The signs of life for the San Diego Padres offense surged ahead with a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves to cap a 4-2 week before they start the 17 games in 17 days march, starting with the LA Dodgers.
After a frustrating series loss to the Texas Rangers, where the Friars should have taken two of three, they took their revenge on a struggling Braves team that has multiple star players on the injured list.
The starting pitching, with an emphasis on Griffin Canning and Randy Vásquez this time around,
will have to be better over the 17 days leading into the All-Star break if the Padres want to end the ceremonial first half as a winning team.
The Padres have two reliable starters in Michael King and Walker Buehler, then it’s a roll of the dice after that. The good outing by newly promoted lefty JP Sears was encouraging, and it can be hoped that there is more of that in there, but the Padres have to be ready in case it doesn’t work that way.
Offense on the rise
The Padres’ offense, which had been so abysmal in May and has dwelled in the statistical cellar of MLB for longer than that, is clawing its way out. For June, the offense has a .225 average and sits 25th in MLB. Their OBP is 23rd, and their slug is 25th. Overall, they are still last in MLB but have improved.
Fernando Tatis Jr hit .350/.402/.500 over the past month. Manny Machado is still under .200 but has hit .269 over the week and has 7 home runs and 21 RBI over the past month.
Spark plug Samad Taylor, who arrived June 3 with the release of Nick Castellanos, has been remarkable. In 15 games started and 16 games overall, Taylor has 58 at-bats with a .379/.438/.448 line and added 6 stolen bases. His bunting ability, as well as his threat to bunt, has kept defenses honest and has resulted in him getting multiple bloop singles.
Bullpen getting better
The Padres bullpen was their strength going into the season, and it continues to be the strength of the team. The back end of Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon, and Mason Miller has seen an adjustment due to the command issues Adam has struggled with at times, but others have stepped up, and the bullpen excels.
Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta, both used in the past couple of seasons as middle-game bridges and mop-up pitchers, are moving into higher leverage spots with their increased effectiveness.
Matsui has a 1.63 ERA in 26.2 innings pitched since coming off the injured list. Peralta has a 1.77 ERA in 39.2 innings pitched and has also served as an opener twice. They have ably served to cover the injury issues with Jeremiah Estrada and the command issues with Adam.
Mason Miller, who currently has 21 saves in his 34 innings pitched and 0.79 ERA, has had an opportunity to get more rest with the Padres struggling over the past few weeks, and is always ready to pitch more than an inning when needed.
The bullpen finished the week with a 3.12 ERA, good for third in MLB. Their ERA for the week was 1.54.
The Padres sent Bradgley Rodriguez to the Arizona Complex League to give him a break. He has been heavily used and was racking up too many innings too quickly. This will allow him to be available for the rest of the season and gives him the needed time away while the bullpen can support his absence. He has not appeared in any games since his assignment.
Padres fans do it again
The Padres are averaging over 40,000 fans per game and have sold over three million tickets for the fourth consecutive season. The attendance at Petco Park over the first 42 home games is second only to the LA Dodgers in MLB.
Jackson Merrill’s struggles
Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill continues to have a season that closely resembles what many young players experience in their sophomore year. Technically, 2025 was Merrill’s second season as a major league player but with the multiple injuries sustained last season, we are probably seeing the real sophomore season now.
Merrill played in 115 games last year but it was divided over three separate stints on the injured list. He wasn’t able to stay consistent and the opposing pitchers had a different player to contend with each time he came back off the IL.
Merrill has been healthy this season and opponents have had a better opportunity to exploit the weaknesses in his swing and mechanics. That is what normally results in the usual ‘sophomore slump’ for players. His ability to adjust back to what the pitchers are doing will determine what level of success he has this year.
The second half of the season should give us a good indication of how successful he is in making those adjustments.
Merrill has always chased pitches and his 35% chase rate is consistent with the past two seasons but he is missing more of those pitches. His 20.5% whiff rate is in the 70th percentile. His batting average against four-seam fastballs is .194, the lowest of his three seasons. His strikeouts average the highest against the four-seam and the change-up.
He also has reverse splits this year, hitting .188 versus righties and .266 against lefties but 6 of his 8 home runs have come against right-handed pitchers.
The one aspect of his game that has significantly improved is his baserunning. Merrill has 16 stolen bases in 17 attempts and sits only behind Tatis (19).
At the almost halfway point of the year, Merrill is hitting .209/.270/.347 in 297 at-bats. His worst month was April, which resulted in a .196 batting average. He has hung around .209-.220 in the other months.
Roster moves and injury updates
Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove are both progressing in their throwing programs. After starting long toss earlier this month, both have moved to the mound. Pivetta is throwing light bullpens, while Musgrove is throwing off the front slope of the mound. It was recently revealed that Musgrove had three surgeries in one with his UCL repair. The flexor tendon was also repaired and bone spurs were removed as part of his Tommy John surgery. It was also noted that he has some cartilage erosion in his elbow that requires a careful recovery plan.
Jake Cronenworth has begun his rehab assignment with Triple-A El Paso in Texas. He has no timeline for his return but at least a week would be the minimum since he has been out since April.
Luis Campusano is close to a rehab assignment. It was revealed by assistant general manager Josh Stein in his interview on 97.3 The Fan on Friday that Campusano experienced a setback while rehabbing from his broken toe. He has a slight oblique strain that has slowed down his return.
Jeremiah Estrada is in Arizona with his inflamed right knee. He has also not begun a rehab assignment.
Lucas Giolito was placed on the injured list with an inflamed right elbow, similar to the injury that took him out last season and for the rest of 2025. He was replaced on the roster by LHP JP Sears.
Germán Márquez, on the IL with forearm nerve inflammation, is on a rehab assignment with El Paso and has had four starts with a 2.12 ERA in 17 innings pitched.
Matt Waldron, on the IL with brachialis muscle injury, is also with El Paso and recently began his rehab.
Freddy Fermin returned to the Padres after his concussion IL and Blake Hunt returned to El Paso.
Miguel Andujar was activated after being sidelined with a hamstring strain and rejoined the team without any rehab time. Nick Solak was designated for assignment and chose free agency after clearing waivers.
Infielder Luis Rengifo, 29, signed a minor league free agent deal and was assigned to the ACL Padres. He will replace Nick Solak and will eventually be with El Paso. Rengifo was recently released by the Milwaukee Brewers.
