Padres Press Clips Wednesday, July 12, 2017 Article Source Author Page Cal Quantrill, Josh Naylor promoted to San Antonio UT San Diego Sanders 2 Friar talk: Let's put even MORE pressure on MacKenzie Gore UT San Diego Lin 4 An All-Star homecoming for Hand MLB.com Cassavell 6 Padres' Draft pick Gore earns top HS honor MLB.com Cassavell 8 Gatorade Athlete of the Year MacKenzie Gore enjoyed a Sports Illustrated Apstein 10 baseball season of near perfection Pitcher MacKenzie Gore, hurdler Sydney McLaughlin AP AP 14 named prep athletes of year Padres promote Quantrill to Double-A MiLB.com Dykstra 15 Padres On Deck: Cuban Import Pitchers Morejon, FriarWire Center 16 Baez Throw Zeroes 1 Cal Quantrill, Josh Naylor promoted to San Antonio Jeff Sanders The Padres’ top draft pick from a year ago is officially two steps away from the majors. Right-hander Cal Quantrill, along with first baseman Josh Naylor, have been promoted to Double-A San Antonio after representing the Padres and Canada in the All-Star Futures Game on Sunday. To make room, right-hander Kyle Lloyd was promoted to Triple-A El Paso and infielder Fernando Perez was sent down to high Single-A Lake Elsinore. The eighth overall pick in the 2016 draft, the 22-year-old Quantrill was 6-5 with a 3.67 ERA, 76 strikeouts, 24 walks and a 1.38 WHIP in 73 2/3 innings at high Single-A Lake Elsinore, his first full year of pro ball since Tommy John surgery his sophomore year at Stanford. Quantrill was recently ranked No. 21 in Baseball Amercia’s mid-season top-100 list. He is ranked No. 2 in the system by MLB.com behind right-hander Anderson Espinoza. At San Antonio, a first-half title winner in the Texas League, Quantrill joins a rotation that – for now – includes right-handers Enyel De Los Santos (5-4, 4.55) and Brett Kennedy (7-5, 3.80) and former Storm teammates Eric Lauer (1-0, 1.42) and Joey Lucchesi (2-0, 2.61). Lloyd, who threw a no-hitter for the Missions earlier this year, is 7-5 with a 3.71 ERA, 89 strikeouts in 89 2/3 innings. He allowed 13 earned runs in 17 1/3 innings over three starts earlier this year with the Chihuahuas. As for the 20-year-oldNaylor, he’s now the youngest player in the Texas League. New teammate Luis Urias is 19 days older than Naylor, who was hitting .297/.361/.452 with eight homers and 45 RBIs in 72 games with the Storm. MLB.com ranks Naylor as the 13th-best prospect in the Padres organization. Perez, an Otay Ranch High product, was hitting .212/.279/.302 with three homers and 18 RBIs in 63 games with the Missions. 2 ROOKIE DSL PADRES (11-21) • Orioles 1, Padres 0: RHP Martin Carrasco (0-1, 1.69) struck out four and allowed a run on four hits and no walks in seven innings in a tough-luck loss. All four of the Padres hits in the loss were singles. CF Adrian Antunez I.176) went 1-for-3 with his fifth steal. 3 Friar talk: Let's put even MORE pressure on MacKenzie Gore Jeff Sanders MacKenzie Gore has thrown a handful of bullpens in Peoria, Ariz., for his new employer. He’s closing in on game action in the rookie-level Arizona League. The 18-year-old left-hander still had time to fit another West Coast trip into his busy new life as a professional pitcher. For good reason, too: He was in Marina Del Rey on Tuesday to be named the boys Gatorade National Athlete of the Year. Not just baseball player of the year. Athlete of the year. Just like Lebron James and Dwight Howard. As such, Gore is a cover boy (Sports Illustrated, see above) before even throwing a pitch for the team that made him the richest draft choice ($6.7 million) in team history. He’s also already ranked 31st in Baseball America’s latest top-100 prospects. No pressure. Really. Give ‘em a Hand In the NL’s 2-1 loss in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, Brad Hand did Brad Hand things in front of a Marlins crowd that never saw this Brad Hand all that much: The left-handed struck out MVP Robinson Cano on three pitches in a perfect seventh inning, his slider getting the swing-and-miss after consecutive fastballs to start the AB. Hand also got Gary Sanchez to bounce out to second and Avisail Garcia to line out to left. 4 "It was awesome, going through it for the first time," Hand told MLB.com. "It feels like these days went by super quick. It was awesome for my family to be able to come here, check it all out, and hopefully I'll be back again sometime." Around the water cooler • Speaking of Hand, like Drew Pomeranz last year, he might not be around San Diego much longer. The Nationals, Brewers, Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, Diamondbacks, Astros and Indians could all be suitors for a reliever who ESPN’s Dave Schoenfield dubbed “Andrew Miller lite.” • Here’s one sign Hand could be headed to New York. The New York Post reported over the weekend that David Post, a special assistant to General Manager A.J. Preller, has been following the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate. Notable names on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre roster include RHP Chance Adams, OF Jake Cave, OF Billy McKinney and 3B Miguel Andujar. • Right-hander Cal Quantrill and first baseman Josh Naylor on Tuesday were the latest Lake Elsinore players to move to Double-A San Antonio. Both rank high in the Union-Tribune’s updated top-20 Padres prospects list. 5 An All-Star homecoming for Hand Reliever tosses perfect seventh in return to Miami By AJ Cassavell / MLB.com Brad Hand knows a thing or two about pitching on the Marlins Park mound. The Padres All-Star was perfect in his return on Tuesday night. Making his debut at the Midsummer Classic, Hand tossed a 1-2-3 seventh inning, though the National League would fall, 2-1, on Robinson Cano's 10th-inning homer. Cano may have won the game's MVP Award, but he couldn't solve Hand, who struck him out on three pitches to become the seventh pitcher in Padres history with a perfect inning in the All-Star Game presented by Mastercard. "Sitting down there in the bullpen, I was just trying to take it all in," said Hand. "I knew I had the seventh inning. It was nice to get out there." It's been a triumphant return trip for Hand, who spent parts of five big league seasons in Miami, where he struggled to find his place. The Marlins used him as a starter, a long man and a mop-up reliever, but he never found a groove and was waived by Miami at the start of the 2016 season. A year and a half later, Hand is one of the most durable and versatile late-inning arms in the sport. "That was cool for sure," Hand said of pitching in Miami. "I know a lot of the guys that work here, so it's cool to come back here and see all them." The Padres claimed Hand last April, and he began to carve himself a role right away. Over the past two seasons, no pitcher in baseball has made more appearances or pitched more relief innings than Hand. In 47 innings this season, Hand owns a 2.30 ERA and 60 strikeouts, and he's become an extremely coveted commodity ahead of the non-waiver Trade Deadline. Since his arrival in San Diego, Hand has honed a nasty slider, which has become one of the Majors' top putaway pitches. The slider was on full display Tuesday. With the bases empty and two outs, Hand got ahead of Cano with consecutive fastballs. He finished the inning with a slider at the top of the zone, and Cano could only flail at it. 6 Hand also retired Gary Sanchez on a chopper to second to start the frame, and he got Avisail Garcia to line out to left for the second out. It was the first perfect inning by a Padres pitcher in the All-Star Game since Andy Benes in 1993. "It was awesome, going through it for the first time," Hand said. "It feels like these days went by super quick. It was awesome for my family to be able to come here, check it all out, and hopefully I'll be back again sometime." 7 Padres' Draft pick Gore earns top HS honor No. 3 overall pick named Male Athlete of the Year By AJ Cassavell / MLB.com When the Padres selected MacKenzie Gore with their highest Draft choice in eight years, they made it clear his athleticism had played a major factor in their decision. In no uncertain terms, they said, they had drafted "an athlete." The best male high school athlete in the country, as it turns out. In a ceremony in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, Gore was named the Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year. Among the past recipients are LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Kevin Love and Matt Barkley. Gore is just the second baseball player to win the award, joining Orioles righty Dylan Bundy, who took home the 2011 edition. Along with the award, Gore is pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, along with sprinter/hurdler Sydney McLaughlin, who took home Female Athlete of the Year honors.