Padres Daily: The Arraez effect; moving the Crone Zone; good King; unhappy King (2024)

Good morning from Cincinnati,

The Padres are loving Luis Arraez, and Luis Arraez is loving the Padres.

“I enjoyed this game right now,” he said last night after going 4-for-5. “Because I feel like a family here.”

He has endeared himself to his new family by infusing its offense with opportunity.

Since joining the Padres May 4 following a trade from the Marlins, Arraez ranks fourth in the major leagues with a .391 average and 15th with a .425 on-base percentage.

While that has not yet translated into an overwhelming improvement in terms of wins, Arraez’s presence at the top of the lineup has provided a noticeable change.

The Padres, who last night got back to .500 (26-26), are 9-6 in the games Arraez has started. They are averaging about the same number of runs in the 15 games he has started as in the 37 they have played without his bat atop their order, but they are scoring at least four runs in games more frequently since he arrived. (This is significant because they are 21-6 this season when scoring four or more runs.)

“Look at this lineup,” Manny Machado said. “... Ever since we have had Arraez at the top of that lineup, it makes a big difference. You can’t just go in there and ease your way into the game. It’s a tough at-bat from the get-go.”

You can read in my game story (here) from last night’s 7-3 victory over the Reds about how Arraez got the Padres going with a leadoff home run and drove in another run with a single. He also had two more singles in innings squashed by double plays.

“I just try to get on base,” Arraez said. “And if I get on base, we’ll score a lot of runs.”

As can be said in general about the Padres’ offense, imagine if Fernando Tatis Jr. and Machado had been hitting like their old selves all along. Tatis, who bats immediately after Arraez, is 6-for-27 when Arraez is on base. Machado, who mostly has batted fourth but has batted fifth in five of the past six games, has heated up on this road trip but was batting .119 (5-for-42) in Arraez’s first dozen games with the team.

Still, the Padres have been touting all year the mantra that continually creating more opportunities will eventually lead to even more runs. And that has generally been the case.

“More runners in scoring position,” Jake Cronenworth said of the Arraez effect. “Traffic is always good.”

The Padres are batting .258 with runners in scoring position, which ranks 13th in the majors. They have, however, had the seventh-most runners in scoring position.

You have to have them in scoring position in order to drive them in.

“Opportunity cost,” Cronenworth said with a smile. “Take an economics class.”

Power display

That Arraez is not a home run hitter is hardly news.

Yesterday was his 25th homer in a career that now spans 2,193 at-bats.

Still, he was averaging a home run every 82.8 at-bats heading into this season. And before yesterday he did not have one in 201 at-bats in 2024.

“I’m excited because I (had) not hit a homer this year,” he said. “I said maybe in this park I have a chance. And when I hit it, I knew it.”

Before yesterday, no other player had more than 135 at-bats this season without hitting a home run.

Bogaerts down, Peralta up

You can read in our game preview (here) about Xander Bogaerts’ fractured shoulder and what that means for him.

Bottom line: He is probably out for two to three months — and possibly longer. While imaging has indicated his labrum is intact and his fracture does not require surgery, the Padres were awaiting results of a CT scan last night. Bogaerts is also expected to seek another opinion next week.

Bogaerts is quoted in the pregame story as saying, “Two to three months, no. Nah, nah. I understand we want to be smart, but I’ll be back before that. I don’t like the sound of all those months.”

Also in that story are quotes from David Peralta, the veteran outfielder who was called up to replace Bogaerts on the active roster.

Peralta spent a month playing in Triple-A with the Cubs before opting out of his deal there. He signed a minor-league contract with the Padres on May 18.

He spoke before starting in left field last night and truly seemed thrilled that his comeback from elbow surgery had led to this.

“I’m really excited to be here,’ he said. “I’m not going to lie. When they called me to the office (in Triple-A) it felt like the first time I got called to the big leagues.”

Moving the Zone?

It seems we will see a pretty significant change on the right side of the infield with Bogaerts out — one that will not just involve having Arraez playing second base all the time, as he has at a high level in the three games Bogaerts has missed so far.

Cronenworth, who was the Padres’ primary second baseman from 2021-22, did work at the position Wednesday afternoon. And it was with far more intent than the occasional instances in which he slides over there to take grounders before games. This was with a purpose.

Shildt did not directly address the possibility of Cronenworth playing second base.

“We’re still in the process of figuring that out,” Shildt said. “There are some things we’re thinking about that will come into play the next couple days that we’ll explore. … We have a lot of options between three or four different guys. Now it’s a matter of putting the best foot forward every day. I think we’ll be somewhat creative with that relative to what we’re seeing and the pitching. We’ll also create some stability that people will like.”

It is not known whether Cronenworth, who has started mostly at first base the past two seasons, will be the full-time second baseman. Arraez has played a fair amount at first base in his career. For the Padres, Arraez has started six games at second and once first base once and served as the designated hitter for eight games. Tyler Wade, who like Cronenworth and Arraez, bats left-handed, also can play second. Another option is right-handed-hitting Donovan Solano.

Shildt has in other situations expressed a preference for positional continuity.

The good King

Michael King was really good for most of last night’s game.

Between a two-out solo homer in the first inning and a one-out walk in the sixth that led to two runs, he retired all 13 batters he faced.

It was the fifth time this season King has retired at least nine batters in a row. No other Padres starter has had as many out streaks that long.

Not surprisingly, those streaks have all come in King’s five quality starts, the fifth of which was last night’s 6⅔-inning outing in which he allowed three runs on four hits and two walks.

King’s first season as a full-time starter has had a Jekyll and Hyde quality.

