Christian Bethancourt made four relief appearances with the Padres in April. Predictably, a catcher learning to pitch at the big-league level struggled on the mound. Bethancourt allowed nine runs on six hits and eight walks before he was removed from San Diego’s 40-man roster.

Bethancourt elected to continue pitching in Triple-A, where the overall statistics have not been much better. The Padres, however, could soon offer the 25-year-old another opportunity.

With rosters set to expand next week, manager Andy Green on Thursday said Bethancourt will receive consideration for a September call-up.

Through 31 appearances for El Paso, Bethancourt had compiled an 8.12 ERA, 28 walks and 20 strikeouts. He had shown some recent progress, posting a 4.50 ERA since the end of June.


“The numbers are improving,” Green said. “I hear there are steps in a positive direction. He’ll be among the names of guys that we talk about with September call-ups. Not saying it’s happening or not, but he’s definitely a guy we’ll talk about. I think it was really rough when he went down initially. It’s been much improved as of late.”

Bethancourt is a career .222 hitter in the majors. He wields one of the game’s strongest arms, but is not a standout defender behind the plate. Late last summer, the Padres proposed an unprecedented utility role — reliever, backup catcher, reserve outfielder — that would give him a chance to stick on their roster.

The pitching portion has proven a formidable challenge, though at this point it appears to be Bethancourt’s most direct path back to San Diego. The Padres may give him another look, if only to decide whether the experiment is worth prolonging.

Green mentioned outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Travis Jankowski and infielder Ryan Schimpf as other candidates for a September promotion. All three have been regulars for the Padres at various points this season. Renfroe was optioned to El Paso last week.


“I think there’s a possibility of guys who haven’t been here before,” Green said. “Then there’s the cast of characters that everybody would expect we’d be talking about. … We’ll talk about those guys and the pitchers who have been down and up throughout the majority of this year. We’ll sit down probably right when we get back home (Sunday night) and run through those conversations one last time and make a final determination.”

Day off

First baseman Wil Myers began Thursday’s game on the bench. He was 0-for-16 with four walks over the last four games, hitting .181 with a .305 on-base percentage since the All-Star break. Yangervis Solarte received the start at first.

Green called it a routine day off for Myers.

“I wouldn’t look at it as anything more,” the manager said, adding that Myers will start Friday’s series opener at Miami.


This is not Myers’ first breather since the break, though. At the end of July, Green gave him consecutive starts off to “reset.”

Notable

Right-hander Jhoulys Chacin, who jammed his throwing hand fouling off a pitch Wednesday, is day-to-day. “I think he’s going to be fine in the long run, but he’s got some swelling in that hand,” Green said.

Padres bench coach Mark McGwire will stay behind in St. Louis, as he’ll be inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame on Saturday. McGwire will rejoin the Padres in Miami on Sunday.

Advertisement