San Diego Padres front office brass is in town this weekend to watch their Class Low-A affiliate, the Fort Wayne Wizards. Vice President of Scouting and Player Development Grady Fuson is one of those officials. He oversees the club’s scouting department, along with the minor league system, staff and instruction. He also assists Executive Vice President and General Manager Kevin Towers in all areas of baseball operations.

Fuson talked with The News-Sentinel on Friday evening after the Wizards’ 7-2 loss to the Kane County Cougars.

News-Sentinel: Let’s start with (highly-touted pitching prospect Mat) Latos. How’s he doing? How’s he feeling? What’s his status?
Fuson: He’s getting better. Those obliques are not an easy thing to fix. I don’t know that we rushed him back before (the first time he injured the obliques), but obviously he didn’t heal right. We’re taking it extra carefully. Medically he’s coming along. He’s throwing in a simulation game on Saturday.

N-S: Do you think he’ll be back here this year at all?
Fuson: It’s possible.

N-S: What about (shortstop Drew) Cumberland?
Fuson: Drew just had an X-Ray on the rib. The rib has healed. We’re gradually working him into batting ,with tee work and some soft toss for a day or two. He’s taking some ground balls…maybe some (batting practice) in a couple of days. When all that starts working right, he’ll get into some games and get some live at-bats. I’m hoping a week and a half at the earliest. Two, two and a half weeks at the latest.

N-S: That he’ll be back here (in Fort Wayne)?
Fuson: Yes.

N-S: Let’s talk about Harrington. I know he was (in extended spring training in Arizona for rehabilitation) as well with the (throwing) arm injury.
Fuson: He’s kind of 50-50. One day it feels good, the next day it doesn’t. We got a little bad news today that it didn’t feel good. He’ll pitch a live simulation game on Saturday – an inning I think. We’ll know where it stands. It depends on how it feels tomorrow.

N-S: What about (2007 first-round pick, pitcher) Nick Schmidt and (2004 first round pick, pitcher) Matt Bush? I know they had the (Tommy John elbow) surgeries. How are they doing and how are they feeling?
Fuson: They’re both doing great. They’re on schedule with their program. They’ve had no major setbacks whatsoever for either one of them. Bush is a little bit ahead of Nick as far as where they are. Matt is just now starting to throw sides. Schmidt’s not there yet. He’s still long toss, but it's close. He’s throwing sides. Neither one I expect to be here. The plan is to start to build them in instructional league in the fall.

N-S: What’s the status on (unsigned) Allan Dykstra, the first rounder from this year?
Fuson: It’s a little bit stagnant right now. There are open lines of communication. There’s still a lot of things medically being discussed back and forth.

N-S: And it deals with the hip right?
Fuson: Right, there’s a hip issue. I don’t think it has anything to do with the player as far as his ability to get out and play right now. But we see that there is possibly some risk long-term. We’re pursuing signing the player.

N-S: What about the rest of the draft as far as other recent signings go?
Fuson: We just got (shortstop Stephen) Figueroa done, the sixth rounder. He goes into (Class A-short season) Eugene on Friday. He’s been playing in the Cape Cod League, so he should be ready to go in a day or two. We signed (shortstop, eighth rounder) Beaner Weems and 12th rounder (first baseman) Matt Clark. We’ve got Dykstra and (James) Darnell, the second rounder, kind of just sitting there and waiting. And the fourth rounder (Jason) Kipnis is close, too.

N-S: Is there anyone that’s surprised you or you think is playing particularly well here this season?
Fuson: I think that the biggest surprise of all comes from (Felix) Carrasco. He earned it from being in Arizona for two years and a little bit in Eugune and the instructional leagues. There’s still a lot of struggles the young man was having – defensively and offensively – and we weren’t really sure what to expect here. That’s the right thing to do in development… get him out of there and get him here and make him show us. And bless him. He’s been an All-Star, hit 14 homers, is driving the ball better and is starting to control the strike zone a little better. (We've) all known he comes with a lot of punchouts, but you know he’s still a young kid. He’s certainly held his own and done a great job.

N-S: I don’t want to use the word disappointment, but is there anybody that’s maybe not lived up to expectations that you’d thought would be this year.
Fuson: I mean I think if you went that way, there’s some lack of power. We thought (Yefri) Carvajal might be ready to hit 10-15 homers at this level. Obviously, we’re happy with where he’s at. He’s hitting .280 and holding his own. But we thought with as much raw power as this kid has always had that it’d come together at this stage. It hasn’t yet. Playerwise I don’t see any other disappointments. The two things that come to mind when I think of disappointments is the inconsistency of the rotation. But I think we’ve cleaned that up when you look at some of the guys that have bounced in and out of the rotation and done credible jobs. We’re trying to find roles for each one of those guys where we believe they can be successful, and that’s part of the game. The rotation is in good shape now and certainly the back of the bullpen with (Jackson) Quezada in the ninth and (Bryan) Oland in the eighth and some of the other guys they’ve got. I think the pitching staff is in good shape.

N-S: What is it about Quezada?
Fuson: I think it’s the confidence. We’re not seeing anything different out of this kid that we haven’t seen. He’s always had the arm strength. He’s always had fair command when the pressure wasn’t on. It’s been a work in progress getting him over the hump. Last year in Eugene we saw some early signs of it. But as the season went on and he got in the heat of the battle, he faltered. This year we gave him a chance to go in the (closer) role. From Day 1, he’s answered the bell.