Diving into the 2018 Dust Devils for their home opener: Here’s the story so far.
It’s finally time for the Dust Devils home opening series!
Here’s a quick look at some highlights and storylines going into this week’s matchup with the Spokane Indians.
Roster
The current Dust Devils roster features a number of top Padres prospects. I’ve written a bit of a preview for some of them so far, with more on the way.
I gave an overview here for each of the players who join the Dust Devils from the 2017 draft:
- Blake Hunt, Catcher — #30 prospect
- Mason House, OF — #31 prospect
- Sam Keating, RHP — #34 prospect
- Joe Galindo, RHP — #41 prospect
- Henry Henry, RHP — #55 prospect
- Cole Bellinger, RHP — #57 prospect
As the team has added players from the 2018 draft, it turns out my earlier speculation was pretty accurate and we’ve been graced with a number of the Padres’ top picks from 2018. I’ve written up first impressions on some of them.
- Owen Miller, SS — 3rd round
Dylan Coleman, RHP—4th round
Dwanya Williams-Sutton, RF—5th round
Steven Wilson, RHP—8th round
Luke Becker, 2B—9th round
Michael Curry—16th round
Batting
Setting aside Tuesday’s game, the Dust Devils haven’t had any trouble scoring runs. The team plated 30 in their first four games against Salem Keizer before getting shut out last night.
Michael Curry leads the team in batting average, but the big story has been Tre Carter’s hot start, as he’s hit three home runs in the first four games — already matching his total from all of last season. Tre will likely return to the lineup this evening after a night off last night.
Luis Asuncion has had a pretty great start himself, already with a whopping five doubles.
Mason House’s 20% line drive rate and .250 BABIP indicate he’s had a much better start than his .182 batting average would suggest.
Owen Miller has started just about every game and batted second or third in every game, with a .273 average so far this season. Aldemar Burgos and Olivier Basabe have contributed at the plate.
Pitching
The Dust Devils have featured some outstanding pitching already this season.
Thus far the team has seen starts from Henry Henry, Adrian Martinez, Cole Bellinger, Sam Keating, Ramon Perez. We’ll probably see a couple of them pretty regularly as a rotation firms up and we can expect to see others slot in and out in order to get players innings.
Ramon Perez, Sam Keating, Cole Bellinger have each had a scoreless start in their initial outings.
In relief, Dan Dallas and Andres Munoz each have a couple appearances, with each of them showing some good strikeout numbers. We’ve yet to see Joe Galindo this season, who absolutely dominated in relief last year. Longtime top-tier big-league reliever Carter Capps is with the team, still working on getting back to top form, a year removed from Tommy John surgery.
Tonight, Angel Acevedo gets the start. Thus far he gave up a hit, a couple walks, and a run in the one inning he’s pitched in relief.
What else?
Some past stories you might be interested in:
- What exactly *is* a Short-Season Single-A affiliate?
- Let’s talk about the Tri-City Dust Devils brand™
- Why would a player be drafted twice? A Dwanya Williams-Sutton story
And, finally, if you’re interested in contributing to this blog, don’t hesitate to reach out!
