San Diego Padres have decision with Chris Paddack
Chris Paddack is on an undefined innings limit in his rookie season in addition to struggling recently so should the San Diego Padres shut him down for the remainder of the season?
Chris Paddack was traded from the Marlins for Fernando Rodney in one of the best trades A.J. Preller has made in his tenure with the San Diego Padres.
Rodney struggled mightily for the remainder of the 2016 season and Paddack has risen from the minors to be the ace of the Padres staff.
Paddack, 23, was in the conversation for the Rookie of the Year award when he had a great start to the 2019 season.
His best start of the first half was against his competitor for the ROY at the time in Pete Alonso. Paddack proceeded to retire him all three times including two strikeouts.
He struck out 11 Mets batters against Jacob deGrom that night and that start really put him on the map.
With all that said he has endured some tough times this season. In order to manage his workload, San Diego sent him down to minors for ten days to work on his changeup and to give him rest from making big league starts.
He came back in a start vs Pittsburgh and in the next three starts would allow just three runs combined.
The next start vs the Miami Marlins, of course, his former team was the best start he has had in terms of dominance this season.
He took a no-hitter into the 8th inning but allowed a home run to Starlin Castro. He went 7 2/3 innings with just one earned run and one walk allowed.
But then “The Sheriff” has struggled since that start in South Florida.
Paddack’s Struggles Lead to a Valid Question
In the month of August, Paddack’s opponents are hitting .351 off of him with a .701 slugging percentage in addition to hitting six home runs.
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In his most recent start last Friday against the Boston Red Sox, he couldn’t get out of the third inning, allowing six earned runs, including a J.D. Martinez home run.
In the first time in his professional career, he didn’t strike out one batter. Not one.
So, it is fair to ask whether or not the Padres should shut him down.
I believe they will shut him down in September, but I think it is too early to shut him down now.
He is only at 177 innings and before the season some people were guessing his limit would be 180-200 innings and he isn’t even close to that.
I also don’t believe it is a good idea to have Paddack end the season on such a bad note. It would be in the San Diego Padres best interest to let him go into the off-season coming off of a couple of good starts where all of his pitches were working and had command of his fastball.
Next. What Tatis injury means in Rookie of the Year race. dark
I wouldn’t shut him down now, but that decision will be coming sooner rather than later.