Home runs for Will Venable in consecutive games this holiday weekend, including a titanic shot onto the balcony of the Multnomah Athletic Club well beyond the right field fence. Venable is second on the team with a .324 average through 68 games.
A week after surgery to align his septum, Chris Young may resume pitching tomorrow.
One of the nation's top high school shooting guards, Dominic Cheek, speaks highly of USA Basketball U-18 assistant coach John Thompson III.
Jon,
I'm in Portland, Oregon, and yesterday I attended the Portland Beavers/Tacoma Rainiers game at PGE Park. Will Venable had quite a day even though the Beavers did not. The final score was 13-5 and the game was basically over by the third inning. As perhaps befits an affiliate of the Padres who play at PETCO Park, the promotional day was called "Bark at the Park" and people could bring their dogs to the game. After the game, dog owners were encouraged to run the bases with their dogs and there were dog games between innings. It made for quite a scene.
Will went three for four. In his first at bat against Andy Baldwin, he broke his bat grounding out to second on an 0-1 pitch. In his second at bat against the same pitcher, he blooped a double to left on a 2-2 pitch and scored easily on a single to center showing very good speed (notable because the center fielder had thrown out a runner trying to score from second on a single earlier in the game). In his third at bat against Baldwin he hit a long double to center on a 1-1 pitch that hit the fence. He advanced to third on a fly to center and scored on an error by the shortstop. His fourth at bat was against Mumba Rivera where he drew a walk on a 3-2 count after fouling off 3 straight pitches. In the bottom of the 8th he was named "Toyota Player of the Game", but there was more to come. With two out in the 9th the hitter before him drew a walk from Scott Shoemaker, Tacoma's third pitcher, so Will came up for a final time. On a 2-0 pitch he absolutely crushed a deep home run to right. There's building behind the right field fence at PGE Park which houses the Multnomah Athletic Club and they have a few bleachers on about their third floor so their members can watch the game (similar to the rooftops outside Wrigley Field). The ball landed there. Later that night on the local TV, they said it was the longest home run ever hit at PGE Park measuring more than 500 feet.
Will played center field and didn't get to do much defensively, but he finished the day with 3 runs scored and two batted in. He ended the day hitting over .320. People at the game were saying they expect him to be promoted soon.
In recent days the Padres have promoted journeyment Brian Myrow and Chip Ambres rather than recall Venable. I would hope that means they are committed to getting Will at-bats rather than implying anything about his stock.
There are rumors that with Myrow in the majors, the Padres might look to trade Tony Clark. Perhaps that will open up space for Will to make his debut. (It would, however, mean that the Padres' 3-on-3 hoops juggernaut of Clark, Chris Young and Venable would be no more.)
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