Padres’ Wil Myers Battling Through Recent Struggles

Wil Myers is one of the many bright faces in the San Diego Padres organization and there is no doubt about that.

However, the 25-year old All-Star first baseman is not swinging the bat as powerful as he once was. He has hit a slump. Hard.

In June, Myers was hot, red-hot. His power showed with a batting average of .327, OPS of 1.194, slugging at .765 and an OBP of .429, the highest in all of baseball. Along with 11 home runs and 33 RBI, he earned the N.L. Player of the Month award.

Things were looking up, but then slowly declined and continued to do so. The All-Stars numbers surely didn’t match his hot streak of a month. As July came around, Myers batting average lowered to .276, his OBP to .351, OPS to .695 and slugging cut nearly in half to .344. He finished the month with just two home runs and nine RBI.

As August comes to an end, Myers numbers in a way reflect July, but he has time to bring those numbers up. His batting average is at .257, OBP of .325, OPS of .753 and slugging at .429, along with three home runs and seven RBI.

After nearly a month without a day off, Myers was back in the lineup Monday against the Chicago Cubs, but once again, his slump stayed and went 0-for-3 in the Padres 5-1 loss.

Prior to the Cubs series, Myers had just two hits in 16 appearances at the plate with an RBI and a walk versus the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Then again, nothing is better than being at home and for Myers, Petco Park is his happy place, as it shows in his numbers. In home games, he has been twice as better. He has 78 hits with 15 home runs with 44 RBI and a batting average of .335. Along with those numbers, his OBP is at .408, slugging at .614 and OPS of 1.021. On the other hand, in ballparks away from San Diego, his numbers are cut in half. He has 46 hits with eight home runs and 27 RBI with an OBP of .280, slugging at .341 and OPS of .621.

With a career-high of 23 home runs and 71 RBI and with a batting average of .268, it is time to decide whether or not to extend Myers. The team could aslo choose to deal him for more prospects. It would be a smart choice for the organization to build around him, as trading him would be viewed as a bad choice since the fans love him. Though, it is not whether or not how much the fans love him, but how valuable he is and how much successful talent he can bring.

The Padres are sitting below .500 at .424 with a record of 53-72 in fourth place of the N.L. West and 16.5 games back in their division and 14 games back in the wild card, so a playoff spot is a long shot, but the future is bright for this team.

The team has traded many of the familiar faces such as Matt Kemp, Melvin Upton Jr., Fernando Rodney and Drew Pomeranz. In return, the Padres received prospects and in the meantime called up players, who have been nothing short of spectacular. Alex Dickerson, Ryan Schimpf, Jabari Blash, Luis Sardinas and company have been fun to watch.

Myers stated he would be open to a contract extension, so let’s hope the front office and A.J. Preller keep him for future success. Despite the struggle, he has enough time to whip his numbers back on track. With that hopefully a contract extension comes to light before the season ends. In the meantime, stay hopeful Friar faithful.

Jolene Nacapuy

Jolene Nacapuy is currently the media operations director of Proud Digital Media. She graduated in 2016 from the University of La Verne with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. She is a small town Hawaii native with high-energy and motivation, with experience in writing hard and breaking news, features, commentary’s and sports articles. She has written articles and taken photos for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. She has served as an assistant sports editor, sports editor and editor in chief of the Campus Times and also written for HerCampus La Verne. She has also contributed for Lakers Nation and Dodgers Nation. Jolene is a big sports fan and when she’s not working on her next story, she’s at a sports event.