Padres Minor-League Pitchers of the Month: August 2026

[Steve Drumwright]

The minor-league season is entering it final weeks, so some pitchers are having their innings curtailed while others are still building following injuries that might have gotten their seasons off the late starts. Here are the ones who stood out in August in the San Diego Padres' farm system.

Ranking Padres' Best Minor-League Pitchers In August

Honorable Mention: RHP Hunter Stratton, RHP, Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas

August stats: 0-1, 1.54, 9 games (all relief), 0 saves (2 chances), 11⅔ IP, 11 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 7 BB, 12 K, .250 opponent average

An under-the-radar acquisition at the trade deadline, the right-handed reliever was picked up in exchange for another promising reliever in right-hander Andrew Moore. Stratton has 62 games of MLB experience and would be an option if the Padres need an injury replacement in September. Stratton has been dealt twice this year, going to the Pirates from Atlanta for catcher Joey Bart. The 29-year-old has been very good since joining Triple-A El Paso, not allowing a run in his first seven appearances, before allowing one Wednesday and then three (one earned) Friday. He doesn’t put up big strikeout numbers (12 in 11⅔ innings) and did walk seven.

Honorable Mention: RHP Josh Mallitz, Double-A San Antonio Missions

August stats: 1-0, 2.45 ERA, 9 games (all relief), 2 saves (3 chances), 14⅔ IP, 12 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 13 K, .240 opponent average

The 24-year-old right-hander continues to be one of the most consistent pitchers in the Padres’ system. An undrafted free agent who was signed out of Mississippi in 2024, Mallitz is usually good for multiple innings each time he takes the mound. Seven of his nine outings in August required getting more than three outs, with Mallitz going 2⅓ on Aug. 13. He has a just-above-average 26.4% strikeout rate for the season and his 10% walk rate is the highest of his three seasons.

3. Ian Koenig, RHP, Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas

August stats: 2-1, 3.52 ERA, 5 games (all starts), 30⅔ IP, 25 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 5 BB, 26 K, .219 opponent average

The right-handed starter made his Triple-A debut Friday in a month where he has logged the most innings of the season. The 25-year-old went five innings and allowed two runs against the Oklahoma City Comets in a 5-4 loss in a game that featured Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith going 0-for-3 on a rehab assignment. He got Smith to pop up, ground out and strike out. That was his shortest outing of August. His other four for Double-A San Antonio were all six innings or more, including seven shutout innings Aug. 11 against the Frisco RoughRiders. He gave up five hits and a walk while striking out four. It was the third time Koenig has made it through seven innings this season. He is the only Missions pitcher to make it seven innings.

Koenig, an undrafted free agent who signed in 2022, was promoted after leading the Texas League in innings with 121⅓. One of his biggest issues is allowing home runs. Koenig has given up 20 in 126⅓ innings after allowing 17 in 103⅓ last year at High-A Fort Wayne. He went seven innings twice in 2025 and will finish this season around 150 innings depending on if he gets three or four starts in the final three weeks of the Triple-A season. His previous best was the 103⅓ from last year.

2. Brandon Langley, RHP, High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps

August stats: 2-0, 2.57 ERA, 1 save (2 chances), 14 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 9 BB, 22 K, .235 opponent average

In his first pro season since signing as an undrafted free agent last summer, the 21-year-old right-hander has been a solid reliever this season, with the usual bumps along the way. He spent the entire season at Low-A Lake Elsinore until getting promoted to High-A Fort Wayne last week. His first two outings with the TinCaps against the Great Lakes Loons were really good, both of the two-inning variety and facing just one over the minimum combined in the four innings. He struck out four in one game and three in the other, while not allowing a hit and walking one.

The rest of his month wasn't shabby, either. In 10 games and 12 innings with the Storm, Langley allowed four runs on 12 hits and eight hits and 15 strikeouts. As with any first-year pro, he has had trouble with walks, putting up a 15.5% walk rate, though he's countered that with a nice 28.4% strikeout rate. With this being the last week of the TinCaps' season, Langley is likely to return to High-A next season following an offseason of working on what his coaches want him to adjust.

1. Adler Cecil, LHP, Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm

August stats: 1-0, 3.38 ERA, 4 games (1 start), 13⅓ IP, 7 H, 11 R, 5 ER, 11 BB, 27 K, .149 opponent average

A 19th-round draft choice in 2023 out of Temecula Valley High School, just down the road from Lake Elsinore, Cecil has certainly increased his visibility since coming up to the Storm at the end of July. The Padres have a love of young left-handers and Cecil certainly fits the bill. The 6-foot-4, 160-pounder has been handled with care as he comes back from Tommy John surgery, which took him out of the entire 2025 season. But since returning, he has been on fire. This month alone, he struck out 27 in just 13⅓ innings, a total that led the entire Padres system. He is tied for the third-most strikeouts in the pipeline for the season with 102 while his innings total (59) is much less than the two above him. That translates to a strikeout rate of 39.5%. While Adler doesn't (yet) have that type of velocity, Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski is at 38.9% this year.

In his most recent game, he struck out eight in 3⅔ innings against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. His other three outings had strikeout totals of six, seven and six while pitching 2⅔, four and three innings, respectively. He has reached five innings twice this season, both while in the Arizona Complex League, and twice struck out 10, once in five innings and the other in four. Adler was a project coming out of high school, with Baseball America ranking him as the No. 488 prospect (taken by the Padres with the 581st selection). He has two or maybe three appearances left this season depending on how the Storm do in the postseason after winning the California League's South Division first-half championship. They will play the Ontario Tower Buzzers, the second-half South champ, in the best-of-three semifinals next week. Cecil is likely to move up to High-A Fort Wayne next season.

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