San Diego Padres: Christian Bethancourt to Focus on Pitching in Minors
By Tim Haberin
Christian Bethancourt has informed the San Diego Padres that he will pitch full-time in the minor leagues, shelving his hopes of becoming a hybrid player.
The San Diego Padres‘ Christian Bethancourt will continue his foray into pitching. The would-be two-way threat will reportedly focus solely on his mound work now that he’s been sent down to the minor leagues. The 25-year-old cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A El Paso earlier this week.
Bethancourt’s experimental transformation into a hybrid player was one of the more interesting storylines of Spring Training. He made two pitching appearances last season in blowout losses, and then continued to pitch in his native Panama over the winter. This inspired Bethancourt, who had previously only been a catcher and occasional outfielder, to try his hand as a two-way player this year.
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He got off to a rough start, both on the mound and at the plate. Bethancourt made four appearances out of the bullpen, allowing nine runs (six earned) on six hits over 3.2 innings. He also walked six batters while striking out two. It was a rude awakening, to say the least.
Meanwhile, Bethancourt made just seven plate appearances, primarily as a pinch hitter, and managed only one hit and three strikeouts. To put it bluntly, he wasn’t giving the Padres much reason to keep him around with the bat or the glove, so placing him on waivers became a relatively easy decision.
The five-year veteran evidently feels his best chance to stick around in the majors is to hone his skills on the mound and develop into a serviceable bullpen arm. Getting regular work in the minors will better help him achieve that than continuing to scuffle through scant opportunities with the big league club.
Padres skipper Andy Green says he and general manager A.J. Preller are happy with Bethancourt’s choice to make a full-time transition to pitching. Per MLB.com:
"“He said that he would pitch, and we’re happy with that decision on his part,” Green said. “We’re glad that he feels the same way we feel about it. A.J. had taken that off my plate. That was more like an organizational decision. It’s something we’ve invested the last couple of months in, and that’s the way we see him in the future.”"
Bethancourt has struggled to find his niche as a major leaguer, never appearing in more than 73 games in a season across stints with the Braves and Padres. He owns a meager .222/.252/.316 career slash line but has drawn solid marks in the past for his defense as a backstop.
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You have to give Bethancourt credit for taking this leap, not knowing if it will work out or lead him back to the big league level. We’ll continue to keep an eye on him to see if he can become something of a reverse Rick Ankiel. He’s certainly not the first to try making such a switch.