Padres' Morejon promoted to Fort Wayne

One of the game's most intriguing left-handed pitching prospects is headed to a new challenge.
The Padres have promoted Adrian Morejon, their No. 6 prospect, to Class A Fort Wayne, the Midwest League club announced Wednesday. Morejon will make his TinCaps debut Saturday at home against Dayton.

The 18-year-old owned a 3.57 ERA with 35 strikeouts and only three walks in 35 1/3 innings at Class A Short Season Tri-City this season. He struck out a career-high eight while scattering four hits over six scoreless innings in his final outing with the Dust Devils on Sunday.
Morejon is the midst of his first Minor League season after signing with the Padres for $11 million last July out of Cuba. MLB.com ranked him as the No. 3 prospect in the 2016-17 international class, behind only Luis Robert and Kevin Maitan, and the No. 81 overall prospect in its recent midseason update. It didn't take Morejon long to excite the San Diego front office, showing two plus pitches in his fastball and curve and an above-average changeup.
"He's been very impressive for a multitude of reasons," Padres director of player development Sam Geaney told MiLB.com earlier this month. "This being his first year in the U.S., there is a lot of new stuff to him, but he's handling it well. ... I was able to see one of his handful of starts, and he was featuring quality stuff across the board, all over the plate. He's mostly throwing in the low 90s, but he'll pop 96 or 97 in there. The curve and the change have their times when they look above-average. Really across the board, we're very pleased."

Especially notable for Morejon at his age is his control. He walked only 2.1 percent of the batters he faced with Tri-City, the lowest rate among the Northwest League's 23 qualified pitchers. That could change as he faces more patient and selective hitters at Class A, but the Padres are pleased with what they've seen so far.
"He has a really good delivery that helps with that control," said Geaney. "He's big. He's strong. It's a cliche, but he's a good athlete for a pitcher. Fields his position well. All that translates to command and control. But I just don't think he likes to walk guys. Like I said before, he's just such a competitor that I think he can dig deep and throw strikes when he needs to. The command will continue to refine as he goes up the chain, but this has been impressive to see."