The San Diego Padres are starting to use infielder Sung-Mun Song, and they're hoping he can energize their offense.
The San Diego Padres have been playing a lot of flat baseball lately, especially offensive, but there’s a new addition who could help. Sung-Mun Song is finally on the field in San Diego after signing as a free agent in the offseason, and the Padres are hoping he can provide both offense and energy.
The energy part of what Song brings to the table has already been established, according to manager Craig Stammen.
“We loved having him in spring training; he brought some energy to our team,” Stammen said in an article written by Dennis Lin of The Athletic. “He’s going to bring energy to our team.”
Song did that in his debut against the San Francisco Giants, as he had two hits a stolen base while scoring two runs in a 10-5 win for the Padres. Nearly everyone else has been in an offensive funk, and Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee explained what Song can provide based on his experience with Song in the Korean KBO League.
“When I played with Song, he was never one of the best players out there,” Giants right fielder Jung Hoo Lee said through interpreter Justin Han. “But after he came here to the major leagues, he put a lot of effort. And I think for Song right now, it’s his prime, for sure. He’s showing really good movement out there.”
Song tried to muscle up to make the transition to MLB, but it backfired when he sustained an oblique injury, and scouts still have questions about his ability to make the transition to US baseball. The Padres have slow-crawled his debut with an extended stint at Triple-A El Paso, something Song said he definitely needed.
“It was definitely time that I needed, because I had an injury in spring camp, and coming back from injury, I had no feel for the game,” Song said through interpreter Juneseo Yi. “Getting reps in Triple A, playing multiple positions, helped me a lot.”
His stats were underwhelming, though, and now Song faces an uphill climb. The Padres need him with second baseman Jake Cronenworth on the IL with concussion symptoms, but inserting Song means subtracting offense, which is something they can’t afford right now.
Song is still adapting, and after his debut he talked about being late on a cutter from starter Logan Webb of the Giants.
“First at-bat, I was late on the cutter, so I was thinking about being more aggressive in the second at-bat,” Song said. “And then, luckily, I got the same cutter in a similar location.”
What Song does bring to the table is speed and energy on the bases. He puts pressure on defenses with that speed, but it remains to be seen if that’s enough to add some juice to the struggling San Diego offense.