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Adding a change-up, transforming a linebacker build to more of a pitcher’s build was a focus after the Padres drafted Robby Snelling 39th overall in 2022

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At 6-foot-3 and up to 235 pounds in high school, there was purpose to Robby Snelling’s physique at Reno’s McQueen High School. He’s a bit leaner now that he’s eating and training like a full-time pitcher, but there’s still a little bit of linebacker to his game.

“Pitching with a chip on your shoulder, I want to have that mentality that I own the box,” Snelling said. “ … I definitely do bring a little bit of that football mentality to it.”

It served him well in last week’s professional debut. The 19-year-old left-hander struck out three over three shutout innings at low Single-A Lake Elsinore, scattering one hit and one walk in an unveiling that was several months in the making.

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The Padres drafted Snelling 39^th overall last summer, signed him for $3 million and stashed him away in extended spring training to begin working on his foundation.

For starters, nutritional and training changes helped shave some 10 pounds off a physical frame that had been built to withstand impact as a blue-chip football recruit.

“When you’re playing football, the lifts are completely different,” Snelling said. “You’re padding your body for contact and hitting people. When it comes to baseball, you’ve got to loosen up so you’re more whippy. So the two positions I played were kind of butting heads.”

Snelling’s work at the Padres’ spring training complex also placed an emphasis on adding a change-up to complement a 94-96 mph fastball and a curveball that was regarded as among the best in last year’s high school draft class.

The curve was so elite that Snelling never needed more than two pitches, not even while setting a Nevada state record with 20 punchouts in a seven-inning game last April. Given Snelling’s makeup as a coach’s son and his aptitude with the curve, the rate at which the new secondary is developing is not a surprise.

“Extreme professionalism,” Storm manager Pete Zamora said. “Goes about his day like a guy that’s been around for a while, for as young as he is. Obviously what the perception is, is how big and strong he is, and mentally he’s just as good as far as I’ve seen.

“Great kid. Busts his butt and his stuff plays.”

And “kid” is right on the money.

Only 10 players are younger than Snelling as he begins his stay in the California League after a couple long months in extended spring training, the fall instructional league, a winter back home in Reno and finally minor league spring training.

“I love it (in Peoria),” Snelling said last month, “but I can’t wait … to start my career, see what my progression is and what type of player I can become.”

Youth movements

Snelling is not the only Padre beginning the 2023 minor league season among the youngest at their level, as two Storm teammates — infielder Rosman Verdugo and outfielder Samuel Zavala, both 18 — are the second- and third-youngest players in the league, according to Baseball America’s assessment of rosters across the game.

At 19, right-hander Victor Lizarraga is the youngest player in the high Single-A Midwest League, while shortstop Jackson Merrill, who turns 20 on April 19, is the ninth-youngest.

Wednesday’s scoreboard

TRIPLE-A EL PASO (4-7)

DOUBLE-A SAN ANTONIO (2-3)

HIGH SINGLE-A FORT WAYNE (0-5)

LOW SINGLE-A LAKE ELSINORE (5-0)

The Southern California Air Show is the de facto replacement of the March ARB Air Fest, which was nixed in both 2020 and 2022.

City News Service,

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Fighter jets, air transports and aerobatics teams will be returning to March Air Reserve Base following a five-year hiatus for the "Southern California Air Show," it was announced Thursday.

The two-day event is scheduled for the weekend of April 22-23 on the airfield, located just east of Interstate 215, at Ellsworth Street and Cactus Avenue.

The Southern California Air Show is the de facto replacement of the March ARB Air Fest, which was nixed in both 2020 and 2022. The first cancellation stemmed directly from the base's coronavirus public health lockdown, and the 2022 show was dropped after base administrators expressed concerns about potential ongoing exposure risks among large crowds.

The last public airborne event at the base was the 2018 March ARB Air Fest in April of that year.

The marquee event of the Southern California Air Show will be the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, performing a variety of coordinated maneuvers in their F-16 Fighting Falcons.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Patriots Jet Team, flying L-39 single-seat trainers, will also perform both days, along with the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 Super Hornet West Coast Demo Team.

The Air Force's C-17 Globemaster West Coast Demo Team will also go aloft that weekend, taking the mammoth transports through paces over Moreno Valley and Riverside. C-17s are part of March's staple air contingent, regularly seen in the skies within the base's defined airspace.

"Additional performances will be provided by the Canadian SkyHawks Parachute Team and the A-10 Thunderbolt Demo Team, among others," according to a base statement. "A free concert is planned after the show ends near show center, from the back of a C-17."

Numerous aircraft static displays will be part of the program, featuring an F-35 Lightning, an F-22 Raptor, a supersonic B-1B Lancer bomber, a C-5 Galaxy, a C-130 Hercules, as well as a host of others, both military and civilian.

