Padres finally give Chase a call

June 14, 2008   ·   Paul Raymond   ·   Jump to comments

Finally, the San Diego Padres have given their prized hitting prospect, Chase Headley the phone call to the majors. Headley is expected to join the team Sunday against the Cleveland Indians. For those that don’t follow the Padres, Chase is the biggest jewel in the Padres minor league system, he almost made the team in Spring Training but the organization wanted to get some more practice in the outfield. The reason being, Headley has been a third baseman throughout his minor league career, but will be playing left field in the majors.

Headley will be primarily a left fielder on the major league team, with occasional appearances at third base. The players who will be affected the most will be Scott Hairston and Jody Gerut, the guys who currently man the position. Headley has been absolutely tearing the cover off the ball in the minors and will most likely get to start every day. In just 65 Triple-A games, he’s batting a .305 with 13 homers and 24 doubles. To make room for Chase on the roster, you could expect Justin Huber or Paul McAnulty to be demoted to Triple-A Portland. Both players haven’t played that well, Huber batting .218 with a homerun in 55 at bats, while McAnulty is batting a whopping .239 in 115 at-bats.

To many Padres fans and fantasy players, it was puzzling why such a talent didn’t make this team out of the gate. True, he was still learning the left field position, but he would of been a much better option in left for a team that started the season with such big expectations. Now, he’ll just be getting himself acclimated to the Major League game for the rest of the season. Actually, I take that back the Padres are only 7.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks as I write this. If they play like they did last year they’ll still have somewhat of a chance to catch the D’Backs, albeit a very slim chance. If you were lucky enough to be draft him and get to stash him on your fantasy reserve list, it is time to reap the reward. If not, get to the waiver wires fast.

In addition, the timing of this move is pretty strange. The Padres are calling Chase up for a Sunday game in Cleveland, an American League ballpark. The team could have just as easily called him up Friday and let him play for the entire weekend, while the team had the advantage of the designated hitter. It could have also gave him a couple days to get the big league jitters out of the way before traveling to play the New York Yankees at the House that Ruth Built.

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