El Paso Chihuahuas Continue to Bark With Loaded Lineup

The El Paso Chihuahuas enter the weekend with 19 wins and they are just one game back of first place in the Pacific Coast League's East Division. A big reason why the team has played so well through the first five weeks of the 2022 season has been the quality of their lineup.

The Dogs have the perfect mix of young talent and veterans with big league experience. Earlier this week, C.J. Abrams was sent down to El Paso from San Diego. The Padres top overall prospect made the big league roster out of Spring Training, but he was hitting just .192 through 20 games. All he has done since arriving in El Paso is hit three home runs in his first two games with the club.

The team has also benefitted from Major League rehab stints by Luke Voit, Mike Clevinger, and Blake Snell. Although Voit failed to hit in his five games with the Chihuahuas, Clevinger and Snell pitched excellent in their rehab starts. MacKenzie Gore also had a terrific outing with El Paso before he was called up to the Padres and he has pitched just as good with the big club. San Diego does have a dilemma with potentially seven starting pitchers (Clevinger, Snell, Gore, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Sean Manaea, and Nick Martinez). Martinez will probably be the odd man out and go to the bullpen but if manager Bob Melvin wants to stay with a five man rotation, Gore could end up back in El Paso.

That would not be a bad thing, considering the Chihuahuas pitching has been solid for most of the season. Jesse Scholtens has been nothing short of spectacular, while Ryan Weathers, Reiss Knehr, and Aaron Leasher have struggled at times. Gore's return could help stabilize the rotation, although the talented southpaw would less than thrilled to return to Triple-A after pitching so well with the Padres. What is also interesting is the news today that Dinelson Lamet will be returning to El Paso after the Padres signed Robinson Cano. Lamet, who a few years ago was one of the hottest rising starting pitchers in MLB has been dealing with a variety of injuries. Now he will try and recapture his form in the Chihuahuas bullpen.

Offensively, the Chihuahuas have been mashing. MLB Vets like Nomar Mazara, Trayce Thompson, and Aderlin Rodriguez have paced the club. Meanwhile players like Matthew Batten, Taylor Kohlwey, and Brett Sullivan are all knocking on the door for their first call-up to the bigs. Luis Campusano has been solid all season and he should be in San Diego if it wasn't for the catching depth that the Padres currently have.

The Chihuahuas are hosting Sacramento through Sunday before they go back on the road to visit Oklahoma City. Tim Hagerty has all the action on the radio home of the Chihuahuas, 600 ESPN El Paso.