Padres Press Clips Friday, May 4, 2018 Article Source Author Page Monterrey trip a homecoming for Padres' Villanueva SD Union Tribune Sanders 2 Talking with .... Eduardo Ortega, Spanish-language voice of SD Union Tribune Sanders 5 the Padres Matt LaChappa, the longest tenured Padre SD Union Tribune Sanders 7 Ty France's power surge continues with Missions SD Union Tribune Sanders 8 Villanueva's dreams come true in Mexico return MLB.com Sanchez 10 Ortega expects emotions to flow in Mexico MLB.com Cassavell 13 Padres again carrying the MLB flag to Mexico Padres.com Center 16 Why have the young, fast Padres been so dreadful at The Athletic Palmateer 19 baserunning this season? Dodgers, Padres playing with full decks in Monterrey ESPN.com Gomez 22 The Padres want to win over fans and become the team of Mexico ESPN.com Gomez 25 Fowler: Lucchesi, Lauer a Glimpse of ‘The Future of Padre Baseball’ Friar Wire Lafferty 29 It’s been 19 years since MLB played in Mexico. Christian SB Nation Abaurrea 30 Villanueva is ready to bring it back. Dodgers, Padres meet for weekend series in Mexico FOX Sports STATS 35 Padres 2016 Might Lay Groundwork for World Series Run NBC San Diego Togerson 37 1 Monterrey trip a homecoming for Padres' Villanueva Jeff Sanders The first time Bill McLaughlin sat down with Christian Villanueva, really had a conversation with him and his family, was across a dinner table at a Hilton in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was the summer of 2008, McLaughlin’s second year scouting below the border for the Texas Rangers. He had first encountered Villanueva — a 17-year-old, glove-first shortstop at the time (if you can believe that) — at a tryout in the state of Nayarit while he was playing for the Cancun- based Tigres de Quintana Roo. McLaughlin’s colleague, Mike Daly, got his first good look at an international tournament in Canada. A.J. Preller was among the Texas bosses who approved talks to obtain Villanueva’s rights from the Tigres. Real interaction with the prospect’s family, however, didn’t start until they met at the Guadalajara Hilton to sign on the dotted line. Villanueva was seated with his mother, Rosario, and his oldest brother, Ernesto. They discussed his background in baseball, the process and a road map forward. Before all was said and done, McLaughlin assured Villanueva that the Tigres, in a tourist destination like Cancun, were an ideal Mexican team to belong to as a fallback. What Villanueva said next struck McLaughlin. “I’m never going to play in Mexico,” Villanueva recalled through an interpreter. “I was so confident at the time. I knew I was going to make it to the big leagues.” Ten years later, Villanueva is going home. Going home a hero, too. As if it weren’t enough that the Padres’ 26-year-old third baseman will walk into Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey as the lone Mexican-born player in either clubhouse, he’s doing so as the reigning National League Rookie of the Month after he blasted nine home runs through his first 24 games, most among all first-year players and two shy of the league lead. The first three homers arrived in one historic game at Petco Park, just a short drive from the Mexican border. With Villanueva back among his countrymen this weekend as Major League Baseball returns for its first regular-season games in Mexico since 1999, the stage is set as his journey — a path littered with injuries, position blocks and personal tragedy — comes full circle. “Coming home as a major leaguer to play in Mexico as the only Mexican with the Padres, everyone is turning to him to do something,” said Eduardo Ortega, the Spanish-language voice of the Padres. “Everyone will be waiting for something big to happen for Christian.” 2 *** Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey, home of the Sultanas, is about a 500-mile drive northeast of the municipal field that draws Jalisco’s most established baseball players for Sunday games. Most are ages 30 to 35. Some are retirees from Mexican leagues. Nobody was under 20 when Christian Villanueva began playing on that field. Except Villanueva. He was 13 — and unafraid. “It was awesome to play in that stadium,” Villanueva recalled. “It always filled up. A lot of people came to see these retired players, but I was never nervous. I was always just really excited to be out there.” Villanueva is the second-youngest child in a big baseball family. His father played as an amateur in the region. Villanueva started playing when he was 9 years old as one popular Mexican third baseman, Vinny Castilla, was finishing