In his five quality starts, King has allowed a total of four runs and has a 0.76 WHIP over 34⅓ innings. In his other five starts, he has allowed 25 runs and has a 2.02 WHIP over 26⅔ innings.

Jeimer Candelario’s homer last night was the MLB-high 12th King has surrendered but the first he has given up in one of his quality starts.

“I will say I think it’s plagued me a little bit (that) when I do give up runs, they come in bunches, where like now all of a sudden it’s a five-run outing and I felt like my stuff was better than a five-run outing,” King said. “So I was happy that I was lucky enough to walk in after one and keep it at one for a long time.”

Unhappy King

When Shildt arrived at the mound to take King out of the game with two outs and a runner on third base in the seventh inning, the pitcher did not even look at him as he handed off the ball and walked toward the dugout.

Shildt and at least one infielder seemed shocked.

(Padres.TV)

“I told Shildty I will never be happy when I get pulled from a game,” King said after the game. “He said he likes that. I made sure we were good. I was like, ‘You mad at me?’ He said, ‘I’d rather a pitcher doesn’t want to come out.’”

Bullpen run

I wrote in the game story about the importance of King getting the first two outs of the seventh inning to help Shildt have to use just Wandy Peralta and Robert Suarez to finish the game.

Every Padres reliever, including Peralta and Suarez, had worked at least once as the bullpen had covered 12 innings in the previous two days. And the Padres have seven games remaining before their next day off.

Here is a breakdown of how each reliever has contributed in the six games on this road trip, during which the bullpen has allowed one run in 19⅔ innings (and none in the past 14⅓).

More selfless Suarez

Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla was talking about something on Saturday when he veered into a different topic.

“God, Robert Saurez,” Niebla said. “Is he the ultimate teammate?”

That was the day after Suarez pitched the eighth inning against the meat of the Braves order and Jeremiah Estrada got the final three outs for his first career save.

“It’s unbelievable, the guy doesn’t flinch when it was brought to him,” Niebla said. “It’s like, my thoughts on him couldn’t get any better, but they did.”

Suarez did something else last night that many closers don’t do — pitched the ninth ininng of a game in which the Padres led by four runs, meaning he did not get a save. It was the fourth time he has done so, more than any other full-time closer.

Suarez is tied for third in MLB with 13 saves and is the only one among the 10 closers with at least 10 saves to have not blown any opportunities and the only one to have worked four or more outs four times to lock down a save or get a win.

He is one of four relievers with at least 10 saves to also have a hold.

Suarez and the Nationals’ Dylan Floro, who has primarily worked the seventh and eighth innings, are the only relievers among the 87 to have thrown 20 innings who have allowed one run this season.

Since allowing that run in the season’s third game, Suarez has run off 19 scoreless innings. He has also stranded eight inherited runners in that span. (The only pitcher with a longer active streak is former Padres left-hander Matt Strahm, who has not allowed a run in his past 21⅓ innings while working mostly in the seventh and eighth for the Phillies. Strahm has allowed three of 10 inherited runners to score in that span.)

Better

Tatis was 1-for-4 last night — with a 108.9 mph single, lineouts at 101.6 mph and 95 mph and a double play grounder at 99.9 mph.

It was his second game of the season with four hard-hit balls in play.

“I loved Tati’s swings,” Shildt said. “Not a lot to show for it, but I think we’ve got to appreciate that a little more when it happens, because he’s hit some balls hard and hasn’t been rewarded, and sometimes we just skim over it and go, ‘What’s going on with him?’ And we’ve got to celebrate him when he has good at-bats.”

Tatis has had some rough games recently, as he has chased pitches outside the zone and swung and missed at a higher rate than he previously was. Of his 50 strikeouts this season, 23 have come in the past 20 games. He has just two homers in 74 at-bats in those 20 games.

But he is also batting .270 with a .365 on-base percentage in that span.

Tidbits

• Jurickson Profar extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a fifth-inning double. He also walked and was hit by a pitch. Last night was the 11th time this season he has reached base at least three times.
  
• Machado hit two doubles on March 31 and then hit three over his next 37 games before hitting two in the first game of Monday’s doubleheader. He had two more last night.
  
• Arraez’s 27-game on-base streak is the longest in the majors this season. There were 13 streaks of 27 games or more in 2023.
  
• Reds manager David Bell called on left-hander Brent Suter to face Cronenworth in the fifth inning. The left-handed batter lined an 0-1 slider to center field for an RBI single. It was Cronenworth’s fifth hit in his past 12 at-bats against lefties. He has eight hits in his past 22 at-bats against lefties and has raised his average against them from .103 to .196, which is tied with Bogaerts for second-best on the team behind Profar (.327).
  
• Home plate umpire John Tumpane missed 11 calls last night (by my count based on MLB.com’s strike zone). Four of his missed calls came on pitches by Reds starter Nick Martinez — two strikes called balls before Arraez’s full-count home run and two strikes called balls in Profar’s walk in the fourth inning.
  
• The addition of Peralta gave the Padres six batters who can hit from the left side for the first time this season. All of them were in the starting lineup.
  
• Wade started at shortstop last night, as Ha-Seong Kim got his first game off this season.
  
• Wade was thrown out at second base in an unusual play in the fifth inning. He had been on first following one of his two singles when Tatis hit a single. Wade rounded second by just a couple steps before turning back and being tagged out by shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who had moved between Wade and the bag in the process of catching the ball, taking away any lane to the base. Wade briefly protested and after the half-inning had a long conversation with second base umpire Nick Mahrley, who Wade said explained that De La Cruz blocking the base in that instance was legal because it happened in the course of his making a “baseball move.”

All right, that’s it for me. Early game today (10:10 a.m. PT) and then a flight home.

Talk to you tomorrow.