The San Diego Padres' sluggish offense may soon get a jolt from an unexpected source with a former Pittsburgh Pirates prospect.
The San Diego Padres' offense has gotten off to a very slow start despite the team bringing a 7-6 record into Friday.
All of Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Jackson Merrill have not found much success at the plate, and some are wondering if it is a side effect from the World Baseball Classic or just a sluggish start with a new manager in town.
Regardless, the offense has to turn things around, and it might be only a matter of time before San Diego calls up somebody from Triple-A in hopes of a boost.
Sam Dykstra, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com named one potential impact prospect for each team, and for San Diego, they named outfielder Jase Bowen.
Bowen is not ranked among the Padres' top 30 prospects, but he is a former Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer who inked a minor league contract with San Diego in November.
Bowen played well in the Cactus League and he has experience at all three outfield spots, so that is a plus with Craig Stammen already using a variety of outfielders, with Gavin Sheets even getting a start in left field.
"He slugged .630 with four homers and six doubles in 25 Cactus League games this spring and hasn’t slowed down with a .278/.297/.722 line, three homers and eight total extra-base hits through nine contests with Triple-A El Paso to begin the regular season," the MLB.com experts wrote.
The thing Bowen has to improve most is his OBP, and if he does that, he could find a consistent spot on the big league roster with San Diego.
At the start of April, Bowen even hit for the cycle with the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas.
The Pirates selected Bowen in the 11th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, but he never got out of the minor leagues.
So far, Bowen has three home runs but 13 strikeouts through 10 games at El Paso as of April 9.
The Padres outfield is basically set with Tatis, Merrill and Ramon Laureano from right to left, and Bryce Johnson as the fourth outfielder with Nick Castellanos and Sheets as other options.
But, Bowen is a guy who could see some playing time, and somebody San Diego might want to take a look at to see if he has any long-term potential with the franchise.
If the Padres' offense continues to hit as they have been, it might be a matter of time before they bring in some new faces to see if they can generate some offense.