White, Stillman promoted, five players added to Dust Devils roster

The first wave of anticipated roster moves hit the Tri-City Dust Devils on Thursday, and the result will be a team that looks slightly different from the one that went 6-1 through the first week of the season.

The San Diego Padres added five players to the roster of the first-place Dust Devils, and in turn either moved or released five players from the Opening Day list.

Third baseman Boomer White received the biggest promotion among now-former Dust Devils, getting promoted to the Padres’ Class A Advanced affiliate, the Lake Elsinore Storm. In his brief second season with Tri-City, he was hit .320 with two doubles, five RBIs and 11 runs scored.

He was also tied for the Northwest League-lead with eight walks, giving him an on-base percentage of .485 (No. 4 in the NWL among players with a qualifying number of plate appearances).

“He’s just got good plate awareness, good strike zone awareness, doesn’t chase too many pitches,” Dust Devils manager Ben Fritz said of White. “And he’s swinging a hot bat so they’re pitching around him a little bit and he’s taking pitches, that’s what good hitters do.”

Right-handed pitcher Will Stillman — who was originally scheduled to start Friday’s series opener against the Everett AquaSox — was promoted to the Class A Fort Wayne Tin Caps for the third time in the past two seasons. He pitched three no-hit innings in his one start for Tri-City this season, a win over Salem-Keizer on June 17, striking out six and walking two. Nineteen-year-old RHP Emmanuel Clase gave up five earned runs over 3 1/3 innings in his only appearance with Tri-City, and was demoted to the Arizona League (AZL).

Twenty-three-year-old catchers Steve Bean and Tucker Pennell — who is batting .600 for this season and went 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI’s in Tuesday’s home opener — were released to make room for 2017 draft picks Jalen Washington (Round 29, Ohio State) and Chandler Seagle (Round 30, Appalachian State).

Two former Dust Devils were promoted back to the team from the AZL, first baseman Chris Mattison and shortstop Westhers Magdaleno. The final addition was right-handed pitcher Elias Torres, who was released from the Tampa Bay Rays organization in May.

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 7:38 PM with the headline "White, Stillman promoted, five players added to Dust Devils roster."