The San Diego Padres have had an underwhelming performance so far during the 2023 MLB Season, and now their shortstop and key free agent acquisition is going to miss some time and could even hit the injured list.
The Padres were projected to be one of the better teams in baseball. They had been building over the last few years to turn themselves into contenders, and capped it off with a big off-season last winter by bolstering their roster even further. Perhaps the biggest name to be brought to San Diego was Xander Bogaerts, who spent the first ten years of his career with the Red Sox.
Padres Could Be Without Bogaerts For Some Time
Here are the lowest wRC+ among NL hitters with a min. 50 PAs since May 20:
Ian Happ: 21
J.T. Realmuto: 26
Trea Turner: 38
Ozzie Albies: 38
Xander Bogaerts: 41
Casey Schmitt: 45
Francisco Lindor: 46@Metsmerized #Mets— Mathew Brownstein (@MBrownstein89) June 4, 2023
Things haven’t been great for the player nor the team so far. Bogaerts’ numbers are down across the board, including his batting, on base, and slugging percentages. His OPS is down to .725, which is a sharp drop-off from his career-high of .939 four years ago.
But the reason behind his struggles could be injury related, according to reports.
Bogaerts has been dealing with a nagging wrist injury since early May. He said that he chose to play through the discomfort, likely wanting to remain in the lineup while fellow Padres’ infielder Manny Machado recovered from his own ailments.
Xander Bogaerts Likely Out On Sunday At Leasthttps://t.co/zdNgLEmQLz
— 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧 MLB (@LineStarMLB) June 4, 2023
But Xander Bogaerts left Saturday’s game against the Cubs in the 8th inning and wouldn’t return, and is expected to miss some time. He will, however, look to avoid spending any time on the IL.
“I probably haven’t played this long with it. I knew Manny was hurt and I felt like I want to go out there, and I want to be there. Obviously, now he’s back. … Let’s see how it is. Then once it’s feeling right, all we’ve got to work on is getting rid of the bad habits you created with that.”
The Padres are going to need Bogaerts, Machado, and the rest of their roster at full strength if they want to compete in the National League this season. The team had been middling around .500 all season before losing 11 of 13 during a stretch in May, which they have not yet been able to recover from.
As it stands on Sunday, the Padres were 27-31 and in 4th place in the National League West, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies.
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