his first powerful run with the Rockies. He also watched a lot of Braves star Chipper Jones. During the week, he’d play in youth leagues. As he grew older, Villanueva and his older brothers often suited up together on the same adult teams. “They definitely pushed me,” Villanueva said. “That motivated me to get to where I am.” The oldest brother, Ernesto — 12 years Villanueva’s senior — stepped in as the family patriarch when their father died when Christian was 12, helping shuttle his gifted younger brother to and from tournaments. Another older brother, Eduardo, proved to be the heartbeat of his support system from afar any time Villanueva’s career appeared to stall, whether due to injuries or congestion in deep farm systems. When Villanueva debuted last September in San Diego, eight years and three organizations into his professional career, Eduardo was prominently in his thoughts as he arrived at Petco Park’s home clubhouse. Eduardo had unexpectedly died months earlier as Villanueva was settling in for his first spring with the Padres. “It’s always hard when you lose someone that close, when you lose a sibling,” Villanueva said. “At the same time, I have to keep going because a lot of what I do now, I do for him. I know he wanted to see me play. He wanted to see me triumph and have success.” *** Plenty of forks in Villanueva’s road might have led directly back to Cancun. A knee operation shortened his first season in the Dominican Republic the summer after he signed with the Rangers. A fractured fibula wiped away his chance to improve on his first 20- homer season in the high minors in 2015. He’d been an all-star at several stops along the way — even cracked Baseball America’s top-100 prospects list in 2011 — despite elite talent blocking him at every corner. 3 His original organization employed Adrian Beltre at third base in the majors and was developing Michael Olt and Jurickson Profar, among others, in the minors. When the Rangers included Villanueva in an 11th-hour deal with the Cubs to land Ryan Dempster for their 2012 playoff push, he was blocked again by Kris Bryant’s arrival as the No. 2 overall draft pick the following summer. McLaughlin, who’d followed Preller to San Diego, noted all of this. He placed the appropriate phone call when Villanueva became a minor league free agent after the 2016 season. His bosses, thanks to the due diligence of pro scouting director Pete DeYoung, were already thinking about a player who’d outgrown his original evaluation as an “athletic kid with an idea at the plate” and “defense as the carrying tool.” “A.J. is one of those guys who always has a catalog of players in the back of his mind, and Christian has always had talent,” McLaughlin said. “He just hasn’t had a lot of opportunity because he’s always been behind a lot of really good players. But he persevered. He never lost sight of his goal.” The Padres provided that opportunity last September after Villanueva added 20 more homers in 109 games at Triple-A El Paso. When he hit four home runs in a 12-game audition, they traded Yangervis Solarte, opening up an even clearer path to playing time. The plan, at least in spring training: Carry Villanueva, Chase Headley and Cory Spangenberg on the active roster and see if someone runs away with the job. Villanueva’s three-homer game in early April — just the eighth in Padres history — altered the landscape quickly. The way he came out of an ensuing 4-for-26 slump — in which he struck out 12 times without a walk — has the organization thinking this could be something sustainable. “When he was the younger player coming up, he was a guy I thought had a pretty good approach,” Preller said. “As young hitters start to develop more power, they sacrifice their approach for that power, and what we’ve tried to push him on — and what he’s done a nice job the last few weeks — is the league is going to make adjustments to you. You have to be able to adjust back.” The owner of a .333 on-base percentage in the minors, Villanueva walked for the first time in his 11th game. Nine extra-base hits and eight walks since have left his slugging percentage at .667, behind only Arizona’s A.J. Pollock (.691) in the National League. His 1.051 OPS is behind only Washington’s Bryce Harper (1.062) and Pollock (1.052), and his right-handed bat is entrenched in the Padres’ three-hole as he enters the Monterrey series. In this moment, Cancun — a two-hour flight away from Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey — never looked so far behind him. “I’m just really, really grateful,” Villanueva said.