Padres first baseman Yonder Alonso has been out since Monday with a sore right wrist and Bernie Wilson of the Associated Press reports that he’ll be placed on the disabled list.
According to Wilson the Padres will call up Triple-A corner outfielder/first baseman Jake Goebbert to replace Alonso, who’s hit just .210 with five homers and a .591 OPS in 69 games this season. Alonso’s bat has simply never developed like the Padres hoped when they acquired him from the Reds for Mat Latos in December of 2011.
He’s now a 27-year-old career .266 hitter with a .714, and while that’s a lot better than it looks once you account for pitcher-friendly Petco Park his average of nine home runs per 150 games just doesn’t cut it at first base.
Goebbert, meanwhile, is a 26-year-old career minor leaguer with a modest .437 slugging percentage in 131 total games at Triple-A, although that includes much better numbers there this season. San Diego acquired him from Oakland last month in exchange for Kyle Blanks. He’s hardly a high-upside prospect, but it’ll be interesting to see whether the Padres stick with Goebbert for a while if he hits right away.
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