San Diego Padres: Chris Paddack Not Slated for Opening Day Start

San Diego Padres rookie Chris Paddack was scheduled to pitch on Monday in a Spring Training game against Trevor Bauer and the Indians in Goodyear, but hours before the start, Andy Green made a change.

Robbie Erlin, and not Chris Paddack, is scheduled to start for the San Diego Padres against the Cleveland Indians at 1 pm in Arizona, but that was not supposed to happen.

Andy Green has decided to start Erlin and not projected Opening Day starter, Chris Paddack on Monday afternoon.

San Diego Union Tribune’s Kevin Acee reported on Monday morning that Chris Paddack will start on Tuesday in a minor league game.

At the moment, there is no reason that went into Green’s decision to scratch Paddack, but I am sure it has Opening Day implications.

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As of Sunday night, Chris Paddack was projected to pitch today and on March 28 at Petco Park against Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants. Of course, that would be if he continued to pitch every fifth day leading up to Opening Day for the rest of spring like he has been doing, but that streak has ended.

Erlin is now scheduled to start on Opening Day in San Diego against Madison Bumgarner. The only other option scheduling wise would be for Joey Luchessi to pitch on Opening Day because he is going to throw on Friday, which along with Erlin would line him up for the 28th.

Acee said that Luchessi is projecting to start on either Friday or Saturday, and the pitcher who starts on either Friday or Saturday would “almost certainly” be the Opening Day starter. Luchessi threw a bullpen session on Monday, so he is on track to pitch this weekend.

Paddack, 23, had already undergone Tommy John surgery in the Minor Leagues, and he has not pitched 200 innings yet in the minors, but he currently is the best pitcher in all of Spring Training right now.

In four starts and 12.2 innings pitched, he has struck out 20 hitters, and has given up just three earned runs with an ERA of 2.13.

This marks his first time ever facing major league hitters, so he is showing the Padres that he is ready to pitch in the big leagues.

Now, as I said earlier Robbie Erlin is now getting the start instead of Paddack, which is not good news for San Diego Padres fans that are high on Paddack.

Erlin, 28, has been with the Padres for his whole career, pitching to a 4.40 ERA in 257 innings. But he did not pitch in 2017 due to Tommy John surgery as well.

In 39 games last season, Erlin had a 4.21 ERA, giving up 12 home runs and over 50 runs. He has not had a year with an ERA better than 4, so he definitely is not the best option for Opening Day.

Manager Andy Green went into Spring Training without a set pitcher in mind for March 28, but there are only ten days left until the start of the Friars’ season, so for him to be pushing back Paddack’s start to Tuesday means there is a great chance he will not be starting the first game of the season.

Andy Green now has the excuse of not pitching Chris Paddack on Opening Day because his schedule now lines up to toe the rubber for the second game of the season on March 29.