San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
PADDACK STAYS IN THE MOMENT
Chris Paddack executed one of his primary goals for the spring, getting neither too far ahead nor lingering on the past the way he has been prone to at times.
Facing the Dodgers, with neither his defense nor his fastball at its optimum for a stretch and with his family sitting in seats behind home plate, he threw two scoreless innings Saturday at Camelback Ranch.
After a stellar rookie season, Paddack had a tendency to let games get away from him in 2020. He allowed more than one run in just 12 of his 26 starts in 2019. He allowed multiple runs in 11 different innings last season.
The kid who talks to himself on the mound and journals many of his thoughts, spends a good amount of time this spring reminding himself to take it one pitch at a time.
That paid off in the second inning Saturday when two ground balls that could have been the inning’s third out turned into singles. First, a slow chopper up the middle split shortstop Ha-seong Kim and second baseman CJ Abrams and rolled into center field. Then Sheldon Neuse hit a fairly routine grounder to the left side that Kim fielded and was about to throw when charging third baseman Nick Tanielu knocked him to the dirt.
Paddack got ahead 0-2 to the next batter, James Outman, before missing with a fastball and two change-ups. He then struck out Outman on a change.
“You never want innings like that to snowball,” Paddack said. “… For me to eliminate (noise) and build that mental strength and use these starts during spring training to really focus on not letting those situations — weak ground balls up the middle, that little bump-in play — to basically just stay disciplined, stay in my routine, stay in my game plan and take one pitch at a time, is huge for me. I can’t control what has already happened.”
Paddack has thrown four scoreless innings in his two starts this spring, taking a total of 53 pitches to do so. He wasn’t pleased he left a few fastballs squarely in the zone Saturday, noting a regular Dodgers lineup would generally do damage on such offerings. Mechanical changes this spring have brought life and a different spin back to his fastball, though he also lamented a few had more vertical movement than he would have liked Saturday. Still, he did get the pitch past several hitters, and it set up his change-up well.
The outing was particularly satisfying for Paddack, because his brother, Michael, and uncle and aunt, Robert and Lisa Hunt, were in attendance. Paddack is extremely close to his family and spoke often last year abut struggling with them being unable to attend games as they had, often en masse, his rookie season.
“I never take that moment for granted, especially with the crazy year this last year,” he said. “It was difficult for me.”
Musgrove finds flaws
Joe Musgrove wasn’t displeased. He just wasn’t all that pleased.
“The results, for sure,” he said after throwing two perfect innings in his spring debut for the Padres
Padres 2, Dodgers 1 (7)
Batter’s box: Jurickson Profar singled off Trevor Bauer at the end of a nine-pitch at-bat to start the game. Tommy Pham followed with a sevenpitch walk. Bauer retired the next six batters (Austin Nola, Victor Caratini, Ha-seong Kim, Brian O’grady, Luis Campusano and Nick Tanielu) on 23 pitches. … Top position prospect CJ Abrams broke the streak of outs with a single up the middle off Bauer in the third inning. Abrams promptly stole his second base of the spring. … Rancho Bernardo High alumnus Gosuke Katoh broke a scoreless tie and drove in both Padres’ runs with a sixth-inning single. The non-roster invitee is 3-for-8 this spring.
Balls and strikes: Chris Paddack got through the first inning on 11 pitches and would have ended the second in that many, as well, if not for Tanielu, the third baseman, running into and knocking down Kim, the shortstop, after the latter had fielded what appeared to be an inningending grounder. … Adrian Morejon walked two batters, struck out Justin Turner, walked another batter and then got out of the third inning when Austin Barnes lined into a double play. Morejon pitched a perfect fourth. The left-hander, competing for a potential spot in the rotation, has walked six and allowed two hits but just one run in four innings. … Keone Kela struck out all three batters he faced in his Padres spring debut.
Extra bases: Bauer, known for his eccentric behavior and unique training methods, pitched the first inning with his right eye closed. He said it was to make himself uncomfortable. “I figured if they can’t score off of me with one eye open,” he said, “it will be difficult to score off me with two eyes open.” … Neither team fielded anything resembling a regular season lineup.
On deck: Yu Darvish is scheduled to make his spring (and Padres) debut, 12:10 p.m. PT in Glendale, Ariz. It is a star-studded day for the bullpen as well. Mark Melancon, Craig Stammen, Pierce Johnson, Tim Hill, Dan Altavilla, Austin Adams and Michel Baez are expected to follow. on Friday night against the Giants. “Got out of there scoreless, minimal pitches, I’m healthy. I felt like I was a little amped up out there. I was excited to be back in a game. It’s been awhile, especially in a new uniform. A lot of adrenaline. I wasn’t as sharp as I could be, but it was effective.”
Musgrove threw 18 pitches. Just three of them were balls. He used four of his six pitches.
Maybe one day we will see what does impress him.
The Grossmont High grad was surprised to learn he threw as many strikes as he had. He lamented two of those balls were fastballs and that pitch generally was not as crisp as he would have liked.
“I was around the zone,” he acknowledged with a chuckle. “I wasn’t as efficient with my fastball as I wanted to be. I didn’t throw very good two-strike pitches until that last at-bat. It’s a good starting point, for sure. I’m not trying to knock it at all. I just feel to my standards I expect a little sharper with the fastball, which is going to be important as we get into anything further than two innings.”
What most impressed Musgrove was what he saw elsewhere in his first time on the field with his hometown team. He was particularly complimentary of catcher Austin Nola’s work and the quality at-bats and aggressive baserunning by the offense.
“With that guy we have behind the plate in Nola and the defense behind me, I love pitching in this uniform,” he said. “It’s fun to watch these guys play. It’s really exciting to be a part of it. … It’s fun to pitch when you’ve got those guys behind you. And with as aggressive as we are on the basepaths and as good as we are at the plate at being selective and getting pitches to hit, it’s going to put us in position as pitchers to win a lot of games this year.”
Notable
Trent Grisham is 2-for-4 with two doubles and four walks against left-handed pitchers this spring. At the end of last season, the lefthanded batter primarily batted ninth against lefty starters while leading off against righties. Grisham, who has led off in three of his four Cactus League starts, had a .359 on-base percentage against right-handers and .333 OBP against lefties in 2020.
Almost every Padres pitcher without some sort of malady will have pitched by today. One pitcher of interest who has not is Anderson Espinoza, who has been dealing with a finger blister. He played long toss Saturday and could throw a bullpen session today before appearing in a game next week. The 22-year-old Espinoza was the Padres’ top prospect in 2017 before the first of two Tommy John surgeries. He has not pitched in the minors since 2016.
The Padres had hoped to play more nine-inning games, but Saturday’s seven-inning game was their sixth straight of seven or eight innings. Some pitchers who would have filled out later innings have been ailing. Tingler said he expects to go nine innings today and after Monday’s off-day be able to go nine innings regularly. Because there is no concurrent minor league camp to provide extra pitchers, teams have the option of playing as few as five innings the first two weeks of games this spring.
Left-hander Matt Strahm, one of the bullpen’s most consistent performer over the past three seasons, is not expected to throw off a mound for three more weeks, which likely portends his missing at least the first month of the season. Strahm is recovering from October patellar tendon surgery.
The Padres claimed righthanded pitcher Jordan Humphreys off waivers from the San Francisco Giants. He takes Jose Castillo’s place on 40-man roster, as Castillo (Tommy John surgery) was placed on the 60-day injured list. Humphreys, 24, has not pitched above Single-a. An elbow injury and the pandemic have slowed his rise.
kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com