The Padres plan to see what a number of young starting pitchers can do over the season’s final couple months.

Brett Kennedy almost certainly will be called up from Triple-A. Maybe Logan Allen will make the jump from Double-A. There are possibly others who will show what they might be able to offer the Padres in the future.

Along with one right-hander who has already received an extended look but from whom the team wants to make sure it has seen everything it can.

Bryan Mitchell is scheduled to throw one more simulated game, then begin a rehab assignment.


When he returns to the Padres, the expectation is he will be given another shot in the starting rotation.

“We’ll see if once he’s healthy he can find the rhythm he’s had in the past,” manager Andy Green said Sunday.

Mitchell, acquired from the Yankees in December along with since-released third baseman Chase Headley, made seven starts at the beginning of the season. He posted a 6.47 ERA and 2.00 WHIP over 32 innings.

He was demoted to the bullpen in early May and over the next month made four mop-up appearances. In 16 1/3 innings, he allowed 15 earned runs, 25 hits and nine walks before being placed on the disabled list on June 20 with an elbow impingement that had bothered him off and on for a few weeks.


He could hardly be worse, and Mitchell thinks the time off will help him be better.

“As soon as I accepted that I’m going to have to sit out for a while, that’s how I approached it — we’re going to do a few things (mechanically) and come back strong,” he said. “My arm feels great. It’s the best it’s felt all year.”

Margot better, not back

After hitting in the cage Sunday morning, Manuel Margot told Green he was good to go – but not convincingly enough that the manager wanted to push his center fielder back into action.

“He could have gone tonight,” Green said after the Padres split their doubleheader with the Phillies. “He was cleared medically. Just give him that extra day see if he comes back tomorrow and feels better.”


Margot sprained his left (glove) wrist diving for a ball Friday night.

Bombs away

Wil Myers finally homered again.

It had been six whole games – and 30 whole at-bats – since the last of the six homers he hit during a four-game streak earlier this month.

While all this home run did was provide the final margin in the 10-2 victory in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader against the Phillies, it was also Myers’ biggest blast yet.


His 450-foot shot to center field was the longest this season at Citizens Bank Park and the longest of Myers’ nine homers this season.

“I hit that one pretty well, caught it on the barrel,” he said of the 92 mph fastball square in the middle of the strike zone. “Those are the balls you want to hit, down through it, stay through the middle. That’s as good as you can hit a ball.”

Short, selective

The Padres need Franmil Reyes to get back to launching home runs like he did for a stretch in his first major league stint.

But they like something else they see from the big right fielder.


After walking just four times in his first 96 major league plate appearances during his monthlong stay with the Padres from mid-May to mid-June, Reyes’ walk while pinch-hitting in Sunday’s first game was his third in 11 plate appearances since being recalled July 10.

Among the instructions Reyes received when he was sent back to Triple-A on June 21 was to tighten up what he does at the plate.

“To his credit,” Green said, “he took that to heart and started making those adjustments.”

Reyes shortened his step, which he said allows him to see the ball better, and also began moving his hands slightly pre-swing, which he said slows him down.


“I just try to do less than I was trying to do when I was up here,” Reyes said. “I make myself chill a little more. Because my mind is clear, I get myself chill and I see the pitches better without trying too much.”

Reyes started in right field in the second game and went 0-for-3 in the Padres’ 5-0 loss. He did not strike out. In his first stint, he struck out at least once in 21 of 24 starts and had 39 strikeouts in all. He has struck out twice in his 14 times up since returning.

Reyes is batting .223/.273/.427 on the season and has gone 44 at-bats since hitting his sixth home run in his 59th career at-bat.

Extra bases

Carlos Asuaje doubled in his first two at-bats and finished 2-for-4 in the opener. Asuaje is 15-for-43 with 10 walks since being recalled from Triple-A on July 1. He was hitting .193/.256/.284 when he was optioned to El Paso in mid-May. After popping out as a pinch-hitter in the second game, his season line is .235/.318/.340.

Freddy Galvis entered the series against his former team batting .287 on balls he put in play, seven points off his average over his previous three full major league seasons. He put the ball in play on five of his first seven at-bats against the Phillies, and all five were hits. He finished the series against his former team 6-for-12 (10 balls in play).

Cory Spangenberg, who was recalled Sunday after a 10-day stay in Triple-A, entered Sunday’s first game at third base as part of a double switch in the eighth inning, singled and scored. He started at third base in the second game and went 0-for-4. He also made two nice catches in foul territory, reaching into the Padres dugout for one and chasing down another to make a sliding backhand grab near the side wall.

kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com