As April comes to a close the Friarhood would like to look back at some of the highlights and lowlights of 2010’s first month of the San Diego Padres Double-A affiliate in the Texas League.

The Missions are 10-10 with one more game to play for the month of April.  That puts them in third place; however, they are only one game back from the first place Midland Rockhounds with whom they are scheduled to play tonight.

The Friarhood will select an outstanding position player and pitcher each month this season. The choices for the San Antonio Missions were pretty obvious to me:

CF - Cedric Hunter

After an 0 for 5 game last night, Cedric is still hitting .329/.345/.461 as the Missions leadoff hitter.  He leads the Texas League in hits, and he’s top 6 in the Texas League in AVG, RBI, and triples. Cedric has also swiped 4 bases and only struck out 6 times in 76 AB’s.  Cedric was once considered the best prospect in the Padres system although he’s fallen off the radar after a lackluster .261/.294/.331 in 2009. 

Starting Pitcher - Simon Castro

You might think Castro would stumble after leaping from low-A Fort Wayne to Double-A San Antonio, but that certainly hasn't been the case. Castro ranks second in the TL with his 1.11 ERA and leads the league in WHIP (0.86). Castro is the Padres 2nd best prospect and the best pitching prospect in the system according to Baseball America. He was also rated the 57th best prospect in all of baseball. Castro throws two fastballs. The first, a 2-seam fastball he uses down in the zone to generate ground balls that usually sits in the 92-93 MPH range. The second, a 4-seam fastball he uses to blow it by hitters up in the zone that sits in the 95-96 MPH range. His out pitch is a low 80's late breaking slider that is very tough on right handed hitters. He’s also improving his change-up which appears at least average at the moment.

An honorable mention would be Craig Italiano. Italiano hasn’t given up a run as the Missions closer across 10 games.  He has 5 saves, 7 strike outs, 1 walk, and only 6 hits in 11 innings.  We should see Italiano and his mid to high 90’s heat in the Padres bullpen very soon.