Three Words

Pitchers – and – catchers.  Three simple words, yet so much meaning for baseball fans.

Sunday was the day for San Diego Padres pitchers and catchers to report to the organization’s Spring Training complex here in Peoria, Ariz.  Although, with several players living in the Phoenix area and a few others having already arrived, today’s reporting date is probably more symbolic than anything else.

The coaching staff and players went through the physicals gauntlet. Here’s Padres third base coach Glenn Hoffman going through his eye exam, have to keep that vision sharp relaying those signs from the dugout!

And a few relievers familiar to Padres fans, including Luke Gregerson, Joe Thatcher and Huston Street, got an early jump on tomorrow’s workout.

Monday morning at 9 a.m. Arizona Time, Padres manager Bud Black and his coaching staff will meet with pitchers and catchers for about 30 minutes before the team hits the practice fields for the first time in 2012.

All three Padres beat writers were in camp Sunday and will be covering San Diego’s beloved baseball team throughout Spring Training.  Be sure to follow the Twitter posts from Corey Brock (@FollowthePadres), Bill Center (@SDUTPadres) and Dan Hayes (@NCTPadres). They’ll be writing, blogging, tweeting and eating (it’s what beat writers do). And of course don’t forget to follow the official club twitter account, @Padres.

Other Tidbits

Congratulations to Dick Enberg, who returned to his roots last week in the Midwest.  He was honored by his alma mater Central Michigan University last night and earlier in the week lectured at Marquette University.

Best wishes to former Padres outfielder Mike Cameron, who announced his retirement.   Cameron played two seasons for San Diego (2006-07), batting .255 with 67 doubles, 15 triples, 43 home runs, 161 RBI and 43 steals in 292 games.

You can see Padres workout highlights and catch inteviews at the Video Corner on Padres.com.   The talented team of Erik Meyer, Jennifer Cota and Tom Catlin will be working hard every day throughout camp to bring you inside information from the Padres.

11,000 Future Friars

As was announced last November, the Padres will be outfitting over 11,000 youth baseball players with Padres jerseys for their 2012 season.

Players from the four San Diego Little League districts closest to Petco Park, representing ages 4-12, will wear authentic Majestic Padres button-down jerseys and corresponding caps, thanks to the efforts of the Padres and the Padres Foundation.

Selected by the teams, the youth uniforms represent 20 different styles from Padres history, dating from the Pacific Coast League days all the way through the club’s updated 2012 look.

With the Little League season quickly approaching, the uniforms are beginning to arrive at Petco Park. Staff members have been working hard to sort through the mountains of boxes that have arrived, preparing for distribution over the next month.

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TinCaps Win 2011 Bob Frietas Award

The Padres improvement at the minor league level continues as today it was announced that the Fort Wayne TinCaps have been named winners of the 2011 Bob Frietas “Organization of the Year” Award for the Class-A level, recognizing their successful 2011 campain and continuing contribution to minor league baseball.

The award, given annually, is presented by Baseball America. From the release:

“The Fort Wayne TinCaps have demonstrated a spirit of innovativeness as well as commitment to the Fort Wayne community with an out-of-the-box approach and dynamic new facility, Parkview Field, in downtown. We are pleased to recognize Fort Wayne as the 2011 Bob Freitas Award winner for the A level classification in Minor League Baseball,” said Lee Folger, President/Publisher of Baseball America.

The TinCaps’ honor continues the trend of success and improvement throughout each level of the Padres organization, following league championships by both the Lake Elsinore Storm (California League) and San Antonio Missions (Texas League) this year.

Padres new logos

In addition to the uniform updates, the Padres also unveiled three new logos for use in 2012. The “SD” logo has been updated to a circular mark featuring the text “San Diego Padres Baseball Club” and is to be used as the team’s primary mark.

The Padres’ new secondary logo features the Padres script under skyline imagery of PETCO Park. The new secondary mark also includes the classic “SD” along with “Est. 1969” and will be featured in a patch on the sleeve of the club’s blue and gray jerseys.

In addition, the Padres have wheeled out a revamped Swinging Friar logo for 2012. The mark makes use of the original classic Swinging Friar from the early days of Padres history, with updated colors to match the blue and white currently worn by the club. It will be featured in a patch on the sleeve of the Padres’ white jerseys.

