Breaking Down the Non-Roster Invitees: San Diego Padres

It’s time for the penultimate edition of the notable NRI breakdowns (The Giants are the last installment, and will be up later today).

This time, I’m breaking down twelve interesting Padres NRIs. Weirdly, four of them catch.

RHP Brad Brach—Brach was the rare pitcher to thrive in the hostile Cal League environment in 2010, although strangely, the Padres never promoted the 24-year-0ld. Brach posted a 74/11 K/BB in 65 1/3 innings, and although he’s a former late-round pick who was old for his level, he’s no finesse pitcher–he’s a big guy with a power fastball/slider/splitter arsenal. He’s too inexperienced to earn a role early in 2011, but he should be on Padres fans’ radars.

2B Logan Forsythe—Forsythe is a walk machine without a whole lot of power, although his home park in Double-A didn’t help him in the power department, seeing as it’s hell on RHBs. Still, he posted a .377 OBP, and a transition from third base to second lowers the amount of power he’ll need to show to succeed in the bigs. He’ll open 2011 in Triple-A, where he should get some power back, and he could be a Padre early in the season if he gets off to a good start. The biggest key to spring training for him will be proving he can play an adequate second, as his transition to the keystone was very rocky early in 2010. Hopefully, he looks much better with a year’s worth of work there under his belt.

INF Kevin Frandsen—Frandsen hit .269/.331/.379 in 2007 for the Giants, but the rest of his MLB career has seen him struggle to drive the ball with any authority, and he’s not likely to get a power boost in Petco Park. He’s stretched defensively at shortstop and is just average at second, so he’s not going to be winning MLB jobs on defense alone, either. 29 in May, he’s had some modest Triple-A success (.271/.350/.387 last season), but not enough to make you want him around as more than an injury fill-in. He’s probably an improvement over Lance Zawadzki in that role, though.

3B Jesus Guzman—Guzman is a career .316/.387/.500 Triple-A hitter, with just 163 strikeouts in 255 games, so it’s pretty tough to claim that his bat won’t play in the big leagues. Still, his entire big league career consists of a 5-for-20 stint with San Francisco in 2009. The Giants let his bat rot in AAA despite him putting up consecutive .385 wOBAs there. This guy can outhit Chase Headley, that’s pretty clear; however, Guzman’s defense at third doesn’t get good reviews. Still, one has to figure he could do the whole Oscar Salazar shtick better than Salazar.

C Jason Hagerty—An underrated catching prospect, the switch-hitting Hagerty hit .302/.423/.494 in a tough Low-A environment while showing decent receiving skills and gunning down 34% of runners. He’s already 23, but he really doesn’t need the Cal League, and could quite easily skip it and open 2011 in Double-A. The patient, powerful hitter could become a very solid bat, and a possible All-Star. He’s definitely a player to watch.

RHP Casey Kelly—The biggest prize for Adrian Gonzalez, Kelly will be charged with impressing his new organization (although many Padres officials are familiar with him already; GM Jed Hoyer was an executive for the Red Sox when Kelly was drafted) in spring training. He’ll also be taking the first steps to recover from a poor showing in Double-A last season. Just 21, he’s young enough to rebound, but Kelly isn’t gifted with the greatest “stuff” out there; he made his reputation largely on precise command, which makes him a shakier bet to rebound than most. Still, San Diego isn’t going to rush him, and Kelly’s inexperienced on the mound, since he spent some time early in his pro career as a shortstop, so a rebound is quite likely.

RHP Scott Munter—Munter, like Guzman and Frandsen, is a former Giant (72 IP 2005-07). In those 72 innings, he struck out 22 and walked 34, almost never striking anyone out with his one-pitch arsenal. That one pitch, of course, is a sinker that got him a 57.9% groundball rate. Bouncing around Triple-A after leaving the big leagues, he finally started working in some offspeed stuff in 2010, and he finally cracked 6 K/9 in Triple-A, with a 2.66 ERA and 67/32 K/BB in 71 innings. He still gets tons of grounders, but now that he can get a strikeout here and there, the 31-year-old may finally be ready to contribute in a meaningful way.

LHP Juan Oramas—Oramas is a Mexican lefty with a knockout curveball who came out of nowhere and tore up both A-ball levels, including the Cal League, despite just turning 20 last May. He’s no finesse guy, either, with a fastball that touches 93. With a 115/29 K/BB in 99 innings, he was clearly overmatching hitters, and there’s some speculation that he could make it to San Diego late this year at age 21. He’s a real sleeper.

1B/3B/C Kyle Phillips—Phillips went 5-for-18 for Toronto in 2009, but hasn’t gotten any other big league time. 27 in April, he’s a rough receiver behind the plate, and the Padres only put him there for five games of the 58 he played in Triple-A after being traded in May. The trade did invigorate his bat, though, as Phillips hit .324/.365/.432 with Triple-A Portland. He makes good contact, but eleven extra-base hits in 58 games in hitter-friendly Portland isn’t going to translate well to Petco Park, and it’s not like Phillips brings plate discipline to the table either. If he catches, he’s interesting; if he doesn’t, he isn’t.

C Guillermo Quiroz—Quiroz has been around for seemingly forever, but he’s just 29–I guess everyone who debuted in 2004 just seems old now. Just a career .208/.267/.275 hitter, he’s managed to play in each of the last seven seasons, but only has 101 career games, which says a lot about his role–he’s been the third catcher in a bunch of organizations. It’s worth noting that his bat came to life a bit last year–his .297/.347/.440 performance in Triple-A was his best at the level (only 28 games, though), and he also hit well in Double-A. He’s a solid if unspectacular defender, but if he actually can hit now, he’s worth looking at…yet again.

1B Anthony Rizzo—Like Kelly, Rizzo was acquired in the Gonzalez deal, and also like Kelly, he put up mediocre numbers in Double-A (.263/.334/.481), mitigated by the fact that he was, like Kelly, just 20 years old. The comparison I always make is Adam LaRoche, a solid non-star first baseman with 30-HR power, solid defense, and not too much contact or discipline. Rizzo will start 2011 in Triple-A, and is another prospect San Diego has high hopes for.

C Gregg Zaun—Zaun, amazingly, can still hit–he put up a .265/.350/.392 line with Milwaukee last year, and while it was just 28 games, he put up similar numbers the year before, so it likely wasn’t a fluke. He’s 40 in a few weeks, and few catchers hang on past that point, but there’s really no reason to bet against Zaun, who’s lasted longer than most because he doesn’t have that much mileage on his knees–he’s never been more than a time-share guy behind the plate, only once playing in over 110 games. He doesn’t throw particularly well anymore, but still blocks pitches well, helps the pitching staff, and hits, at least from the left side of the plate.