No Hope with Hawpe

Brad Hawpe has only had 37 at bats as a Padre and he is already in all the fans’ doghouse. He has had tough shoes to fill, playing first base after home town hero Adrian Gonzalez was shipped out of town, but his terrible start has not made it any easier for himself.

He currently holds a pitiful batting average of .119, has just one extra base hit and leads the team with 18 strikeouts. Since Ryan Ludwick looks like he is starting to break out of his slump, everyone’s eyes are focused on Hawpe.

Hawpe seems to be stepping to the plate during any/every critical situation. He comes up to the plate in a tie ballgame, 2 outs and runners in scoring position. And every time, he seems to fail us in his appearance at the plate with a strikeout or a double play. Yesterday, the Padres had the bases loaded and one out with Hawpe stepping to the plate and he dribbled into a double play to shut down the Padres opportunity to score.

The Padres have Jorge Cantu on the bench waiting to steal plate appearances and then there are bats that are making a lot of noise down on the farm.

Anthony Rizzo is down at Triple-A Tucson and has been tearing the cover off of the ball. He has hit 3 bombs in the early season and currently has a .412 batting average with 18 RBI. Rizz is being groomed to take over the position and may be getting called up sooner than later.

Jesus Guzman is another player down at Tucson that is doing what he can to get noticed and is a possibility to bring up. He is currently batting .367 with a homer run and 9 RBI.

Lastly, down in Double-A San Antonio, Kyle Blanks is seeing playing time at first base and is looking to fight his way back to the big league roster. He has only played in 6 games, but is batting .368 and has one RBI.

Patience is running thin with Hawpe and the guys down on the farm are trying to break through to the major league roster. Hawpe better start making more contact with the ball and drive some runs in very soon, or he will be hitting the unemployment line.