Should The Padres Consider More Time In Left Field For Gavin Sheets?

[Randy Holt]

One of Major League Baseball's worst-kept secrets is that the San Diego Padres need a left fielder. 

After watching Jurickson Profar depart in free agency (and, subsequently, get hit with a PED suspension), eight different Padres have nabbed a start on that third of the outfield grass. Jason Heyward leads the way with 30 appearances, followed by Brandon Lockridge's 15, and 14 from Oscar González prior to his release. After that, it's a smattering of Tirso Ornelas, Gavin Sheets, and Tyler Wade. Even Jose Iglesias has an appearance there. 

As a collective, Padre left fielders rank 28th in fWAR (-0.9) while wRC+ing a league-worst 34. Their .180 average is ahead of only the Los Angeles Dodgers, while they've also received almost zero impact from the position as reflected by their .057 ISO. In short, it's a mess. It was a mess even before Jason Heyward hit the injured list over the weekend with an oblique strain. 

So should the Padres consider trying something new? Say, run Gavin Sheets out there with a little more frequency? 

It's a little bit of a wacky suggestion considering that the position's only saving grace has been in the defense. Left field has provided a Fielding Run Value of 0 out of San Diego, which is considered league average but also ranks seventh among all 30 teams. It's an element you'd be losing should they choose to run Sheets out there with any regularity. 

Sheets has only four appearances in left field this season. He's started there twice and filled in on two other occasions after serving as a pinch hitter. He's logged only 98 innings in left against over 700 at first base and over 1,500 in right field. Interestingly, the defensive numbers actually don't look terrible. He's been exactly average in those 98 innings (0 FRV) compared to a -2 FRV at first base and -18 in right field. 

One imagines that the small sample is aiding him there, especially as only 10 of his 18 total appearances in left have been actual starts. It may, indeed, get worse if the team were to stretch it out. But consider what you'd be getting on the offensive side that you're not getting now. 

By wRC+ (153), Sheets has been the team's best hitter in May this side of Manny Machado. He's continued to post steady reach rates via a .296 average and a .315 on-base percentage while providing more power than anyone on the roster this month (.296 ISO). While we're still not entirely sure if he's trustworthy given the lackluster approach, he's at least provided steady value amid massive offensive struggles over the past couple of weeks. 

One reason for suggesting that the team turn to him more frequently in left field is the recall of Luis Campusano from El Paso. While it's unlikely we'll see him log virtually any time behind the plate, he's off to an absolutely massive start in the Pacific Coast League. Only one player has a better wRC+ thus far than Campusano's 152 mark, while his average (.313), on-base percentage (.432), and isolated power (.298) are all top 10 figures. He's also walked (17.1 BB%) more than he's struck out (14.0 K%). 

Getting Sheets in left field regularly would allow the team to deploy Campusano out of the designated hitter spot that Sheets has been holding down for much of the season. Given the lack of depth elsewhere, it's an opportunity for the team to get their best nine hitters into the lineup on a given night, as the upside Campusano has flashed at the plate is more than the down-the-order hitters the team has deployed at points in 2025. 

It is, of course, an imperfect suggestion considering the aforementioned defensive woes of Sheets on the opposite side of the outfield. And while we're not going to suggest the team punt defense altogether, it's not as if they're proving stable on that side of the ball anyway. We already know the team has the pitching to compensate. Suppose they can get the offense moving in a steady direction again. In that case, you can afford to have a below-average defender making more regular appearances until you make the acquisition that virtually everyone expects them to (as in, someone to capably hold down left field eventually). 

The defense is likely the primary consideration holding Gavin Sheets back from a little more run out on the grass. Heyward has been fine. As has Lockridge. But considering how difficult runs have been to come by for the San Diego Padres in recent weeks, such a consideration as far as their lineup construction may be too difficult to ignore for much longer. 

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