The San Diego Padres don’t have many prospects involved in positional battles, but they do have one pitcher who could strengthen the Padres’ already deep bullpen if he continues to shine in camp. That would be right-handed reliever Bradgley Rodriguez, who was identified by AJ Cassavell of MLB.com in a piece that picked out one prospect from each team who’s making noise.
Rodriguez brings a lot to the table as a potential bullpen addition. He’s already pitched three scoreless innings this spring, and he’s in line to get more work going forward. With Ron Marinaccio and Alek Jacob leaving to join Team Italy, Rodriguez will get more chances to build on what he’s done to date.
The No. 6 prospect in the Padres system is still green, and it’s important to remember that he’s just 22. But his combination of velocity and the ability to limit hard contact gives him an enormous upside, and now he’ll get to try and take the next step in his impressive development process.
The problem Rodriguez is facing in his battle to make the roster is that the Padres already have a lot of high-leverage options in the bullpen. Mason Miller is the new closer, and reliever Jason Adam is returning from a quad injury, although his status for Opening Day remains in question given that he’s coming back from surgery.
But reliever Adrian Morejon is slowly being nursed into regular work by pitching coach Ruben Niebla and new manager Craig Stammen, which makes sense given that Morejon made 75 appearances last year and threw a lot of innings.
Another factor that complicates Rodriguez’s potential ascent is the sheer number of bodies the Padres have in camp., even with seven players leaving this week to join their respective teams for the WBC.
There are still plenty of players competing for back-end rotation jobs, and one or two of the losers in that competition could end up in swing roles, which would make it even harder for Rodrigues to make the jump.
But Rodriguez would bring one significant advantage to the pen if he does make the roster, and that’s depth. The Padres have a paper-thin rotation with starters Michael King and Joe Musgrove coming off injuries, and while there are plenty of open dates in April, new manager Craig Stammen would love to be able to go to his bullpen early and often as he waits to see what King and Musgrove will bring to the table this season.