After spending more time in RTTS as a shortstop I decided to start over as a relief pitcher. As enjoyable as the mode can be as a position player it is much more fun as a pitcher. There is less loading to deal with since it isn’t cutting into the game for single defensive plays which are boring anyway, and there is less frustrating time wasted while a teammate hits and you’re stuck on base.

As a relief pitcher I can breeze through each game in probably 3-4 minutes as opposed to 6-7 and it also means that I don’t get into every game. That is a big difference when going through lengthy seasons.

So Padre joined up this time with the Tampa Bay Rays and struggled initially. He began with in AA with the Montgomery Biscuits as the right handed setup man. Early in the season there were some struggles as Padre had an ERA hovering between 6.00 and 9.50 and an unimpressive WHIP. The only stat that he was doing well in was strikeouts averaging over one an inning.

However as the season has progressed he has improved significantly. Over the last 18 innings he has only given up one earned run. Padre is currently 2-2 with 2 saves, 11 holds, a 3.06 ERA, and a 1.08 WHIP. In 47 innings pitched he has 38 strikeouts so that ratio has actually dropped. He also has one blown save from early in the year.

Padre is now the main setup man and after going through the next set of goals may ask for a shot at being the closer or a move up to AAA. However right now the team is in first place at the All-Star break so there is no need to shake things up and risk upsetting the manager.

So after having attention diverted towards playing The Show online and playing the rival baseball title, Padre was able to get back into his Road to the Show.

Going through the rest of Spring Training there was some improvement made at the plate. He finished ST having batted .255 with 9 RBI and 4 steals. Not exactly impressive numbers but at least they had come up from the sub .200 he was sitting at earlier in ST.

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So to kick off the Road to the Show I’ll have a brief recap of the beginnings of Padre’s career. The create-a-player is pretty deep but I didn’t spend too much time with it as I just wanted to get him looking somewhat like myself. Thanks to the poll yesterday Padre’s position will be shortstop with a secondary position of second base.

After flipping through the teams and competition at shortstop Padre decided to join the Washington Nationals organization. Spring Training starts up with him getting an opportunity to play and is slotted hitting eighth. It has been rough going early on as Padre has struggled in all facets of the game. Full concentration is required otherwise events such as getting picked off at first or forgetting to cover second base on steals and for double play attempts occur.

After the first five ST games Padre is batting .190 with 2 RBIs. He took his first opportunity to spend training points but given his struggles he could only work on power and contact slightly but hopefully that’ll help. The next update will probably come tomorrow and cover the rest of Spring Training and the start of the regular season.

Continue on to watch the videos. The first one has just a few highlights but the rest are the full play throughs which last around seven minutes each.

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Padre’s Road to the Show career in MLB 08: The Show will begin soon (hopefully tomorrow) so I wanted to settle on the position to be played. The majority of suggestions that have been made were for an active defensive position such as SS or 2B or as a closer. I should be able to do good recaps and videos for those positions. Vote in the poll below for which you’d like to see Padre play.