Padres call up reliever Kevin Quackenbush

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

San Diego, CA- The San Diego Padres have called up relief pitching prospect Kevin Quackenbush.

With the Padres having to use their bullpen so much this early into the season, especially the past week with the bullpen pitching 14.2 innings the addition of Kevin Quackenbush gives Buddy Black a fresh arm to use in the bullpen.

Quackenbush has been absolutely electric in the minors as the Padres best relief pitcher prospect. Most people around the Padres expect him to possibly be the teams future closer, as Quackenbush has 66 saves and only eight blown saves in his minor league career.

Overall in his minor league career, Quackenbush is 15-5 with 233 strikeouts in 174.2 innings pitched and a career era of just 1.19.

This season in Triple-A El Paso Quackenbush is 4-for-4 on the year in save opportunities in 1o innings pitched.

The Padres drafted Quackenbush  in the eighth round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of University of South Florida, where he as named a second team All-American as a closer in 2011. 

Quackenbush throws a low to mid 90’s fastball that can 96mph at his best. For Quackenbush to make it in the Majors he will need to improve his slider and changeup to really be an effective reliever or closer. In the minors he’s been able to get away with his solid fastball, decent changeup and slider, but as it was proven this spring in his brief stint with the Padres that for him to consistently get outs against big league hitters those two pitches need to improve.