Padres place Manuel Margot on DL, call up Franchy Cordero

In an expected move, the Padres finally placed center fielder and Rookie of the Year candidate Manuel Margot on the 10-day disabled list in order to let his strained right calf mend for the next eight days (the move is retroactive to Thursday, as he’s been sidelined since then). Less expected was who they called up to take his place on the roster; the defending Pacific Coast League champion El Paso Chihuahuas will have to do without their starting center fielder because Franchy Cordero just got his first call to the majors.

A shortstop his first four years of professional ball, Cordero was moved to center to begin last season, and rocketed up the organizational ladder. After spending 2012 through 2015 committing a prodigious number of errors with various rookie level and Single-A teams while his bat developed, Cordero started last season with High-A Lake Elsinore and earned a midseason promotion to AA San Antonio, eventually getting a four-game cup of coffee with AAA El Paso, where he began this season.

This year Cordero has batted .289/ .349/ .520 with five doubles, seven triples, and seven home runs in just 173 at-bats. Those numbers, especially the home run total, have certainly gotten a boost from the notoriously hitter-friendly PCL, but are in line with the growth he showed in 2016. He is fast, as you would expect from his position, but his baserunning - especially base-stealing - is still a work in progress. However, the 22-year-old has been successful in eight out of ten stolen base attempts this year after putting together a counterproductive 67.7% rate his first five seasons.