San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
LUCCHESI HAS ROUGH DAY
Joey Lucchesi watched from the bench as Matt Strahm cleaned up a first-inning mess. Afterward, he jogged to the visiting bullpen at Salt River Fields. A twoout effort in the Padres’ 10-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday afternoon left a good amount of work on his plate.
The presumptive favorite for the fifth spot in the rotation, Lucchesi walked four batters and threw 16 of his 32 pitches for strikes before Padres manager Jayce Tingler lifted him with two outs in the first inning. The first of his three hits allowed was an infield single to start the game. The last was Jake Lamb’s bases-clearing double, two batters before a double-play ball accounted for the first two outs of the game. He topped out at 89 mph.
“Everything was just up, wild, scattered,” Lucchesi said. “… Honestly, I’ve got to fill up the zone, stop thinking about the wrong stuff and worry about striking out the batter instead of my mechanics.”
Lucchesi leads the Padres with 2932⁄3 innings over the last two years, posting a 4.14 ERA as the first pitcher from the 2016 draft class to reach the majors. He’s started Game 2 each of the last two seasons but an overhauled rotation has thrust Lucchesi into a fight for his job.
The chief rival: Righthander Cal Quantrill, the eighth overall pick from that same 2016 draft class.
Quantrill returned from a bout with the flu that cost him a Cactus League appearance to throw two shutout innings on Wednesday. Lucchesi, too, had grappled with the flu, but his symptoms — a scratchy throat and body ache — did not force him to miss a start.
Saturday’s effort pushed his ERA to 11.57 through his first 42⁄3 innings this spring. He has struck out three and walked six.
“Not to make excuses for him, but he’s coming off a little bit of a flu bug,” Tingler said. “I don’t know if his strength and everything is there. The fastball, all the stuff was just maybe a halftick back today and he had problems locating.”
Quiroz’s opportunity
The knock on Esteban
Quiroz was that, at 5-feet-7 and 175 pounds, he was too small to hold his own in the United States. The velocity in affiliated ball would overwhelm him, too.
At least that’s what Quiroz heard as he toiled for seven seasons in the Mexican League, beginning with his age-19 season with Quintana Roo in 2011, until a powerful performance on the international stage finally turned enough heads.
“I think that was one of the more frustrating parts of my career,” Quiroz said through interpreter David Longley, “is the fact that it’s taken so long.”
Quiroz homered twice and drove in five runs in three games for Team Mexico in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He posted a .916 OPS the ensuing season with Yucatan, signed with the Red Sox after that campaign and reported to his first spring training in the United States as he turned 26 years old.
He’s since celebrated two more birthdays, missed a large chunk of time to a sports hernia, has been traded from the Red Sox to the Padres and advanced as high as Triple-a El Paso last season, when he had a career-high 19 homers and .271/ .384/.539 batting line in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Even with prospect Luis Urias traded away this offseason, the second base competition is as crowded as ever with veteran Brian Dozier joining a room that already included newcomer Jurickson Profar and utility man Greg Garcia. Another wave of young middle infielders — from Gabriel Arias to CJ Abrams — are rising quickly behind Quiroz, who delivered a walk-off win Friday night to improve to 3for-13 this spring.
In other words, there’s no time like now if Quiroz is going to carve out a future in the organization.
“I know that with my age and not having been here,” Quiroz said. “It wasn’t lost time in Mexico by any means, but there has been, especially after that injury, there has been pressure to show what I can do and show that I’m apt and capable of playing in the big leagues and showing my talent.”
Not bad for a No. 4
Zach Davies’ pure stuff doesn’t match any of the pitchers — Chris Paddack, Dinelson Lamet and Garrett Richards — viewed as the top three arms in what the Padres hope is a rotation on the rise.
No, the 27-year-old righthander lives largely on sequencing and spotting up a four-pitch mix — which includes a change-up that limited hitters to a .309 slugging percent last year — and Davies has been as sharp as any of his rotation mates this spring.
In fact, Davies spun three perfect innings Friday night before giving up two fourthinning singles. He struck out five batters — four looking — and has allowed only one run and five hits in eight innings thus far this spring. He has one walk against eight strikeouts.
“It gives you a lot of confidence,” Tingler said of the depth that Davies adds to the rotation. “We’re looking … for our starters to give us a chance to win each and every game and Zach certainly fits the bill for that type of profile. He seems like a guy who is not going to beat himself. He’s going to make the opposing team beat him. He’s going to make pitches, he’s going to change speeds. he can pitch to his strengths. He can pitch to hitters’ weaknesses. He has that type of command.”
Notable
SS Fernando Tatis Jr. (flu) progressed to live batting practice and sprinted aggressively during Saturday’s work at the complex. Tingler said Tatis —who has not appeared in a game since Feb. 28 — is expected to get through another round of aggressive workouts today before potentially returning to the lineup. “We have him penciled in for Monday,” Tingler said. “If he gets through the day tomorrow, we’ll put it in pen.”
• RHP Ronald Bolanos (rib cage) could get into a Cactus League game in the next week, while RHP Trey Wingenter (shoulder) is a bit further behind. Wingenter had an injection to help manage discomfort. He could resume throwing soon.