Leodalis De Vries: Padres 2024 Minor League Player Of The Year
A right shoulder strain ended Leodalis De Vries’ first professional season in mid August. A left shoulder injury slowed his onboarding at Low-A Lake Elsinore in May.
What occurred in between might have been the key to unlocking everything the 17-year-old shortstop accomplished.
“I think it was eye-opening for him to buckle down on activation, recovery and the small things,” Padres farm director Ryley Westman said. “Rather than just going out and playing a game that night, he was now faced with new responsibilities . . .
“He could lock in on his throwing program. He could do one-handed swings and stuff like that. A lot of it was pitch recognition.
“It was almost a blessing in disguise.”
The between-the-ears work, of course, was coupled with tangible gains.
De Vries added four pounds of lean muscle mass during his introduction to pro ball. His dead lift improved by 50 pounds. Most importantly, De Vries’ 10-yard and 30-yard sprint times held steady at, respectively, 1.7 and 3.75 seconds.
The baseball-world application of all that helped the switch-hitting shortstop to go 13-for-15 in stolen base attempts and pair 11 homers with a .238/.361/.442 batting line as the youngest player in the California League.
Signed for $4.2 million in January, De Vries debuted on April 23 with the Storm and was in an 0-for-14 slide when the first shoulder injury sidelined him. He returned to the lineup on May 14 but didn’t hit his first home run until June 25.
That was the start of a 40-game run that saw De Vries put up a .963 OPS until exiting a game on Aug. 17 with discomfort in his right shoulder after a diving play in the field.
“This kid is capable of a lot,” Westman said. “It’s an arm that’s got carry across the diamond. There’s very good bat-to-ball, but he’ll show some power . . .
“You get him on the bases and he’ll disturb the game, and from a defensive standpoint he’s shrinking the field. When you listen to our scouting group break this guy down, it’s a lot of voices with a lot of positive things to say.”
FATHER FIGURES
— Outfielder Brandon Lockridge was called up for his MLB debut on Sept. 11. The Padres acquired Lockridge from the Yankees at the trade deadline for righthander Enyel De Los Santos. The 24-year-old was 46-for-52 on the bases across two Triple-A stops and was hitting .325/.420/.423 over 32 games with El Paso. The speedy Lockridge was auditioning for a spot on a potential postseason roster.
— Outfielder Tirso Ornelas has begun playing first base at Triple-A El Paso in an effort to increase his versatility. Ornelas has hit a career-high 20 home runs and was added to the 40-man roster earlier this summer.
