Major League Baseball has finally logged its first pitch and first home run of the 2020 season, though in much belated fashion.
After MLB owners and the MLB Players Association finally struck a deal for a shortened 60-game season, play officially resumed after spring training camps had been cancelled in mid-March due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
The abbreviated season got its restart on July 1 with a return to training camps, rebranded by the league as “summer camp,” with the first games commencing on July 23.
The regular season will continue through Sept. 27, followed by an expanded 16-team playoff format starting on Sept. 29. The 2020 World Series is scheduled to start Oct. 23, with a potential Game 7 to be played on Oct. 31.
The original 162-game 2020 season was originally scheduled to start on March 26.
With the reduction in the number of games, teams will now play within a geographic region.
Each team will play only nine opponents instead of 19 or 20, as would be accustomed in a normal season.
Teams will play each of their four divisional opponents 10 times. The remaining 20 games, in the case of the San Diego Padres, will comprise inter-league contests against teams from the American League West.
The Padres opened National League West play by winning two of three games from the Arizona Diamondbacks July 24-26 at Petco Park. The Pads then promptly hit the road for three-game series in San Francisco and Colorado before returning home to host the Los Angeles Dodgers Aug. 3-5.
The Padres compiled a 7-5 record in those opening 12 games.
Valhalla High School alumnus Greg Garcia has had the rare opportunity to play for his hometown team.
Garcia, a 2007 VHS grad, is playing his second season for the Padres after being claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018.
Garcia was originally selected by the Cardinals in the seventh round of the 2010 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Hawaii where he led the team with a .358 hitting average.
The ex-Norseman made his MLB debut in 2014 and opened the 2016 season on the Cardinals roster. He appeared in 133 games with the team during the 2017 season, starting in 52 contests.
He appeared in a career-high 134 games with the Friars in 2019, hitting .248 with a career-high four home runs and 31 RBI.
In eight games in 2020, (five starts) he has logged a .316 hitting average, .381 on-base percentage with three runs scored and six RBI.
He delivered a pinch-hit single to score two runs and later crossed the plate himself in a 12-7 win over the Giants on July 30.
He called his stint with the Padres a “dream come true.”
“Getting put on waivers by the Cardinals and not knowing where you’re going to end up and to get claimed by the Padres was obviously a dream come true,” he told the team’s social hour webcast “Friar Face Time.”
“I had such high expectations of what it was going to be like, and I think I surpassed every one of those expectations. Friends and family getting me to watch me play live. I’ve been to Padres games at Petco being a fan and now I’m on the field.
“It really hit home on Opening Day (last year). Listening to the national anthem and then the flyover goes across, I’m looking down at my chest and I’m wearing a Padres uniform. You’re always thinking about that as a kid — you want to play for the Padres but never really think it would happen.”
Garcia is the grandson for former MLB manager Dave Garcia (California Angels, Cleveland Indians). His older brother Drew played professionally from 2008-15 after being selected in the 2008 MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox.
Dave Garcia, who spent more than 65 years in professional baseball as a player, manager and coach, joined the Padres during their inaugural 1969 season as the organization’s minor league manager.
He served as the MLB Padres’ third base coach from 1970-73.
As a manager in the Padres, Angels and Giants organizations, Dave Garcia compiled 889 wins and won three championships.
He is one of only four individuals to play, coach or announce professional baseball during part of eight decades (the other three include Vin Scully, Tommy Lasorda and Don Zimmer).
Locals only
Valhalla’s Garcia is among 20 San Diego County products on 2020 MLB opening day rosters.
- Hilltop High School alum Greg Allen has appeared in eight games for Cleveland this summer. He batted .229 in 89 games with the Tribe in 2019 with nine doubles, four home runs and 27 RBI after hitting .257 with 11 doubles, 20 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 2018.
A sixth-round pick by the Indians in the 2014 draft, Allen played three seasons at San Diego State University.
Allen shares the Cleveland locker room with fellow San Diegan Bradley Zimmer, an alumnus of La Jolla High School. Zimmer is in his fourth season with the Indians and has appeared in 155 games, including 11 this season, with a career .230 hitting average, 23 stolen bases and 51 RBI.
- Grossmont High School alum Joe Musgrove has made three starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 0-3 record. 6.75 earned-run average with 17 strikeouts in 14.2 innings on the mound.
Musgrove is one of five San Diegans (and two Foothiller alumni) on the Pirates roster, joining ex-Grossmont standout Steven Brault, Phil Evans (La Costa Canyon), Trevor Williams (Rancho Bernardo) and Kevin Newman (Poway).
Evans had logged a .359 hitting average with nine RBI in 11 games before being sidelined for the rest of the season following a collision with teammate Gregory Polanco while in foul territory in Sunday’s game against the Detroit Tigers in which Evans suffered a concussion and fractured jaw.
Newman has rapped out 13 hits, with one home run and six RBI in 13 games this season while Williams was 0-3 with 14 strikeouts in 15.1 innings to go with a 3.52 ERA.
