, it’s now been three years and we should be seeing some progression from Perdomo. He was finally sent down to AAA this season to work on his command and overall pitching game where he experienced a lot of success. Perdomo was one of the more dominant starters in the Pacific Coast League, posting a 6-3 record, 3.72 ERA, striking out 20% of hitters, and posting a 6.9% walk rate, an impressive improvement in Perdomo’s case.

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Since he was called back up to the majors, Perdomo has given up 22 earned runs on 35 hits in 27.2 innings. The issue with walks also showed up again, offering 13 walks to just 18 strikeouts.

It was announced before the current Giants’ series started that Wednesday night would be a Johnny Wholestaff start, but the announcement that Perdomo is now getting the start is a little shocking. Per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell, Perdomo is expected to go three innings tonight.

This isn’t the do-or-die moment that Mitchell experienced on Monday night (one out short of a shutout victory) but it is a very important outing for Luis Perdomo. He will continue to work on his game this winter in the Dominican Winter League and enter spring training on what is sure to be a short leash.

Perdomo may just be a classic case of how a change of scenery can be an unbelievable boost for a player’s career. He has the raw stuff to succeed at the major league level and, perhaps he just needs a new home to take the next step.

Tonight’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:15 pm. San Francisco will send Casey Kelly to the bump to take on Perdomo and the Padres.