Padres top performers of the week (August 31-September 6)
Mandatory Credit: Kiel Maddox-USA TODAY Sports
The Padres played yet another solid week of baseball, finishing a nine-game road trip at 6-3 and a 4-2 week against the Rockies, Angels, and Athletics.
Let’s take a look at three top performers of the week for the Padres.
This is starting to become a broken record that no one wants to fix. Tatis is marching his way towards the Padres’ second MVP in the team’s 51-year history and first since 1996. He launched two home runs over the week, putting his season total at 15, which leads the entire league.
.@tatis_jr with authority!
He's back in the HR lead with Mike Trout. pic.twitter.com/PPVYvBy6eC
— MLB (@MLB) September 6, 2020
Tatis currently leads all of Major League Baseball in home runs (15), fWAR (3.0), and runs scored (43) and leads the National League in RBI (39). Week after week, he announces himself as one of the best hitters in the league, and this week was no different, with a .292 average, two home runs, eight RBI, 1.122 OPS, and 191 wRC+. No player means more to his team’s success than Tatis does to the Padres’.
Some were skeptical of the haul that A.J. Preller sent to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Nola, Dan Altavilla, and Austin Adams, including prized outfield prospect Taylor Trammell.
¡Austin Nola con su primer bambinazo con #LosPadres! 💪#FrailesFieles pic.twitter.com/jJhYJ79LOk
— Padres de San Diego (@LosPadres) September 5, 2020
Nola is doing his part to validate that large return for his services. In four games this week, he hit .286 with his first home run with the team, along with a 1.018 OPS and 167 wrC+. He isn’t just doing it with the bat, however. In his first game behind the plate in a Padres uniform, he caught a 6-0 shutout win against the Rockies on Monday.
There were concerns about his ability to throw out baserunners, as he threw out just seven percent of base stealers with Seattle this year. So far, so good in San Diego as he has gunned out two of the three baserunners trying to steal, one of them being a “strike ’em out, throw ’em out” double play.
Seeing Richards’ name on this list would have been surprising a week ago, after being chased before he could complete an inning of work against the Mariners with six earned runs. He has bounced back nicely, with two big starts this week. His first one ended prematurely, as he was on a team-induced pitch count, and he was removed after 3 2/3 innings of shutout ball.
The rich get G-Richer.#FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/337NkVFYil
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 6, 2020
He got the nod again on Sunday to try and seal the series win against Oakland. All he did was toss seven solid innings, tying his season-high. He struck out nine, which set a new season-high for the veteran while allowing three runs in the quality start. This is an encouraging sign for the Padres, who were worried about his stretch of bad pitching with a 5.18 ERA in August.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.