Musgrove appeared in 73 varsity games for the Foothillers (2009-11) with a .386 hitting average, on-base percentage of .466, 83 hits, 70 RBI and 62 runs scored. On the mound, he compiled an 18-7 record with seven saves, a 2.51 ERA and 171 strikeouts in 158.2 innings.
He was drafted in the first round of the 2011 MLB draft and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays to forgo a career at San Diego State University.
Musgrove was traded to the Houston Astros in 2012 and appeared in the 2016 MLB Futures Game at Petco Park as a member of the Fresno Grizzlies AAA team.
He made his MLB debut with the Astros in 2016 and finished the season with a 4-4 record and 4.06 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) with 55 strikeouts in 62 innings.
He remained with Houston in 2017, appearing in 38 games (15 starts) with a 7-8 record and 4.77 ERA. He struck out 98 batters in 109.1 innings. The former East County standout appeared in seven postseason games for the Astros, including four World Series games. He pitched a scoreless top of the 10th inning in Game 5 against the Dodgers to pick up the win.
He was subsequently traded to Pittsburgh in 2018 and earned a place in MLB notoriety by throwing 21 consecutive strikes in an Aug. 30 game against the Cardinals. He finished the season with a 6-9 record, 4.06 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 115.1 innings.
Musgrove remained with the Pirates in 2019, finishing 11-12 with a 4.44 ERA in 32 games (31 starts) with 157 strikeouts in 170.1 innings.
Brault compiled an 8-1 record with a 2.56 ERA along with a .378 hitting average his senior year as a Foothiller. He was subsequently drafted (and signed) by the Baltimore Orioles after being selected in the 11th round of the 2013 MLB draft out of Denver’s Regis University.
After being traded to the Pirates in February 2015, Brault eventually made his MLB debut on July 5, 2016, in a game against the Cardinals.
In five seasons with the Pirates, he has compiled an 11-12 record with a 4.89 ERA and 240 strikeouts in 280 innings.
- West Hills alum Stephen Strasburg, the first pick in the 2009 MLB draft, remains on the Washington Nationals’ 40-man roster but has seen action in just one game this summer after signing a seven-year $245 million free agent contract last December to return to the Nationals. He has a career 112-58 record over 11 MLB seasons with a 3.19 ERA and 1,697 strikeouts in 1,443 innings.
A Padres fan while growing up, he represented the United States at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games while attending San Diego State. He made his MLB debut with the Nats on June 8, 2010, by recording a franchise record 14 strikeouts in seven innings against the Pirates.
He led the National League with 242 strikeouts in 2014 by clocking an average fastball speed of 94.8 mph. He tied a MLB record in 2019 with five postseason wins while recording a 1.98 ERA and 47 strikeouts.
He earned the 2019 World Series MVP Award with a 2-0 record and 14 strikeouts in 14.1 innings as the Nationals defeated the Astros.
- Additionally, former El Capitan pitcher Kevin Ginkel opened the season on the Diamondbacks roster while ex-Steele Canyon pitcher Alex Vesia was on the Miami Marlins roster.
Ginkel, who hit .583 and notched a 1.07 ERA with 113 strikeouts in 31 varsity games with the Vaqueros from 2011-12, played collegiate baseball at Southwestern College and the University of Arizona. He was drafted by both the Giants (16th round in 2014) and Boston Red Sox (26th round in 2015) but elected not to sign with either team.
He played for six minor league teams before the Diamondbacks picked up his contract last year. He finished the 2019 season with a 3-0 record and 1.48 ERA in 24.2 innings.
Ginkel appeared in 35 games for SWC in 2014-15 while posting a 10-4 record with eight saves and 93 strikeouts.
Vesia, an Alpine native, recorded an 11-2 record in two minor league seasons with 138 strikeouts in 100 innings before joining the Marlins this season.
He logged a 1.79 ERA with eight wins and 67 strikeouts in 56 innings as a senior with the Cougars.
- Sergio Romo (Brawley) is playing in his 13th MLB season with a 40-32 overall pitching record. He has posted a 1.80 ERA with six strikeouts in five innings this season for the Minnesota Twins. He spent his first nine years with the Giants, then one season with the Dodgers, two seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays and is now in his second year with the Rays.
- Alex Dickerson, the San Diego Section Division I Player of the Year as a senior at Poway High School, is in his second year with San Francisco after appearing in three seasons with the Padres (2015-16, 2019).
Dickerson, originally drafted by the Washington Nationals out of high school in 2008 and later by the Pirates in 2011 out of Indiana University, appeared in 11 games with the Pads in 2015 with two hits and logged a career-best 84 games with his hometown team in 2016 with 65 hits, 16 doubles, 10 home runs, 37 RBI, a .265 hitting average and 39 runs scored.
He started the 2019 season with the Friars, appearing in 12 games, before being traded to the Giants, where he appeared in 56 games for the Bay Area team with a .290 hitting average, six home runs and 26 home runs.
Dickerson, the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year in2009 and the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year in 2010, has clubbed two home runs with three RBI in 11 games this summer to complement a .265 hitting average.
- Another former Padre, Ramona’s Nick Vincent is currently playing for the Miami Marlins.
The Valley League Pitcher of the Year in 2004 with the Bulldogs, he was originally selected in the 2008 draft by the Padres out of Long Beach State.
