Padres promote hotshot prospect Luis Urias

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Padres have promoted yet another prospect from the minor leagues, and this time it’s the best one yet.

The Padres selected the contract of 21-year-old Luis Urias, one of baseball’s top prospects who is expected to be their second baseman of the future.

Urias was set to bat second against Felix Hernandez in his big league debut in the opener of a two-game series against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

Urias’ promotion comes as the rebuilding Padres are on pace to lose 100 games for the first time since their infamous Fire Sale season of 1993.

The Padres brought up Urias even though Triple-A El Paso has qualified for the Pacific Coast League playoffs.

“We felt like he’d done enough in the month of August,” manager Andy Green said. “He played really, really well. He was kind of challenged at the beginning of the month to kind of step up his game because there was the belief he had more inside on-base percentage with Triple-A El Paso. He hit eight homers and drove in 45 runs, with 67 walks and 109 strikeouts.

Urias signed with the Padres as an international free agent in December 2013 when he was 16.

His first call after the promotion was to his parents in Mexico.

“I always thought it would be a great feeling. It was something that I cannot explain right now,” Urias said. “I was so happy, especially when I called my dad and my mom.