San Diego Padres: Three sleeper candidates to make the roster

Major League Baseball’s roster expansion this year will provide some flexibility for the San Diego Padres. Here are three sleepers that could make the team.

Beginning this year, the traditional 25-man roster will expand, adding another player that a team can carry throughout the year. How organizations utilize the extra roster space is entirely up to them. Still, the move is certainly going to provide opportunities to fringe players that were usually cut or sent to the minors in previous years. For the San Diego Padres, the roster appears to be mostly set, outside of second base, center field, and the fifth starter position.

However, the team is likely to utilize the 26th man to provide depth at a particular position. But first, let’s look at what figures to form the first 25 guys on the roster:

Catcher: Francisco Mejia and Austin Hedges

First Base: Eric Hosmer

Second Base: Brian Dozier, Jurickson Profar, and Greg Garcia

Shortstop: Fernando Tatis Jr.

Third Base: Manny Machado

Left Field: Tommy Pham

Center Field: Trent Grisham and Franchy Cordero

Right Field: Wil Myers and Josh Naylor

Starting Rotation: Chris Paddack, Garrett Richards, Dinelson Lamet, Zach Davies, and Joey Lucchesi

Bullpen: Kirby Yates, Drew Pomeranz, Emilio Pagan, Andres Munoz, Craig Stammen, Matt Strahm, and Jose Castillo.

Now let’s look at three players that could sneak onto the roster.

Jake Cronenworth

Jake Cronenworth came over to the Padres in the Tommy Pham trade back in early December. The former University of Michigan standout was drafted in the seventh round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. He smacked a whopping 10 home runs during his three years in Ann Arbor but made up for it with 36 doubles and nine triples while batting .312.

The 26-year-old spent all of last season playing for the Rays Triple-A outfit and slashed .334/.429/.520 with 26 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs, and 45 RBI in 94 games. He primarily plays at shortstop but has seen a considerable amount of time at both second and third base in his professional career.

How does he fit into the roster this season? While shortstop is almost certainly not an option – outside of a Fernando Tatis Jr. injury – he should have the opportunity to get playing time at second base. The position is wide open in Spring Training with Brian Dozier, Jurickson Profar, and Greg Garcia as the primary candidates.

However, Cronenworth’s versatility is invaluable, and with a strong showing in spring, he can find his way onto the roster with a potential to start at second base. On Wednesday, he replaced Tatis at shortstop in the game against Cleveland and went 2-2 with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning.

He could also spot start at third when Machado needs a day off.

Pierce Johnson

Pierce Johnson might be the most intriguing bullpen arm that, if the season were to start today, he wouldn’t make the team. So why is he a sleeper to make it? The former first-round pick of the 2012 MLB Draft was highly-regarded coming up through the Chicago Cubs system as a starter.

Baseball America ranked him as the 87th best prospect in baseball before the 2014 season, but he struggled to perform well in a starting rotation at the Triple-A level. Beginning in 2016, Johnson was utilized more from the bullpen but was designated for assignment by the Cubs, claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants, and then was out of Major League Baseball after the 2018 season.

He signed with the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese Central League before the 2019 season and posted a 1.38 ERA in 58 appearances while striking out 91 batters in 58.2 innings (.801 WHIP). He’s hoping for similar results as former Padres prospect Miles Mikolas and Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong.

Johnson appears to have figured out what works best for him during his time over in Japan. He told the San Diego Union-Tribune that he spent more time attacking the zone rather than nibbling, which led to a majority of his issues.

Thus far, Johnson has appeared in two games in Spring Training, tossed 2.0 innings while striking out three batters and allowing a .143 average.