Profar, So Good

 

What a weird little team this Padres squad has become.

I knew that Tatis being injured would lead to a lot of new faces taking over and running the team, but I wasn't expecting people like Nomar Mazara, Jorge Alfaro and Nick Martinez to play major roles in this team's wild card campaign. How weird is this? 

Profar having a comeback season I could have guessed. He had a nice couple years at the end of last decade and has become a really nice defender and contact guy. A lot like Jake Cronenworth and Ha-Seong Kim, a lot of what is making Profar so valuable this year is his insane defensive abilities, and his usual speed and dexterity. Profar isn't doing terribly offensively, but he's being used mostly as a defensive tool, which the Padres seem to have tons of right now. So him returning to form, yeah, of course, that could happen.

But I did not think we'd ever see Nomar Mazara's better numbers again. I thought he just couldn't get it together anywhere since leaving the Rangers, and it is odd but great to see him hitting .288, and BATTING CLEANUP, for the Padres this year. He's not perfect, and as per usual his defense stops him from being a truly terrific right fielder, but at 27 he fits right in with the core of the team and is still younger than third-year Jake Cronenworth, so...I mean, sure, give Mazara a chance.

Speaking of people I feared were done producing, Mike Clevinger has built back up to pre-surgery numbers, and is finally delivering some material a year and a half into his two year contract with San Diego. Clevinger's strikeout numbers are, understandably, down comparatively, as he only has 53 in 11 starts compared to Snell's 75 in the same number of games, but he's got a 3.38 ERA and is tying the rotation together even in the absence of Mackenzie Gore. Clevinger, Darvish and Musgrove are all having very nice seasons for the Padres, and Snell and Manaea, while unlucky, aren't doing the worst behind them. It's the kind of varied security I'd always hoped this team would figure out, and they sure have.

The Padres are 12.5 games behind the Dodgers for the division, but have a pretty good hold on a wild card spot, and if nothing goes disastrously wrong, could make the playoffs yet again. They have Machado, Darvish and Musgrove rolling, and they could get Tatis back relatively soon. It'll take something truly special to unseat the Dodgers, but with the momentum this team has, and the unpredictable versatility, it's not out of the question.

Coming Tomorrow- A hitter who won a World Series ring the year he arrived in Boston, and is pondering the risks of sticking around.