SHILDT SAYS: Speaking of Morejon and relievers, the automatic balls/strikes system, the roster and Campusano
Although the Padres have competition at starting pitcher, the decision has already been made to keep left-hander Adrian Morejon in the bullpen.
Before Saturday’s workout in Peoria, Padres’ manager Mike Shildt discussed Morejon, the Padres’ bullpen, the use of the computer-generated automatic strike zone in spring training games and the hopes for catcher Luis Campusano.
“Adrian Morejon had a really good year in 2024,” said Shildt. “He was one of the reasons why we were able to win 93 games and compete as well as we did in the playoffs. We didn’t go as far as we’d have liked, but Adrian really took the next step.”
“He had another good off-season and he’s in a good spot. The communication was with Adrian on the decision to keep him in the bullpen. He likes where he is and feels good about the role he has. He’s ready to take the next steps to be consistent.”
“We talked internally and with the players to determine what their possible roles are. The Adrian discussion was ‘Maybe this guy could start.’ We didn’t want to get too far down the road before we got Adrian in on the discussion and asked him ‘Where is your head on this?’”
“He said he’s in a really good place where he’s at currently and being able to grab the high-leverage situations from the left side for us. We felt pretty convicted that that would be a good spot for him as well.”
“His stuff is just elite. The fastball is good. The two-seamer is great. He’s a ground ball guy. The slider is on the plate. Everything is looking really good for Adrian.”
Shildt discussed the bullpen in general.
“We’re high on our bullpen,” said Shildt. “We have depth. The season will ultimately tell us. We like how the back end of the bullpen sets the tone. We have Jason (Adam) coming back. He was tremendous for us. He does a great job regardless of the role, regardless of the hitter. (Jeremiah) Estrada did a great job similar to Adrian and took some next steps.”
“I’m also really comfortable about Wandy Peralta coming back. Wandy couldn’t quite get his footing last season. He had that groin injury. But he’s had a wonderful off-season. The ball is really coming out and he’s in a really good spot. I’ll take some responsibility for this, I think we had a harder time getting his footing going into the season … finding a role for him, getting the work he needed and then the groin.”
“I feel we know Wandy better and he’s in a good place to go help us.”
“And it looks like Yuki (Matsui) is going to continue to take the steps as an asset.”
“Sean Reynolds did a great job for us. He’s a guy who has the sky as a limit. We’re starting to see what the possibilities are for him being a contributor as we expect to compete for our division title. Big arm, multiple weapons. If anything, it’s the consistency of it.”
“But the fact of the matter, Sean going from a position player to a pitcher, you expect to see a little bit of a windy road to get that consistency. But he’s navigated it well and is on a clearer path to knowing who he is and what he does … repeating what he does and using his weapons. He’s got plus stuff. He has back-end-of-the-bullpen stuff. Sean is in a good spot.”
Shildt then discussed the Automatic Ball-Strike technology that will be used in some spring training games this year with an eye toward being used in the 2026 regular season.
“We’re going to be aware of it. We’ll see it. We’re going to see a higher percentage of ABS games because our complex can house it. It’s not going to be implemented towards the top of the season. It’s going to be more about evaluating it and seeing what it looks like. We’re going to let the games tell us what it is.”
“I’m not familiar with it. We will have feedback. We’ll have some guys who have experienced it like our Triple-A manager (Pete Zamora) and guys who were over there like (catcher) Brett Sullivan. They have the background to discuss it with our group prior to it happening. It’s not going to come into play this year, so I’m not going to put a lot of energy behind it. But I’m looking forward to observing it and seeing how it works.”
“I think there’s a sweet spot for technology in general in our game. There are some nuances I don’t want to interfere with, but I think we can take it to the next level. We’ve been able to do that with the pitch clock. I think most everyone can agree on that, although you can have a debate about the amount of time.”
“But I am interested to see what ABS looks like. To me, it’s not about umpire confrontation. The replays effectively take a lot of that back-and-forth out. It can be entertaining or not. We’re going to eventually eliminate that with the ABS. But it’s ultimately about getting it right and that’s what we are looking for.”
“It’s fun to think about the ABS, but I don’t want to put too much time into it. I don’t know what the policies will be. The reality is you cannot know from the bench or have a coach or anybody have any input. I haven’t started thinking about how we incorporate it. Let’s evaluate it during the spring and then be intentional with those thoughts so when/if it becomes something that is going to be part of our game we’ll have a reference point.”
“I am curious about it. We’ve worked with our catchers on the minor league side with challenges. We like to have our pitchers take ownership of the ball when they are competing as well. I like the idea of the guy catching the ball has a familiarity of the strike zone and ABS. Maybe he’ll be a little less emotional about balls and strikes.”
“It would be hard to tell Yu Darvish that he wouldn’t have a say in a pitch he throws being a ball or a strike.”
“I do highly respect umpires. It’s a group of guys who work their tails off. I respect them highly. I never use confrontation with umpires to fire up a team. But there are times when a dust-up doesn’t hurt anybody.”
Shildt discussing the roster:
“Everybody is competing to be the best version of themselves,” said Shildt. “That’s the starting point. We clearly have guys that we know are going to be on the club. But they’re also coming in competing and ready to perform. But their timeline for it can be a little bit different. The goal is being ready to go on March 27.”
“But we do have competition. Jason Heyward is clearly going to get a shot in left field. There are other guys like Connor Joe and Eguy Rosario. Left field is still a spot that is going to require some good, healthy competition. Clearly, there’s going to be competition on the bench.”
“I look at our roster a couple times a day. It’s going to be a good, competitive camp with qualify players. Competition is super fun and exciting. Then on the pitching side, the rotation is starting to take some shape but there’s still real competition there. The bullpen is deep and because of that there are going to be some tough decisions at the end of it with some really good proven guys. I’m excited about it.”
Shildt discussed what happened to Luis Campusano last year and his status:
“It was a hard conversation when we sent Luis down late last season,” said Shildt. “This guy helped us, similar to (Matt) Waldron, get to where we were going. To tell him five months into it that he’s not participating with us was a hard conversation. Campusano was rightfully frustrated about it.”
“Ultimately, the mess was ‘Tell us what you need to work on.’ Luis was pretty clear about what that was. He went down and worked on some of those things and continued during winter ball. He wants to be more consistent with his craft. That’s what this game is all about. The teams with the most consistent players win.”
“That’s not to say Campusano wasn’t consistent. He was a force in a lot of good areas. But at the moment, we felt (Kyle) Higashioka and (Elias) Díaz were our best combination. We just told Campy to keep working on his craft.”
Shildt on who catches Waldron and the knuckleball with Higashioka gone:
“Somebody is going to catch him if he makes the team,” said Shildt. “The beautiful thing about the knuckleball — and we want to encourage him to keep using it — is common sense. If it’s hard to catch, it’s not very easy to hit. It’s going to be somebody who we rotate around. Díaz caught Waldron Friday in his bullpen. All the reports I got is that he did a really good job with it.”
“Catching the knuckleball is a mindset more than anything. There’s no real technique to it as much as ‘I’m just going to catch this ball, or at least stop it. We’re going to be intentional to make sure all our catchers get the opportunity to catch Waldron.”
