Mike DeMark Needs To Be In Triple-A

It might be a bit early to proclaim Triple-A closer Ernesto Frieri a guy who needs to be moved to the majors, but one relief pitcher in the Padres system who absolutely needs to be moved now is Double-A setup man Mike DeMark.

First of all, DeMark turns 27 on Thursday, so at his age, he needs to be in Triple-A, if not the majors.

I mentioned with Frieri that one reason not to promote someone is if they have something major to work on (in Frieri’s case, walks). DeMark doesn’t. He has a 0.73 ERA this year, with an 11/3 K/BB ratio in 12 1/3 innings.

Is there room in Triple-A? Yeah. I’d rather see DeMark there than former Giants sinkerballer Scott Munter, who has to be like 20th on the team’s relief depth chart.

DeMark doesn’t have great upside or anything–he throws a low-90’s sinker and low-80’s slider from a deceptive crossfire delievery, so he’s got “future big league sixth-inning guy” written all over him. But still, that’s not a bad guy to have, and he should take priority over a retread like Munter.