TATIS CALCULATING ON THE BASES
The bases are bigger. The pitchers are limited to two pickoffs. The pitch clock is at the very least an extra distraction if you’re looking to keep Fernando Tatis Jr. tethered to first base.
And yet Tatis has attempted just four stolen bases since his return from suspension. Yes, his addition is expected to provide a shot in the arm for a team scuffling at the plate and ranked 27th in stolen bases last year and is in the bottom third this year, but there’s certainly a little bit of feel and a lot of game theory than simply letting the Padres’ most dynamic player off the leash.
For instance: For plus runner like Tatis, first base is scoring position if Manny Machado, Juan Soto and Xander Bogaerts are going the way they’re supposed to.
“Exactly,” Tatis said Monday afternoon. “That plays a huge part in it. When I’m on first base, I really feel totally that I’m in scoring position and I can score on probably any hit to the gap.”
He added: “It’s more about knowing the game, knowing the situation and if it’s really worth trying to steal a base — just good baseball IQ all the time.”
Tatis swiped two bases in Sunday’s loss at Dodger Stadium, taking third base in the first ahead of Bogaerts’ inning-ending strikeout and second base in the eighth before Machado’s inning-ending groundout.
Two days earlier in a 4-2 game, Tatis remained on first base after his eighth-inning single pushed Nelson Cruz to third and Machado hit into an inning-ending double play, his second of the game.
Tatis had the green light, yes. He was trying to time the pitcher up and simply didn’t get the read he needed to roll the dice.
It’s all part of the calculus as Tatis looks to get his running game going.
“You don’t want to run
into an out when you’re down by two runs there,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “But he was trying to time him up. If he was slow to the plate, probably would have gone. If not, we got one of our big boys up.”
Odor’s anniversary Rougned
At this point,
Odor knows he’ll never truly live down the right hook he delivered to José Bautista’s jaw.
He had ESPN and Fox Sports to thank, however, for flooding his phone Monday as both networks tweeted out the clip of his part on the seventh anniversary of the “historic brawl” in Texas between his Rangers and Bautista’s Blue Jays. The clip was even shown a time or two on clubhouse screens before batting practice.
“It’s everywhere right now,” Odor said with a laugh. “Everybody is texting it to me. It’s crazy.”
He added: “It’s in the past. I’d like to forget about it.”
But he can’t today. “No chance,” he said. “It’s everywhere.”
Rotation reduction
With an day off on Thursday, the Padres are again reverting to a five-man rotation. That meant that Ryan Weathers, as expected, on Monday was packing his bags for Triple-A El Paso to remain stretched out as a starting pitching option.
The next extended set of consecutive games begins at the end of the coming road trip, when the Padres play nine in a row beginning May 30 in Miami. The Padres also play 13 games in a row from June 13 to 25, another pocket of the schedule in which it could make sense to use a sixth starter to give their horses an extra day of rest.
The way he’s performed, Weathers figures to remain at the top of a short list of candidates.
He has a 3.42 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in 19 innings wrapped around the eight scoreless frames he threw for
El Paso before Sunday’s start at Dodger Stadium (52⁄3 IP, 4 ER).
“I just have to keep doing what I’m doing,” Weathers said, “and keep putting my name in the hat every time there’s a chance.”
Notable
RHP Drew Carlton replaced Weathers on the active roster. The 27-year-old signed a minor league deal over the offseason and had struck out 18 across 16 innings to start the year in El Paso’s bullpen (1.13 ERA, 1.00 WHIP). To make room on the 40-man roster, LHP Drew Pomeranz (elbow, flexor) was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Pomeranz was recently pulled off his rehab assignment with continued discomfort.
• LHP Adrián Morejón
(elbow) will begin throwing to hitters in Arizona today. The Padres hope to stretch him out to two to three innings on a forthcoming rehab assignment before deciding how to deploy him.
• RHP Nabil Crismatt
(hip) will start a rehab assignment this week in El Paso, while RHP Robert Suarez (elbow) has begun a throwing progression.