The Rockies squandered their opportunity to sweep the Padres by letting the mighty Kevin Correia maim the offense, but regardless of the opponent, winning three out of four on the road is never bad. The Rox can take the WC lead with a win - if the Pirates sweep the Giants today. Interesting pitching matchup today - an All-Star vs a young, grass green rookie:
vs.
Mat Latos is listed by Baseball America as the Padres' #2 prospect behind Kyle Blanks, who is already on the MLB roster. He is not in BA's top 50 (Blanks in 47), but he has the best fastball of their organizational prospects, sitting around 95 with the ability to hit 98. He's a big strikeout pitcher with good control. Ben Davey at Friar Forecast had a scouting report on the youngster last month, essentially saying his fastball is his crutch, but his changeup is good enough to keep hitters off balance, and his slider is still developing. BA projects him as the Padres' #3 starter behind Peavy and Young and earned the spot as the #1 hottest prospect by BA the first week of June.
When he was acquired in 2006, he was regarded as "the top player from baseball's final class of draft-and-follows." Despite starting in the Rookie Leagues last year and having barely a month above A-ball, we'll see the young right-hander in his MLB Debut today. Latos is excited. He's torn his way through the minors and has earned a look for a team that's going nowhere. We've handled some hot prospects already this year (Medlen, Price, Hanson), so hopefully it won't be too much of an issue. However, as RG and Foo Man have pointed out, he never faced the Drillers in the Texas League and only threw a couple innings against us in Spring Training, so lack of familiarity could be an issue even more than most MLB Debut pitchers.