The San Diego Padres know Xander Bogaerts is a leader who's reliable, and his offense has been better as well.
The San Diego Padres have been getting unexpected offense from a lot of different sources, but one of the players who’s been carrying the lineup is very familiar to Padres fans. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts is off to an unusual hot streak, and he has five homers to go with an OPS of .783 along with an average that’s been hovering around .280, according to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com.
The reason for this might not be familiar from the outside looking in, but Bogaerts has a simple explanation for his early-season surge.
“I’ve been dealing with injuries these last two years, and it hasn’t been fun,” Bogaerts said. “I’m just trying to stay healthy. … And then, I’m seeing it right, swinging at strikes, not chasing as much.”
The question going forward is whether the shortstop can sustain that level of production. Bogaerts has been labeled as a reliable player with a bloated contract, which makes it easy to forget that he’s had at least four seasons with 20 home runs, not to mention six campaigns with an OPS over .800.
But Bogaerts has never done that with the Padres, and that’s where things get a little sticky. The dimensions of Petco Park tend to diminish his power numbers, but bench coach Randy Knorr thinks Bogaerts has a better shot to boost his production given the way Bogaerts is playing right now.
“I see a very confident player right now,” said Knorr, who served as acting manager on Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs when manager Craig Stammen had to attend a funeral. “He’s in a great place. [Hitting coach Steven] Souza and Xander have done a lot of work to get to where they are now. He’s just staying with it. He’s working hard every day. It’s starting to show.”
But Bogaerts’ teammates know that the shortstop provides a lot more than just numbers and reliability. He’s got two World Series rings, and that plus his his performance and presence makes him a valued leader.
“His game speaks for itself,” said center fielder Jackson Merrill. “He plays hard [every day]. He’s just professional, what he does, how he goes about his day.”
Outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was quick to join the chorus: “Everything you can ask from a person, teammate, he’s there. He’s a great teammate. And a really good baseball player.”
This year’s improvement is making hard contact, according to Cassavell. The shortstop’s hard-hit rate and barrel rate fell into the lower third of the league rankings last year, but this year he’s back around 50 percent. That’s not an enormousimprovement, but it is translating, as those five early homers prove.
“I’m swinging at strikes, which I think is huge,” Bogaerts concluded.