University of Tennessee Athletics
Top prospect 'ready to go' to big leagues
June 11, 2008 | Baseball
By TODD DEWEY, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Patience has served Chase Headley well at the plate, where he has an excellent sense of the strike zone and rarely swings at a bad pitch.
Impatience also has served the San Diego Padres' top prospect well in his pursuit of the big leagues, which he reached last year in his third professional season.
After hitting .330 with 20 home runs, 78 RBIs and a .437 on-base percentage for Double-A San Antonio last year en route to Texas League Player of the Year honors, Headley was promoted to the Padres without ever setting foot in Triple A.
The 6-foot-2-inch, 195-pound switch-hitter has spent this season with Triple-A Portland, which lost to Las Vegas 14-8 on Tuesday night at Cashman Field.
Headley went 1-for-3 with two walks and a two-run double that gave the Beavers an 8-0 lead in the sixth inning. But the 51s rallied for a franchise-record 13 runs in the bottom of the sixth on their way to their fourth straight win.
Headley, 24, who hit .222 (4-for-18) in eight games for San Diego last year, didn't expect to be in Triple A this season. He was upset he didn't make the Padres out of spring training after batting .349 with a team-high four homers and 14 RBIs.
"It was definitely disappointing. My goal, going into spring training, was to be there," Headley said. "I played well. Now it's just a matter of time until, hopefully, I get another chance."
It shouldn't be long before Headley gets that chance, Beavers manager Randy Ready said.
"He's ready to go today," said Ready, a former player for the Las Vegas Stars. "In a perfect world, (the Padres would) like to have both (third baseman Kevin) Kouzmanoff and Headley's bat in the lineup on a regular basis."
One of the reasons Headley was sent to Triple A was to make the transition from third base to left field in order to get his bat in San Diego's lineup.
"It was an opportunity for him to play left field day in and day out and to get comfortable out there. He's played a nice left field to date," Ready said. "He's a pretty complete player. He's got some nice ingredients that will probably get him to the major leagues and keep him there for a while.
"He can be an impact player. He's got those kinds of abilities."
Headley got off to a slow start with the Beavers but batted .357 in May and is hitting .301 with 10 homers and 35 RBIs overall.
"He made some quick adjustments," Ready said. "He gives you quality at-bats each and every time he's up there. He's got a great knowledge of the strike zone, and he's a pretty polished hitter for only playing three years."
