Pitiful Padres, Potent Prospects: A Look Back at 2018
Before the MLB season, I wrote a preview for the Padres, where I predicted this would be a rough season at Petco Park. This was not a bold prediction and it came to pass that the Padres finished with a 66-96 record and finished last place in the NL West to no one's surprise. For the 12th consecutive year, Padre fans are watching the MLB postseason go on without their team.
However, hope is not lost for Padre fans. For the past year, we had been hearing about the strength of the Padres farm system. In August MLB.com ranked it the top farm system in baseball. This season, we got to see some of those young players get a taste of Major League ball. Let's take a look back at how they performed.
Franmil Reyes: Perhaps the biggest surprise this season was the bat of Franmil Reyes. After making his debt on 5/4/2018, Reyes led the Padres in batting average hitting .280, hitting 16 HR and driving in 31 RBI’s. Reyes also posted a .340 OBP and a .498 slugging percentage.
Francisco Mejia: After being acquired from Cleveland for Brad Hand, Meja mania soon took over Petco Park right after his call up in September. He homered twice in his second career game, vs Cincinnati on September 6th. Mejia hit a walk off grand slam on September 16th vs Texas. He finished the season with a .179/.258/.375 slash line.
Luis Urias: The second base prospect made his major league debut on August 28th and made an immediate impact by making a diving play in the first inning. He hit his first career major league home run on September 1st vs Colorado. Urias posted a .208/.264/.354 slash line before picking up an injury on September 11th and missing the rest of the season.
Next season should see the call ups of Fernando Tatis and Mackenzie Gore. Tatis is the #2 overall prospect in baseball and the #1 shortstop prospect. Gore is the #13 overall prospect and the #2 LHP prospect in baseball.
