Excitable Padres pitcher Chris Paddack injures self during beef with rival rookie

Hijinks Hijack Paddack Attack

Author

By Walter Mencken

Publish Date

May 17, 2019

Padres pitching phenom Chris Paddack grimaces in pain following his celebration of striking out NL Rookie of the Month Pete Alonso of the Mets for the second time on May 6. “Paddack’s pitching mechanics are pretty much perfect,” commented Padres Trainer Raul Goodform. “So I wasn’t on the lookout for red flags warning he might be headed for Injured Reserve. Unfortunately, his amped-up arm pump tends to move across his body in awkward fashion, and it puts a strain on his rotator cuff. And when you have an April like he’s had — 1.91 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 33 innings — you tend to do a lot of pumping. Now he’s going to have to rest it a while. How long is hard to say: to be honest, I don’t have much experience with enthusiasm-based repetitive stress injuries.”

Some baseball experts are calling Padres rookie Chris Paddack the best pitcher in the Major Leagues right now. But “best pitcher” doesn’t necessarily mean “best teammate,” at least according to several anonymous San Diego players who spoke to SD on the QT. “Chris is a great kid, but he’s awfully young,” said one longtime Padre. “You’ve heard of ‘rookie mistakes,’ right? Well, one of them is forgetting where you are. The kind of intensity he’s displaying may work in New York or Boston or even Chicago, but this is San Diego. We’re not looking to make the post-season; we’re looking to make early-October reservations in Hawaii. When you’ve got 40% attendance; you give 40%; it just makes sense. He’s out there giving 110%. It makes the rest of us look bad, sure, and that’s a problem. But really, I’m just embarrassed for him, jumping around out there like this isn’t a day job. We’ve tried talking to him, but he won’t listen. Now the poor kid’s hurt and inactive — and he probably doesn’t even have the good sense to enjoy it. At this point, it’s probably best if he gets traded by the All-Star break. I bet we can snag some slugger on the tail end who wouldn’t mind easing his way into retirement, San-Diego style.”