Padres unveil new uniform designs

The Padres today unveiled their updated uniforms and new logos for the 2012 season at a special event for select season ticket holders at PETCO Park. Padres President/Chief Operating Officer Tom Garfinkel was on hand along with several Padres players to make the announcement.

Included in the uniform changes for 2012, are updated home whites and road grays, along with a new blue alternate uniform featuring the Padres’ “SD” on the chest. San Diego’s military jerseys will still feature the digital camouflage pattern modeled after the U.S. Marines, but will have updated numbers and text on the back to remain consistent with the Padres’ other uniforms.

All four of the updated jerseys are currently available for sale at the Padres store and online at padres.com/shop.

Byrnes officially named GM

Today Jeff Moorad officially welcomed Josh Byrnes as executive vice president/general manager. Byrnes isn’t exactly new to the organization. He was added to Jed Hoyer’s staff last year as senior vice president of baseball operations and helped establish the system that is in place right now. Here is a look at today’s news conference:

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Over his 19 years of front office experience, Byrnes has worked alongside some of the most respected and admired executives in the game, including Cleveland Indians’ President Mark Shapiro and General Manager Chris Antonetti, Texas Rangers’ Senior Advisor and former Major League General Manager John Hart, Red Sox Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington, Pittsburgh Pirates’ General Manager Neal Huntington, Colorado Rockies Executive Vice President/Chief Baseball Officer & General Manager Dan O’Dowd, Texas Rangers’ General Manager Jon Daniels  and Chicago Cubs’ President of Baseball Operations Theo Esptein.

Decker reports from Arizona

In the middle of the Arizona Fall League, Padres prospect Jaff Decker took time to tell a little bit of his story and what he’s working on heading into the 2012 campaign. Check out the video from MLB.com:

Decker talks Padres, AFL

A native of Peoria, AZ, Decker grew up just down the street from the Padres Spring Training Complex. He was selected by the Friars with the 48th overall selection in the 2008 draft and has hit .273 with a .411 on-base percentage and .475 slugging percentage over his four seasons in the Padres system.

He reached Double-A for the first time last year, helping the San Antonio Missions to the 2011 Texas League championship.

So far with the Peoria Javelinas this Fall League, Decker is hitting a monstrous .500 (11-for-22) with four walks. He has posted a .593 on-base percentages, having reached safely in 16 of his 27 plate appearances.

 

 

 

Up and coming…

As highlighted by our “Future Friar” series (with features on Anthony Rizzo, James Darnell, Keyvius Sampson and Jedd Gyorko), the Padres farm system is quickly improving. Ranked as the eighth-best among MLB teams heading into the 2011 season, Baseball America’s Jim Callis thinks that may just be the beginning:

“The Padres system definitely is looking up. Many of their top prospects coming into the season had terrific years in the minors, including first baseman Anthony Rizzo, third baseman Jedd Gyorko and third baseman/outfielder James Darnell. Others took big steps forward, most notably outfielder Rymer Liriano and righthander Keyvious Sampson. San Diego also has added plenty of talent via the draft (starting with first-rounders Cory Spangenberg and Joe Ross), trades (getting lefty Robbie Erlin and righty Joe Wieland from the Rangers for Mike Adams) and the international market ($1.1 million for Venezuelan catcher Jose Ruiz).

The Padres have one of the better farm systems in baseball, and I expect their ranking to move up from No. 8. They had 18 different players make our various minor league Top 20 Prospects lists, tying the Rays for the most of any organization.

When we unveil our 2012 Top 100 Prospects next spring, I anticipate that the list will include Rizzo, Gyorko, Liriano and Erlin for sure, with several other San Diego farmhands having a shot. Other candidates include Darnell, righthander Casey Kelly, Ross, Sampson, Spangenberg and Wieland.”

Quietly dominant

Overshadowed by a slow start, Mat Latos has quietly put together another dominant year on the mound. He finished his 2011 campaign with 7.0 shutout innings of two-hit ball last night over the Cubs, leading the Friars to a 2-0 victory.

Over his last 23 starts of the season, beginning with his May 25 outing, Latos went 8-8 with a 3.13 ERA (52 ER/149.1 IP), .229 opponent batting average and 8.6 strikeouts per 9.0 IP. During that span, he averaged over 6.0 innings per start while allowing just over two runs per start. Latos matched last year’s total with 31 starts, while besting his 2010 workload with 194.1 innings of work this season (184.2 IP in 2010).