Mike Shildt Reveals Where Most Important Part of Lineup Production Comes From For Padres
The San Diego Padres have been able to score early this season, but not often. Up until Sunday, they had gone four straight games without scoring in at least the final four innings.
Since scoring 17 runs in a four-inning stretch between last Saturday and Sunday, they had scored 16 runs in 49 innings entering Sunday's game, and are batting .206 in that stretch.
At the heart of their late-game struggles is the middle of the batting order. Manny Machado, the cleanup hitter, is batting .190, and the No. 5 hitter Ha-Seong Kim is batting .200.
“It’s important for all our guys to contribute,” manager Mike Shildt said. “But when we get contribution from the middle of the lineup, which we historically have gotten and expect to get, it’s going to be important for our offense, for sure. And we’ll get it.”
The Padres are 5-7 to start the season and the majority of their offense is coming from everywhere except Machado and Kim. Out of the seven players who have played in all 12 games, those two have the least amount of hits with nine each.
Kim has also been uncharacteristic on defense. On Sunday, he was charged with two errors. It was his MLB game with multiple errors in his career.
"Super uncharacteristic out of Kimmy," Shildt said. "We've got a great defensive team, guys we trust. And this guy's clearly deservingly won a Gold Glove. … Sometimes, you've got to prove you're human."
Rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill is coming off his best game yet, going 4-for-4 with a stolen base on Sunday in a 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants. Merrill raised his batting average to .324 and became the second-youngest Padre to record a four-hit game, at 20 years, 354 days. Fernando Tatis Jr. did so at 20 years, 193 days in 2019.
"Gosh, man, what good at-bats. What an approach," Shildt said of Merrill. "He's clearly understanding what he's doing. Every situation, he's taking the right at-bats. He's got a good mentality."
Merrill has batted eighth or ninth in every game he's played since making the Padres' Opening Day roster out of spring training.