As San Diego Padres starter Mat Latos continues to rack up wins in 2010, he also continues to approach his innings limit set before the season. As a result, the 23-year-old in the midst of a breakout year could see his work limited down the stretch. “We’ll talk about this with our organization,” said Padres manager Bud Black. “A lot of that will be based on what we see with our eyes and how his arm feels.” Through Aug. 8, Latos has an 12-5 record in 21 starts. His 139.1 innings pitched is already a career high and very close to the mark of 150 to 180 innings set before the season by Black and General Manager Jed Hoyer with the long-term aim of preventing injury. Latos said he understands limiting his innings in only his fourth pro season is in his own best interest. But the six-foot-six-inch right-hander isn’t thrilled about the prospect of having to shut his arm down before the end of the season. “I hope it doesn’t happen,” Latos said. “I want to go out there and I want to compete. That’s the No. 1 goal. I want to keep playing.” Black described the inning count as flexible and recently said Latos could end up throwing as many as 200 innings by the end of the season — including potential postseason starts. Black said he is monitoring Latos regularly to make sure he is not overworked. “Our conversation with him is just to stay in the present,” Black said. “Don’t fast-forward and count how many starts you have left. I know it’s easier said than done.” Since the Padres drafted Latos in 2006, his workload has increased steadily. After throwing 56 innings in the minors in 2007 and 2008, Latos pitched 112 total innings last season. Fifty of those innings came in 10 starts with the Padres from July to September. “Last year with Mat, we saw a little bit of his velocity come down,” Black said. “More than anything I saw a little bit [of a decrease] on the concentration and the mental side.” In his second year up with the Padres, Latos is currently enjoying a career season. The righty leads the club in wins and was tops in the National League with a 0.99 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) through Aug. 10. “[It is] me having the confidence and my teammates behind me confident that I can go every fifth day and go out and perform and give them a chance to win,” Latos said. Success on the mound in 2010 didn’t come right away for Latos, who had a 6.20 ERA after four April starts. He admitted he had trouble adjusting to his big league surroundings during that first month of the season. “I got knocked around a little bit early and I think that had to do with me not really knowing what was going on,” Latos said. “Once I settled in, I got comfortable and got a lot closer to a lot of these guys on our team, and it just picked up from there.” Since May, Latos is 11-3 and has allowed more than two runs only once in 17 appearances. While his bread and butter mid-90s fastball has been great, Latos said improvement of both his curveball and slider have helped him this season. “I have more confidence throwing it and the way that I’m throwing it,” Latos said of his curveball. Despite his key part in the Padres’ success this season, Latos would need have to have his current workload reduced in order to both stay under the innings limit and be available to pitch into the later months of the season. How team management handles this situation will impact the Padres in a pennant race that looks more and more like it will come down to the wire. Padres’ upcoming home opponents Aug. 12 Pirates Aug. 24-26 Diamondbacks Aug. 27-29 Phillies
