Padres' Christian Bethancourt: Will work as pitcher in minors

Bethancourt will focus on pitching while at Triple-A El Paso, Dennis Lin of the Union-Tribune reports.

Analysis:

The Padres outrighted Bethancourt off the 40-man roster Tuesday after his struggles as both a reliever and as a hitter while with the big-league club. According to Lin, Bethancourt will leave open the possibility of going back behind the plate down the line, but wants to train primarily as a pitcher for the time being. Bethancourt has strong velocity on his fastball, sitting at 94.1 miles per hour, but he'll need time to hone in on his command. He walked a whopping eight batters in just 3.2 innings while with the Padres, but it's clear that the organization is confident enough in his upside to where they believe he can develop as a pitcher down the line.