More information is available at https://socalairshow.com/.

The biennial air fests of the previous decade generally drew more than 150,000 visitors over two days.

Lake Elsinore —

Austin Hedges will catch a big leaguer – Joey Lucchesi – on Thursday at high Single-A Lake Elsinore. The Padres catcher is pretty sure he might have caught one in the making when he re-started his rehab assignment Tuesday with the Storm, when 22-year-old right-hander Chris Paddack struck out nine in five innings to run his strikeout-to-walk ratio to 70-to-3 through 42 1/3 innings.

Union-Tribune: Wil Myers was here in April and got In-N-Out and Chipotle for the guys. Can you do better?

Hedges: Oh, I don’t know. I got them some Baskin Robbins ice cream for the guys after yesterday’s game. I got some Chick-Fil-A for pre-game today. I’m making Joey (Lucchesi) buy the spread tomorrow because he’s pitching.

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U-T: Still getting the rookie treatment down here, huh?

Hedges: Yeah, but he’s a big leaguer so he’s got to take care of the boys.

U-T: What did you know about Chris Paddack before Tuesday’s start?

Hedges: I knew about him. I didn’t know him personally. That was pretty fun catching him.

U-T: Give us a scouting report.

Hedges: Fiery on the mound. A competitor. Which I really liked. He rose to the occasion. He got pumped up when the situation got a little bit more intense. He rose to the occasion, which I really like to see. Stuff-wise, it’s a fastball that will get on you. It’s 93-95 mph and that might even play up harder than that. And it’s a split-type change that he can throw at any time that gets a lot of swings and misses. He’s around the zone and he strikes guys out, which is tough to do. The strikeout-to-walk ratio is incredible.

U-T: Andy Green was telling reporters in St. Louis that you said some of it could play right now.

Hedges: Yeah, it plays right now. I think once his arm builds up and he gets another year under his belt after (Tommy John surgery), once he spins the ball a little bit more, too, we’ve got a star in the making.

U-T: The Padres are working right now to sign high school draftees away from their college commitments. You were committed to UCLA when you were drafted in the second round in 2011. What was that process like for you?

Hedges: It was a long wait. When I got drafted, there was a longer signing period. The signing date was in mid-August. I spent the whole summer doing nothing because you couldn’t risk getting hurt. It was having a lot of family discussions to figure out what I wanted to do. Do I want to go to college? Do I want to sign? What’s best for myself and my family? Ultimately the Padres offered an opportunity that was something I couldn’t pass up.

U-T: Where did you stand before you were draft?

Hedges: Wait-and-see. Honestly, I just didn’t know. I was going to use that summer to decide. It took that time. It took getting drafted, the team that drafted me was huge, and there was a lot that went into it.

U-T: The signing date now is July 6. Do you think you benefited from the extra time?

Hedges: I think I benefitted from the time. I probably needed that extra month or so just to be confident in the decision. I think I still would have signed, but I was definitely more confident with my decision. You’re still an 18-year-old kid going into a man’s sport with adults. It’s definitely quite a bigger step forward than even college.

U-T: You were here in Lake Elsinore two years later. What advice would you give to the Hedges the hitter that showed up here in 2013?

Hedges: Trust the process. You don’t have to go 4-for-4 every game. You just have to get better every day in your work, in your game. An 0-for-4 with four good at-bats to prepare you for the next level is what it’s all about. It’ about making it to the big leagues. It’s about contributing in the big leagues. You obviously want to be great, you want to help your team, but it’s about growing every single day. If that was my mindset then, I think maybe I would have grown a little bit quicker. But everybody is on their own schedule. It took me however long it took me. If I could go back, that’s what I’d tell myself.

U-T: Do you still feel like you’re telling yourself to trust the process?

Hedges: Absolutely. I think everybody is. No matter what you’re doing you have to trust the process of life. You have to take it day by day and moment by moment. If you do that, if you let things happen, life seems to go a little bit smoother.

U-T: You’ve done so much tinkering the last couple years. You took a giant step forward after that first year in San Antonio. Where are you now as a hitter?

Hedges: An offensive hitter that’s growing, growing every day. I think I know who I am at the plate. I’m just trying to execute that and take my knowledge behind the plate and use that in the batter’s box. I have a good idea of how pitchers are going to attack me – the more committed I stay to my approach and what I need to do have a competitive at-bat to help the team win. If I’m doing that, then I feel like I have stronger at-bats. I’m trying to grow off that.

U-T: Do you view this extended time off as a clean slate and is that going to be beneficial when you’re activated?

Hedges: Sure. Whether I’ve been playing the whole season or not I’d still be growing but obviously being on the DL this long it’s growing in a different way – away from the game. I’ve definitely taken this time and I feel confident that I’ll be able to come back and contribute to the team and that’s really all that matters.

