One of the bright young prospects in baseball has been called up from Triple-A by the San Diego Padres and will make his big-league debut in, of all places, Yankee Stadium.
On Sunday, San Diego summoned Chase Headley from Portland; he will play in Monday's Hall of Fame exhibition against the Cubs then should be in the lineup Tuesday night against the Yankees.
The former Tennessee All-American, who was converted to an outfielder from third base this spring, was hitting .305 with 13 home runs and 40 RBI through 65 games in Triple-A. This will actually be Headley's third time up in the majors, although look for this one to be permanent barring big-time struggles. He appeared in eight games with the Padres, with four hits, including one double, in 18 at-bats last season.
"Obviously last year, getting that (debut) of the way and the initial jitters out of the way was big," Headley said. "This time, I had camp [spring training] with all the guys. I think I'm a lot more comfortable now than I was last year. Hopefully, I'll use that experience from last year and this spring to move forward the best I can."What better place to start? I started last year in Wrigley. Might as well make it 2-for-2."
Headley, the team's top prospect arguably in years, will play mostly left field and give Kevin Kouzmanoff occasional breathers at third base.
General Manager Kevin Towers said the rookie may take a while to adjust to major league pitching. He cited that Headley historically gets off to slow starts as he moves up to higher levels but always winds up hitting well.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there's a learning curve here," Towers said. "He needs to get familiar with new pitching staffs and ballparks. It'd be nice to have him get off to a good start, but if you look at him historically, he started slow and got better and better.
"He's been consistent. He's never had a down year. How that translates up here, we'll find out."
This season, Headley, a switch-hitter, bounced back after a slow start to the season (.242 batting average in April) by hitting .357 in May.
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