Josh Barfield...Who's your Padre?

[Sunstroke]

San Diego may have lost a solid player when they let Mark Loretta go to Boston, but I think the reasoning behind that decision is becoming more clear.

The future of San Diego's second base position, Josh Barfield, is ready for the majors.

Maine and I have talked a few times about Josh...he knows how I feel about the kid. I loved his "other" Padre, former Blue Jays all star, Jesse Barfield despite his not being a Padre (did anyone ever have a stronger cannon from right field?), and his son is looking like he has his dad's offensive tools. He tore up the minors last year, and through 4 games with the parent club in spring training, Josh is hitting...everything...hard.

Josh is batting .571 (8 for 14) with 4 doubles, a triple and a HR. He has 11 RBI's already, which is second among all spring training numbers and 8 runs scored, also second on the list, despite his only having played in half the games as most other players. He's hitting line shots almost every time he swings the bat and hasn't made any errors in the field yet (though he has looked a little shaky on a couple of DP turns).

I think Barfield is ready now, and I think he can contribute more to San Diego's offense than Mark Bellhorn. I also think Bruce Bochy sees this as well and will (hopefully) put the kid in there and let him roll...