PRD interviews John Sickels

John indicated that he's burnt out - so if you need a John-baseball fix - I'm your pusher!

PadresRunDown: The Padres have a reputation for being college-focused in their draft choices (if you ask me, it’s an over-stated reputation – they drafted Kyler Burke, Drew Cumberland, and Jaff Decker in the supplemental round of each of the last three drafts). What did you think when the Padres took three toolsy high schoolers in the first four rounds?

John Sickels: Well, you’re right, they’ve done this before, though Decker in particular was extremely polished for a high school hitter. My initial thought was that they were adopting a somewhat different approach this year, relying less on college guys with good numbers, though they picked some of those in later rounds. In general I think a “mixed” approach is best, so I think this will pay dividends for them in the long run.

PRD: Donovan Tate has remarkable athleticism – no one refutes that – but some people question his hitting ability. What’s your take on his hitting tools/skills?

JS: Well, hitting mechanics are something that I have never had a very good feel for. I do better with pitching, lol. Tate’s athleticism is outstanding and obvious, but some people who know a lot more about hitting than I do say he has issues with his swing being too pull-oriented, and he perhaps has problems with his strike zone judgment too, though his tools are so good that he could/should be able to overcome this. I doubt the Padres would have drafted him if they felt his hitting flaws were unfixable.

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