San Diego Padres add more names to the Minor League System- MLB News
The San Diego Padres are making some moves this off-season, this time adding more players to their Minor League System. On Thursday, December 13, they acquired Minor League pitcher Chris Rearick for infielder Vince Belnome.
Chris has been moving up the ranks of the Tampa Bay Rays’ farm system since making his professional debut in 2010. He started to play for the Rookie Class Princeton Rays in 2010 before playing for the Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods in 2011.
In 2012, he was part of two Ray’s farm teams, the High Class-A Charlotte Stone Crabs and the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits. Chris posted a combined 4-4 win-loss record with a 2.70 ERA in 50 games.
A relief pitcher, Chris has a 14-7 winning record in 113 Minor League games in his three season’s long career, posting a 2.68 ERA. He has been a relief pitcher in all games except for one during his career.
Drafted from the North Georgia College and State University, Rearick has been the named Rays’ Best Relief Pitcher for two years running.
Vince Belnome would have struggled to find a spot in the Padres in Majors as the team already has a strong pool of infielders. Vince made his professional debut on 2009 after he was drafted out of West Virginia University in the 28th round by
the Padres.
He has played for six different teams in the Padres’ Minor League System, Tucson Padres being the last one of them. He has a career batting average of an even .300 and an impressive .414 on-base percentage in the Minor League. In a total of 372 games, he
has hit 50 home-runs and batted in 245 runs.
The Padres also made some more moves recently and signed three Minor League free agents. These include catcher Rene Rivera, right-handed pitcher Sean O’Sullivan and infielder Gregorio Petit. All three have been invited to spring training.
Gregorio has had some Major League exposure and has played a limited number of games in 2008 and 2009 for the Oakland Athletics. In the 54 at-bats, he managed 15 hits, posting a .278 batting average of .304 on-base percentage.
The 28-year-old Venezuelan was originally drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 2001 as an amateur free agent. He has played for a number of Minor League teams, most recently for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers.
25-year-old Sean made his debut in the Majors in June of 2009. Over parts of three seasons, he has posted a 10-14 win-loss record, posting a high 6.13 ERA. In the Minors, he has been playing for the last seven seasons and has a 64-35 winning record.
With Andrew Cashner out for a fair time due to a thumb injury, Sean may get a chance to see some action in the Majors if he performs well during spring training and in the Minors.
Rene Rivera has played parts of four Major League seasons. The 29-year-old from Puerto Rico has not enjoyed a lot of success with the bat in the Majors playing for the Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins. As a catcher, he posted a .984 fielding percentage,
committing nine errors in 567 total chances.
He has enjoyed greater success in the Minors where he has been playing regularly since 2001. Rivera was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 2001 Amateur Draft.
The recent signings will help the Padres in injecting some experience into their farm teams. If these players perform well and take their opportunity, they should be having a serious shot at having some more time in the Majors as well.
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