Luis Patiño *, RHP, TAM

Luis is on the San Diego 60-man roster, so what do the Padres (now Rays) have in him?

Video courtesy of Palmer Sports
  • Born: October 26, 1999
  • B/T: Right/Right
  • 6’1″, 192-lbs
  • Signed by the San Diego Padres in 2016 out of Barranquilla, Columbia.

The Numbers

His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:

I like it when a pitching prospect’s strikeout rate rises as he climbs levels, particularly when the walk rate doesn’t also rise. Yes, 2019’s rate did, but only back to what it was in in 2017. Still, 2018 exists as a goal for Patiño.

The WHIP is fine, and stays that way as he climbs.

Lefties hit him harder, but not egregiously so.

Fairly balanced, but those home runs are to right field, indicating perhaps batters getting opposite field power off of him.

He starts a level and hovers a bit, or drops a bit, and then the light goes on and it’s off to the races (and when I say “races” I mean a new level).

This is a nice collection of pitches for a starter to have. Two plus pitches in that mid-90s FB and upper-80s slider. Throw in a good curve, and even a changeup change of pace pitch from time to time, and he has the goods to remain a starter.

The Scouts

Warnings

He has only a taste of Double-A so far, and this year won’t help him as he’s on the 60-man but not likely to see much game action. But if he takes to instructional play well, he could be ready to dominate AA the way he dominated High-A.

Let’s get those walks under control, OK?

Conclusion

He’s a great pitching prospect, and a great prospect period.

San Diego has another young arm to dream upon.