Brett Wallace Must Resurrect His Career In Padres Camp

By Bobby DeMuro
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Updated: March 8, 2015

[Image via @MLBguyz]

Brett Wallace, a former first-round draft pick and veteran of four big league campaigns, is a non-roster invitee to Padres camp this spring. At 28 years old, with a history of poor slash lines and high strikeouts, Wallace will make the Padres his sixth organization since being drafted in 2008 from Arizona State. After four underwhelming seasons with the Astros, it’s not a stretch to say Wallace’s career will not last much longer if he can’t stick with the Padres or find a home at AAA El Paso.

In college, Wallace was one of the best hitters in the country, leaving Arizona State hitting .406/.497/.700 in 643 plate appearances, belting 45 home runs and driving in 193 in just 170 games. Across his entire college career, he walked more than he struck out, earning free passes at a 15.8% rate, while fanning just 14.5% of the time. After all this production (on a College World Series team at Arizona State), the Cardinals made him their 1^st round pick in 2008, forking over a $1.8 million signing bonus.

Before making the big leagues, Wallace was used as a trade piece in the minors. In fact, he was part of four organizations in one calendar year: the Cardinals, Athletics, Blue Jays, and Astros between July 24, 2009 and July 29, 2010. Finally at home with the Astros, Wallace made the big leagues in 2010, but for all his minor league success (he’s a .304/.376/.480 career minor leaguer), Major League consistency has proven elusive. He’s perhaps best known for opening the 2013 season 1-for-24 with 17 strikeouts before the Astros demoted him, but he wasn’t a great big leaguer even before that slump.

In 311 Major League games, Brett Wallace has struck out 29.5% of the time, only walked 7.4% of the time, and hit .242/.313/.391 with an OPS+ of 93. Really, it’s a wonder the Astros kept giving him opportunities, but when you remember he’s a former first-round pick and minor league star, the chances make sense. And when you recall how bad the Astros were at that time (they lost 106, 107, and 111 games in 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively), you feel sympathetic for Wallace’s plight.

Nevertheless, the Astros had enough of Wallace by Spring Training last year, and released him before the season. He split time in 2014 between the Orioles’ and Blue Jays’ AAA affiliates and had a decent year, hitting 17 home runs and batting .282/.350/.426 in 525 PAs (though he did have a 25% strikeout rate).

Brett Wallace will fight for a job with the Padres this year. [Image via @MLBguyz]

Now, he’s in Padres camp. With the Padres’ infield as poor as it is, I can’t imagine a better opportunity for a corner infielder like Wallace. His past suggests he may be destined for the baseball purgatory that is Quad-A, but he will get every opportunity to prove he belongs on a big league roster this spring. He must take those opportunities, because he may not get another one next season.

It wasn’t long ago that Wallace was an exciting young prospect beating down the door to the big leagues, but now he’ll turn 29 before the season is over. There aren’t many spots on organizational depth charts for 29-year old former prospects who strike out a lot, don’t get on base, and don’t hit for average. To say the clock is ticking on his career is an understatement.

If he can cut strikeouts, walk more, and prove he can hit big league pitching, Brett Wallace can still find a home. But after failing to stick after nearly 1,000 big league plate appearances, the window on his career in affiliated ball is closing very, very quickly.

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