Padres Press Clips Tuesday, June 28, 2016 Article Source Author Page Schimpf soaking in everything in first call-up UT San Diego Sanders 2 Hot in June, Myers needs help to be All-Star MLB.com Cassavell 5 Renfroe among top prospect performers Monday MLB.com Rosenbaum 7 Minors: Renfroe slams 18th homer UT San Diego Sanders 8 Padres host Orioles for 2-game series starting Tuesday STATS, LLC. STATS, LLC. 10 San Diego leads ESPN’s ‘Sports Misery Index’ UT San Diego Krasovic 11 1 Schimpf soaking in everything in first call-up 28-year-old slugged his way out of Triple-A after stagnating for six-plus years in Blue Jays’ organization By Jeff Sanders | 5:23 p.m. June 27, 2016 A former national champion and a fifth-round pick out of LSU, a 28-year-old Ryan Schimpf emerged on the other side of his six-plus year stay in the Blue Jays organization this winter as a husband, a father to a baby girl and a minor league free agent for the first time. He wondered what lay ahead. He thought about what might not. Then Schimpf leapt. Of course, he did. “It was kind of an exciting, maybe a little scary at times,” Schimpf said Saturday in the dugout at the Great American Ball Park. “Sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Sometimes it's not always that easy to get a job being a minor league free agent, especially with no big league time. “I was looking for the right opportunity, the right place to land.” Little did he know how propitious his choice was. The Padres traded Jedd Gyorko to St. Louis two weeks after Schimpf signed his minor league deal in November after an audience with new skipper Andy Green. Since then, the Padres have lost the first two replacements – Cory Spangenberg and Jemile Weeks – to crippling leg injuries as Schimpf piled up the sort of stats the Padres could no longer ignore. While the Louisiana native has yet to roll his first at-bat double into the momentum he’d built up in the Pacific Coast League, Schimpf continues to prepare the way he did to come out of a 4-for-26 start to his El Paso assignment. 2 The left-handed Schimpf is hitting .111 through his first 11 games in the majors and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout Sunday in Cincinnati in his first start in four days due to the trio of lefties that the Reds threw at the Padres. He remained busy nonetheless, whether he was working in the cage daily with hitting coach Alan Zinter, huddling with Brett Wallace before Sunday’s start or poring over video with Derek Norris on a so-called day off. “He's all about picking brains and learning,” Norris said. “It surprised me that he's never been in the big leagues because he's a lot further along than a lot of people are.” That’s just the way Schimpf is. Always has been. In fact, it’s those qualities that endeared him to Paul Mainieri when he arrived at LSU in time for Schimpf’s freshman year. He’d turned a standout prep career in Covington, La., into an opportunity at his dream school. There, the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Schimpf hit four homers as a freshman, 12 as a sophomore and landed on the map with 11 homers in 27 games in a summer league before everything came together his junior year. “As funny as it is to say, he was an unsung hero on our team,” Mainieri, the Tigers’ Hall-of-Fame coach, said by phone. “He hit a lot of big home runs for us. He could run. He could hit for power … and nobody could outwork him.” It added up to 22 homers in 2009, 10th most in LSU history. As a team, the Tigers rolled to a national title and then saw six players drafted inside the first 12 rounds of the draft. Schimpf was the fourth, following Jared Mitchell (1st, White Sox), D.J. LeMahieu (2nd, Cubs) and Louis Coleman (5th, Royals) out the door as the Blue Jays’ fifth- round selection that summer. He was a mid-season all-star the next year in Lansing, an organizational all-star two years later (22 homers in 129 games) and then he was in Double-A for parts of four straight years. 3 “It’s not really my call on why I never got a chance there; I guess it just wasn’t the right time for me,” said Schimpf, a career .242/.343/.464 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with four straight 20-homer seasons coming into the 2016 season. “Growing up a bit undersized, I was always the guy to have doubters – I may not be able to play infield or I may not go beyond a certain point. “I always play like I've got something to prove every day. It's what always fueled me.” His production reached new heights in El Paso, the momentum building with each passing month. He fashioned a .839 OPS the first month of the season, pushed it to 1.107 in May and 1.1664 in June when the Padres were finally forced to take a closer look at their unheralded minor league free agent. He was hitting .355/.432/.729 with 15 homers, 48 RBIs and just 33 strikeouts when the long-awaited call arrived just after midnight after putting 9-month-old Kenley down for the night. He, his wife Felicia and his new baby girl boarded a plane the next day for San Diego. Hours later, he roped a 105 mph double down the line for a hit in his first major at- bat, a sampling of the surprising power in his unassuming frame. He’s had just two hits since then, has struck out eight times in 26 at-bats but has also worked five walks in demonstrating a sound approach at the plate. “He gets all his body into it from the ground up,” Zinter said. “He's got bat speed and he's got a good swing plane. I like everything he brings to the table. “We just have to get him some more opportunities and get him to relax and have some fun with it.” 4 Hot in June, Myers needs help to be All-Star Kemp, Jay also playing well but not in top 15 in NL outfield voting By AJ Cassavell / MLB.com SAN DIEGO -- Despite their impressive offensive surge this month, several Padres remain on the outside looking in on the All-Star ballot, after Major League Baseball unveiled its final voting update Monday afternoon. Wil Myers -- who is putting forth a June performance that could earn him consideration for NL Player of the Month -- was not among the top five vote-getters at first base. Meanwhile, Matt Kemp and Jon Jay didn't factor into the top 15 outfielders on the ballot. All-Star rosters will be unveiled on Tuesday, July 5. Although Myers trails by a wide margin in voting, he appears to be a favorite to represent the Padres at their hometown All-Star Game as a reserve. He's batting .323/.404/.742 this month while tying a Padres franchise record with 10 June homers. For the season, Myers is hitting .282 and leads the team with 17 homers. One long ball behind Myers is Kemp, who is batting .337 this month. Jay, meanwhile, is currently battling a forearm injury, but leads the National League with 24 doubles and is hitting .296 and playing a steady center field. Fans can cast their votes for starters at MLB.com and all 30 club sites -- on their computers, tablets and smartphones -- exclusively online using the 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot until Thursday at 8:59 p.m. PT. Vote up to five times in any 24-hour period for a maximum of 35 times. Fans may also receive the ballot by texting VOTE to 89269 (USA) or 101010 (Canada). Or text VOTA for a ballot in Spanish. Message and data rates may apply. Up to five messages. No purchase required. Reply STOP to cancel. Reply HELP for info. Following the announcement of the 2016 All-Stars, be sure to return to MLB.com and cast your 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote for the final player on each league's All-Star roster. On Tuesday, July 12, watch the 2016 All-Star Game presented by MasterCard live on 5 FOX, and during the game visit MLB.com to submit your choice for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet via the 2016 MLB All-Star Game MVP Vote. The 87th All-Star Game, in San Diego, will be televised nationally by FOX, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS, and worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries via MLB International's independent feed. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB.com, MLB Network and SiriusXM will also provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, please visit allstargame.com. 6 Renfroe among top prospect performers Monday Cubs' No. 3 and No. 6 prospects combine to go 5-for-6 with 7 RBIs By Mike Rosenbaum / MLB.com A pair of Top 100 Cubs prospects shined on Monday for Double-A Tennessee as Ian Happ and Billy McKinney combined to go 5-for-6 at the plate with seven RBIs to lead the Smokies past Pensacola, 12-1, in a rain-shortened game.