Hunter Renfroe began this season hoping to contend for the National League Rookie of the Year award. With six weeks left, he received the first demotion of his young career.

The Padres on Saturday optioned the right fielder to Triple-A El Paso and recalled Jabari Blash from the same affiliate. Renfroe, 25, was batting .230 with a .285 on-base percentage. He has 20 home runs, but he collected just two extra-base hits in August while going 11-for-50 (.220) with four walks and 19 strikeouts.

“Nothing’s changed in our long-term belief in who Hunter can be on a major league baseball field and what our expectation and hope is of him,” said Padres manager Andy Green, who delivered the news to Renfroe after Friday night’s loss to Washington. “We still think he’s got every opportunity to lock down the right-field job for the future. We also think there’s things to work on, and we want to see the needle move. If we’re being honest with the way this last month and a half or two months have gone, we haven’t seen the needle move in the areas we’ve asked for it to move.

“If you’re going to have a winning culture here, you have to be willing at times to make tough decisions and send guys down that you like as human beings, that you value as teammates, that you think have a good future with your organization but at present aren’t quite getting the job done.”


Green said the Padres had asked Renfroe to get on base more consistently. In that department, the rookie managed a meager .231 clip during the month of April. May brought improvement, with Renfroe walking 15 times and raising his season on-base percentage close to .300.

Since then, he has drawn a total of nine walks.

“If you want to be an impact player at the major league level,” Green said, “you have to do, in my mind, at least two of the following three things: You have to get on base, you have to drive the ball out of the ballpark and you have to defend the field. … We want the needle to move in all three of those categories for Hunter, but (specifically), getting on base on a consistent basis. That’s proved a challenge. Plate discipline has proved a challenge. And hopefully, expectantly, we’re looking for that to change.”

Both Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com rate Renfroe as a replacement-level player this season. While he wields one of the game’s strongest outfield arms, subpar defense has compounded his offensive struggles.


“There’s work to be done on that side of the ball and stuff that’s been identified, rightly so, to work on,” Green said. “If he makes those strides, he can be, he possesses all the athleticism necessary to be an impact defender.”

Blash was in Saturday’s lineup, batting seventh and playing right field. In his first 30 big-league games this season, he hit .224 with a .355 on-base percentage. The 28-year-old’s previous call-up was his most promising; before being optioned to El Paso at the end of July, he went 14-for-47 (.298) with two home runs and six walks.

During the same month, Renfroe missed seven games because of a neck strain. He also hit .246 with a .269 on-base percentage.

“Honestly, at the end of July, when (Blash) went back down, it was a decision right then — if we were going to send Hunter down or send Jabari down,” Green said. “Something Jabari has done throughout his career that’s been hard for Hunter to do is he’s walked, he’s taken free passes when it’s been given to him, and he’s also driven the ball out of the ballpark.


“For now, he’s going to get a look and get an opportunity, and if he takes advantage of it, he’ll continue to get more.”

Green said Renfroe’s work with El Paso will determine when he returns to San Diego. The manager noted that Cory Spangenberg, Carlos Asuaje and Jose Pirela all spent time in Triple-A earlier this season before becoming productive regulars for the Padres.

“Sometimes it’s the absolute best thing you can do for a guy,” Green said. “...Opportunity is there in front of (Renfroe) to take advantage of to get back and to re-establish himself in the starting lineup, but it’s all predicated on what happens in the next couple of weeks.”

If Renfroe is not recalled before mid-September, the Padres will gain an extra year of club control over the former first-round draft pick. Team officials, however, say service time was a negligible factor in the demotion. Barring a drastic downturn in performance, two other promising youngsters, center fielder Manuel Margot and right-hander Luis Perdomo, will soon complete a full season with San Diego.


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