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Scuffling Gyorko heads to Triple-A aiming to regain swing, confidence

Padres second baseman Jedd Gyorko was demoted to Triple-A El Paso, where the former WVU star hopes to regain the power stroke that garnered a $35 million contract last year.

 

Former West Virginia star Jedd Gyorko has gone from can’t-miss prospect to can’t-hit mystery, and now he’s on minor-league assignment trying to straighten himself out.

Last April, the San Diego Padres clearly cherished Gyorko, signing him to a five-year, $35 million extension, including a year-six club option worth another $13 million. That was richest deal in club history for a player with only 137 big-league games on his resume.

On Wednesday, with the 26-year-old second baseman hitting .210 and struggling to make any headway in a platoon situation, he was demoted to Triple-A El Paso.

During an interview with 1090 AM, Padres manager Bud Black said “the performance level from Jedd is not what we need from him.

“When you’re producing, you play and you play a lot. With Jedd, we feel this guy can be an offensive second baseman. And if he does that, he’ll play a lot.”

After compiling 24 home runs and 63 RBIs and hitting .249 as a rookie in 2013 despite missing a month with a groin injury, Gyorko tailed off to 10 homers, 51 RBIs and a .210 average last season (sitting out nearly eight weeks with plantar fasciitis).

After getting only six at-bats in seven June games while platooning with rookie Corey Spangenberg and Yangervis Solarte, Black and Padres management decided Gyorko would be better served refining his swing in El Paso.

The Padres selected Spangenberg in the first round of the 2011 draft at No. 10 overall, a year after they spent a second-round pick on Gyorko.

Spangenberg isn’t tearing it up at the plate—hitting .257 with two homers and 10 RBIs—but his .312 on-base percentage and 1.0 wins-above-replacement are a tad more palatable than Gyorko’s (.282 and minus-0.2).

Black told the San Diego sportstalk station that Gyorko continues to put in the extra work throughout the platoon period and will head to El Paso aiming to tackle whatever mechanical and confidence problems have knocked him off course.

“Is he going to pout? No. He’s a grown man,” Black said. “He knows what this is about and he knows what he needs to do.”

In an interview with Padres beat writers, the manager described Gyorko as “a guy that we feel is a big part of our club not only now but in the future.”

With $35 million guaranteed, the Padres certainly hope he regains his power stroke—if not to return as starter then at least enough to make him a tradable commodity. At 31-31 and sporting a roster speckled with high-dollar free-agent signings, San Diego is five games out of first place in the NL West and conceivably gearing up for wild-card contention.

Perhaps Gyorko is feeling pressure to live up to his contract. In his first 137 games, he hit .241 with 24 homers and 70 RBIs. In 145 games since signing the extension, he’s batting. 228 with 11 homers and 65 RBIs.

“The league made an adjustment to him and Jedd didn’t adjust back fast enough,” Black said.

Padres hitting coach Mark Kotsay told the San Diego Union-Tribune: “I think he was grinding. That’s what the game does.”