San Diego Padres: Predicting the Opening Day rotation

Garrett Richards is another starter that has some question marks in terms of health and durability.  After the Angels did not bring him back he underwent Tommy John surgery before he opted for free agency.

The San Diego Padres signed Richards, 31, to a two-year deal before last season with the understanding that he was going to rehab pretty much all of 2019 and then come back strong for the 2020 season.

He was able to show the organization he was ready to pitch again, as he started three games at the end of the season. He sometimes has control problems but has a high 90’s fastball and when he is ‘on’ he can strikeout anyone.

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Chris Paddack will be starting on Opening Day for the San Diego Padres assuming he stays healthy throughout the rest of the offseason and in Spring Training.

Although he did hit some rough patches in 2019, it was mainly with technique and he might have been a little fatigued. Some fans might remember when he was sent down for a little more than a week in the middle of the season but that was only to give him some more rest and to allow him to pitch further into the season than he would have if he were to make two starts in that timeframe.

But what the fans saw is what Chris Paddack is: a very upbeat and passionate pitcher when he is on the mound who has frontline starter written all over him.

He was arguably the best rookie pitcher in the game for the first couple of months and the highlight of his season–other than the near no-hitter at Miami–was in April.

He and Pete Alonso were vying for Rookie of the Month and after Alonso won, Paddack proceeded to strike him out twice (and nine other Mets hitters) on a night where he beat 2018 and 2019 Cy Young, Jacob deGrom.

He should have a more impactful season in 2020 considering that he will no have the innings limit hanging over him so he can have the freedom of pitching 7 innings every fifth day.

I think he will also have some help at the end of the 2020 season–MacKenzie Gore and Luis Patino–which will make the San Diego Padres have one of the best all-around pitching staffs (starting rotation and the bullpen) in the league.