U-T: Have you done anything in particular to grow while on the DL?

Hedges: Yeah, a ton of things. I’m trying to do something every day, whether it’s watching film of other hitters or my swing. It’s a lot of different things and in the rehab process you have time to break down your swing a little bit, do some work on the tee or flips and not just rush to prepare for a game. I had the time to break things down and slow things down and take things step by step. I feel like I’m in a good place and ready to come back.

U-T: Will we see any mechanical changes when you return?

Hedges: No, it’s more approach. Timing is a big thing for me. Just figuring out my body and how I can get to my strongest position on time. When I do that and I see the baseball, good things usually happen.

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FINAL: COL 10, SWB 5 atmilb.com/3ZcbfZn

Moody graduate — and former Texas Longhorn — Michael Cantu made his minor league debut this week after the San Diego Padres assigned him to Advanced-A Lake Elsinore of the California League.

Cantu hit a home run May 28 in his debut with the Storm and is batting .333 (2-6) with one RBI in two games.

The catcher signed with the Padres organization in 2017 after leaving the Longhorns after his junior season and played in the Arizona Rookie League last summer.

Three current Moody alumni are playing in minor league baseball and Luis Flores plays for Sultanes de Monterey in Mexico.

More:These professional baseball players have ties to the Corpus Christi area

MLB

Cliff Pennington, Carroll, Cincinnati Reds

.138 BA, 4-29, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB

Rob Zastryzny, Calallen, Chicago Cubs

0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 K, 1 BB

Anthony Banda, Sinton, Tampa Bay Rays (current)

1-0, 3.68 ERA, 14.2 IP, 12 H, 10 K, 3 BB

INTERNATIONAL

Logan Verrett, Calallen, NC Dinos (Changwon, Korea, KBO)

2-5, 6.49 ERA, 43.0 IP, 56 H, 36 K, 19 BB

Luis Flores, Moody, Sultanes de Monterey (Mexican League)

.167 BA, 7-42, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 0 SB

MINOR LEAGUES

Anthony Banda, Sinton, Durham Bulls (AAA), Tampa Bay

4-3, 3.64 ERA, 42.0 IP, 43 H, 49 K, 18 BB

Jacob Dorris, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Fresno Grizzlies (AAA), Houston

2-0, 8.22 ERA, 15.1 IP, 18 H, 13 K, 10 BB

Cliff Pennington, Carroll, Round Rock Express (AAA), Texas (current)

.250, 10-40, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB

Rob Zastryzny, Calallen, Iowa Cubs (AAA), Chicago (current)

2-1, 4.56 ERA, 23.2 IP, 22 H, 21 K, 13 BB

Rudy Flores, Moody, Jackson Generals (AA), Arizona

.275 BA, 39-142, 7 HR, 25 RBI, 0 SB

Mike Franco, Moody, Montgomery Biscuits (AA), Tampa Bay

1-0, 2.16 ERA, 3-3 SV, 16.2 IP, 7 H, 20 K, 6 BB

Mike Franco, Moody, Durham Bulls (AAA), Tampa Bay (current)

0-0, 2.70 ERA, 10.0 IP, 8 H, 11 K, 6 BB

Wyatt Mathisen, Calallen, Altoona Curve (AA), Pittsburgh

.385 BA, 10-26, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 SB

Wyatt Mathisen, Calallen, Indianapolis Indians (AAA), Pittsburgh (current)

.341 BA, 15-44, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 0 SB

Tyler Neslony, Calallen, Mississippi Braves (AA), Atlanta

.266 BA, 50-188, 0 HR, 27 RBI, 4 SB

Jose Trevino, John Paul II, Frisco RoughRiders (AA), Texas

.261 BA, 37-142, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 0 SB

Lucas Humpal, Flour Bluff, Frederick Keys (A), Baltimore (current)

1-6, 5.97 ERA, 37.2 IP, 51 H, 29 K, 10 BB

Lucas Humpal, Flour Bluff, Bowie Baysox (AA), Baltimore

0-0, 13.50 ERA, 3.1 IP, 8 H, 1 K, 1 BB

Michael Cantu, Moody, Lake Elsinore Storm (A), San Diego

.333 BA, 2-6, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB

Trevor Foss, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Somerset Patriots, Atlantic League

1-2, 5.12 ERA, 19.1 IP, 22 H, 16 K, 7 BB

Courtney Hawkins, Carroll, Birmingham Barons, (AA), Chicago White Sox

.120 BA, 3-25, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 0 SB

Courtney Hawkins, Carroll, Sugar Land Skeeters, Atlantic League (current)

.235 BA, 27-115, 8 HR, 30 RBI, 0 SB