Who’s hot and who’s not for Padres: May 16-22
May 22, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado (13) hits a double against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
The Padres finished a solid road trip by winning the series in Philadelphia and sweeping the Giants for a 5-1 week.
Several Padres stood out as the squad won five of six games this week.
Hot
Aside from that dreadful start in April against the Giants (1 2/3 IP, 9 ER), Darvish has been lights out. Since that start, he has pitched at least into the sixth inning each time with a 2.58 ERA in those six games. He faced a fierce Phillies lineup this week and hurled seven shutout innings, striking out five with zero walks and giving the team a boost and the bullpen a needed rest. That was his third start this season of at least six innings with zero earned runs.
Gore makes the list because he was asked to play a challenging role this week. First, he came out of the bullpen as a piggyback to Mike Clevinger against Philadelphia. Gore pitched three innings, allowing zero runs and striking out four. Later in the week, he started a game against the rival Giants. He set a new career-high with six innings pitched, allowing just one run and striking out six. He finished the week with nine innings pitched and 10 strikeouts, which led the team this week.
MacKenzie Gore, 96mph ā½ļø pic.twitter.com/X0V2koqapm
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 22, 2022
This is becoming redundant. This list should just be called “Padres who are playing like Manny Machado this week.” Machado continues to play like the MVP frontrunner in the National League. He still leads all of baseball with 3.5 fWAR, 58 hits and a .374 average. This week, he batted .444 with a 1.242 OPS and a whopping 247 wRC+. Sunday was the crown jewel of his stellar week, with four extra-base hits — three doubles and a triple. He was the driving force behind the Padres winning five of six this week.
Manny Machado becomes the first player in MLB history with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 runs scored, and a walk in a single game.
h/t @MLBMetrics pic.twitter.com/xPAOP6Et7l
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 22, 2022
Another repetitive entrant in this list is San Diego’s own Joe Musgrove. He continues to build what is becoming a resume worthy of Cy Young consideration a quarter through the season. This week was no exception as he threw seven shutout innings against the Giants, allowing just four hits. He now owns a 1.90 ERA and the Padres have won each of his first eight starts.
It’s good to see Myers make the list on the positive side. His bat heated up this week to the tune of a .292 average and 112 wRC+. He drove in three runs in Sunday’s blowout win in San Francisco. Myers heating up would mean bad news for the rest of the league, as it dramatically deepens the Friars’ lineup.
After weeks of a severe drop-off following a hot start, Profar bounced back this week. He went 10-for-25 (.400), a 160 wRC+ and an .884 OPS. On Sunday, he came up with a runner on third and two outs and came through with an RBI double.
NotĀ
Garcia entered Friday’s game against the Giants with the Padres nursing a 6-4 lead in the ninth. With Taylor Rogers unavailable, they turned to him for the save. Instead, he allowed the Giants to tie the game on two hits and two walks, blowing the save. Luckily, the Padres won in extra innings.
Once again, Grisham struggled to find his groove at the plate. He batted just .111 with a lowly .325 OPS and -3 wRC+. Through 39 games this season, he is batting .146 and has been virtually ineffective at the plate.
Unfortunately, most predicted this would happen at some point. Given Hosmer’s other-worldly BABIP (batting average of balls in play) to start the year, the eventual regression to the mean was obviously coming. He hasn’t had an extra-base hit in almost two weeks and finished the week with a .143 average and .286 OPS.
[wpedon id=”49075″ align=”right”]
It may not be fair to put Snell on this list after making his 2022 debut. Clearly, there was some rust and nerves involved. However, there is immense pressure on Snell to deliver. The Padres paid a hefty price in the trade to acquire Snell and, aside from a hot stretch to end the 2021 season, he has overall been underwhelming. In 3 2/3 innings, he allowed three earned runs on three hits and three walks. He struck out five. The same problems plagued him as they did last year- lack of control and a high pitch count. He was removed in the fourth inning at 84 pitches.
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.
Still not too late to either trade Hosmer or move him into a full time platoon.