Taylor Trammell is having a hard time

Much digi-ink has been spilled over the trade that brought outfield prospect Taylor Trammell to San Diego in advance of this July’s trade deadline.

It won’t do much good to hash out the opposing viewpoints of the deal, which sent fan favorite Franmil Reyes one way, Trevor Bauer another way, and the fleet-footed Trammell into a charter bus headed for the Padres affiliate in Amarillo, Texas.

There are people who believe Reyes is a one-dimensional player who needed to be cleared; there are people who believe the Padres should have been the team making the play for Bauer, not the Cincinnati Reds; there are those that bemoan the move altogether, whether because of Reyes’ potential or Trammell’s shaky performance in the Cinncinatti org this year. Honestly, whatever.

Now that the trade is in the rearview mirror, I, as a Padres homer, just want to see the kid we acquired make good on the star promise he is purported to possess.

So far, not so good in that department.

Beginner’s Unluck

In an admittedly small sample size of 73 AB’s with the Sod Poodles, Trammell is having what could be called, among other things, a “rough go”. There are a number of stats from Trammell’s time in AA that would paint a portrait of a guy striking out too much, making scant contact, and failing to hit for power. Instead, I’d like to provide some video of an August 14th Trammell plate appearance against the Midland RockHounds—a game in which he went 0-5 with 4 strikeouts.

What, you thought you were getting scouting video breakdowns from ol’ Dylan A. Chase? What do I look like, The Athletic?

In all seriousness, though, the outfielder is hitting .169/.260/.292 in his first action within the Padres org. In my mind, I imagine him looking a lot like Melting Homer when encountering AA breaking balls, which are notoriously, um, noted as the first real test of a minor league hitter’s mettle.

Most troublingly, Trammell’s strikeout rate has climbed to 30.1% after never logging a K rate higher than 22.8% in a given professional season. Whatever may be the case with Trammell, it’s clear he’s working against his better angels over the last month, and that’s not what the Padres front office wants to see as it eyes him as a potential outfield fixture for 2021 and beyond.

In 383 Double-A at-bats spread between the Cincinnati and San Diego system, Trammell now sports a .664 OPS. Hopefully, a more redemptive post will be in the offing with a strong close to the season for this ballyhooed prospect from Georgia.