Vincent played the 2012-15 MLB seasons with the Friars. He made his MLB debut with two scoreless innings in a game against Houston and picked up his first win two days later while pitching in relief. He finished the 2012 season with a 2-0 record in 26.1 innings spread over 27 relief appearances with a 1.71 ERA and 21 strikeouts.
He finished the 2013 season with a 6-3 record in 46.1 innings over 45 games with a 2.14 ERA and 49 strikeouts. He began the 2014 season out of the bullpen with a streak of 20 consecutive batters retired.
Following the 2015 season in San Diego, Vincent later spent time with the Seattle Mariners, Giants and Philadelphia Phillies before signing with the Marlins in June 2020.
In statistics compiled through Aug. 5, Vincent had logged a 22-21 career pitching record with a 3.31 ERA and 379 strikeouts.
- Tommy Edman (La Jolla Country Day) has collected five hits and four RBI in five games for the St. Louis Cardinals this season. He hit .304 with 11 home runs and 36 RBI with the Red Birds last year.
- Tony Wolters (Rancho Buena Vista) has appeared in 10 games for the Colorado Rockies this summer with seven hits and three RBI. He hit .262 with 42 RBI in 121 games with the Rockies in 2019.
- Garrett Stubbs (Torrey Pines) is in his second MLB season with Houston after appearing in 19 games last year with seven hits and eight runs scored.
- Thomas Eshelman (Carlsbad) started for the Baltimore Orioles in last Saturday’s 5-3 win (Aug. 8) over the Washington Nationals, allowing five hits, two runs and notching two strikeouts in four innings.
- Alex Jackson (Rancho Bernardo) appeared in four games as a catcher for the Atlanta Braves in 2019. He tied for most home runs in the San Diego Section his senior year with 47 upon which he was bestowed with the Baseball America High School Player of the Year Award.
- Cole Sulser (Ramona) was drafted by the Indians in 2013 but made his MLB debut with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019. He was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles in advance of this season.
- Kyle Zimmer (La Jolla) was the Vikings’ team MVP in 2009 after hitting .410 as a senior with a .701 slugging percentage and 23 RBI. He was tabbed by the Kansas City Royals in the 2012 MLB draft and spent time in the minor leagues before making the Royals’ 2019 Opening Day roster.
- Corey Oswalt (Madison) made his MLB debut with the New York Mets in 2018 and has logged 20 games on the mound over the past three seasons with a 3-4 record.
- James Hoyt (Palomar College) has appeared for three teams — Houston, Cleveland and Miami— in his five-year MLB career.
- Adam Jones (Morse) is playing in the Japanese Baseball League for the Orix Buffaloes.
Batter up
University of San Diego alumnus Kris Bryant is playing in his sixth professional season for the Chicago Cubs. He earned serious hardware as the 2015 National League Rookie of the Year (.275 batting average with 26 home runs and 99 RBI) and 2016 National League MVP (.292 batting average with 39 home runs and 102 RBI).
As a junior in 2013 with the Toreros, the Las Vegas native hit 31 home runs to lead the nation in that department and also won the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy in recognition as the top collegiate player in the nation. He was recognized with the Minor League Player of the Year Award in 2014.
He participated in the 2016 MLB All-Star Game at Petco Park, hitting a home run off Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale in the first inning in an eventual 4-2 win by the American League in front of 42,386 fans.
He batted .308 with three home runs and eight RBI in postseason play as the Cubs ended a 108-year championship drought by winning the 2016 World Series against Cleveland. The Cubs rallied to win the series, 4-3, after overcoming an initial 3-1 deficit.
Extra bases
There have been some schedule modifications for the 2020 MLB season.
The July 3 All-Star Game, originally scheduled for Dodger Stadium, has been cancelled. The Dodgers will now host the 2022 event.
The Toronto Blue Jays are playing their home games at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, the home of their Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons, after the Canadian federal government denied permission for the team to play its home games at Rogers Centre this season on grounds that repeated cross-border trips by both the Blue Jays and their opponents would be a major risk due to the higher spikes in COVID-19 cases in the United States compared to those in Canada.
The Minor League Baseball season was cancelled after MLB clubs informed their affiliated teams they would not be supplying playing talent this season.
“These are unprecedented times for our country and our organization as this is the first time in our history that we’ve had a summer without minor league baseball played,” Minor League Baseball President and CEO Pat O’Conner said. “While this is a sad day for many, this announcement removes the uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season and allows our teams to begin planning for an exciting 2021 season of affordable family entertainment.”
MLB held its annual draft on July 20 in five rounds. The status of players who signed contracts with MLB organizations is unclear with the cancellation of the minor league season.
Eastlake High School grads Casey Schmitt (San Diego State University) and L.J. Jones (Long Beach State) were both tabbed in this year’s draft — Schmitt by San Francisco and Jones by St. Louis.
Other San Diego County draft picks included Rancho Bernardo’s Alika Williams (first round by Tampa Bay), Carlsbad’s Tommy Saggese (fifth round by the Texas Rangers) and Torrey Pines’ Kyle Hurt (fifth round by the Marlins).
