Grading The 2025 San Diego Padres: Outfielders

It's hard to know what to make of the San Diego Padres' group of outfielders in 2025. On one hand, it's a group that finished seventh in fWAR among outfield groups across the landscape of Major League Baseball. The team got a full season out of Fernando Tatis Jr., a breakout season out of Gavin Sheets, and better-late-than-never contributions from Jackson Merrill at the end of the campaign. But the day-to-day doesn't paint the rosiest of images, either. 

Tatis was heavily buoyed by an electric start to the year. Sheets' defense was woeful. Merrill, despite the finish, spent the bulk of the year battling various injuries. And while Ramón Laureano helped to stabilize things upon his arrival from Baltimore at the trade deadline, a broken finger held him out of their short postseason appearance. Despite some solid outputs as a collective, the power (like much of the rest of the roster) wasn't as much of a factor as you'd expect from this positional group, with a .160 ISO that ranked only 16th. 

Nevertheless, it's a group that stands to head into 2026 with minimal turnover. Each of Merrill & Tatis should resume their posts in center and right field, respectively. Laureano has a $6.5 million club option that should be a no-brainer to exercise. Sheets is still under team control. While the depth is also in need of improvement, we should see familiar faces occupying the grass at Petco Park next year. This is a legitimately good group among the various phases of this roster that needs to offer just a little more ahead of '26.

In the meantime, though, let's see how each graded in 2025. 

Fernando Tatis Jr: B+

The surface numbers for Fernando Tatis Jr look excellent. His 6.1 fWAR was his highest since 2021 as he slashed .268/.368/.446 with a 131 wRC+ and eight Outs Above Average in right field. He cut his strikeout rate down to 18.7 percent, the best of his career, and bumped his walk rate to an also-career-best 12.9 percent. His start in March & April was absolutely blazing, as he turned in a 182 wRC+ and .257 ISO out of the gate. 

At the same time, he had stretches of play where he disappeared entirely. Despite his plate approach remaining intact, he followed up that gaudy wRC+ in the season's first month with one that sat at just 74 in May, before his power tailed off completely in June (.102 ISO). He picked the power back up to close the year (.256 ISO in September), but there was clearly something tamping down impact production in the middle months of the season. Had the Padres gotten more elsewhere in the lineup, you'd have been fine with Tatis' overall output sans power. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The Padres simply needed more from their young superstar, especially as the postseason began, as his wRC+ was -28 across three games. The defense, though, remained excellent throughout, earning Tatis a spot as the team's only Gold Glove finalist.

It was a fine year. A very good one, even. But as one of the catalysts of this lineup, he'll have to bring something more sustainable to the equation with the bat next year.

Jackson Merrill: C+

Like his counterpart in right field, Merrill started the year strong. In his first 10 games, he slashed .378/.415/.676 (201 wRC+). He bumped the walk rate up early, too. Unfortunately, his first month ended early after a hamstring strain. When he came back in May, he was offering plenty of production, but his power was pinned down (.143 ISO). He went back to the injured list in June after a concussion sustained on a tag while sliding into second base against Arizona.

From there, Merrill started to manifest as something more of an absence. His combined slash between June & July (172 plate appearances) checked in at just .217/.291/.321 with a 75 wRC+ and a 22.3 percent strikeout rate. He'd go on to hit the IL again in August with an ankle sprain, his third overall trip in 2025. Despite that, Merrill did finish the year strong, with a monster 160 wRC+ and .352 ISO in September. That Merrill still finished with 3.0 fWAR despite so many injury woes speaks to how he bookended the year. With that in mind, an offseason to get back to 100 percent should bode well for Merrill to take that next step toward stardom that we expected on the heels of a top-tier rookie campaign in 2024. However, given the volume of games missed and what the summer months looked like, it's hard to be too jazzed about what the Padres ultimately received from their sophomore centerfielder in hindsight.

Gavin Sheets: B-

Gavin Sheets was not supposed to be an outfield regular for the 2025 San Diego Padres. A rotational piece at first and designated hitter with perhaps the occasional spell in the outfield corners? Sure. Nearly 500 innings in left field, though? It's probably not what the team envisioned when they signed him to a minor league deal ahead of the season. Considering the deal and the fact that Sheets was coming off consecutive seasons of negative WAR with the Chicago White Sox, though, they have to be pleased with the production they got out of him. 

Just about everywhere you look, Sheets turned in a better year than his best work in prior years, most of which came in 179 PA in 2021. He finished with a .252/.317/.429 slash and a 111 wRC+, the latter of which is the first time he's ended a year on the positive side of that threshold since his rookie season. Like much of the rest of the lineup, however, he was prone to stretches of brutal production. His wRC+ sat at only 65 in July and 50 in August, and overall was 30 points higher against right-handed pitchers (119) than lefties (89). He also finished with -4 OAA in left field. The upside almost assures he'll be around as a rotating bench & designated hitter with occasional defensive time, but he's also someone you'd prefer to avoid in as high volume of a role as we saw in '25 given his shortcomings.

Still, coming off what we saw in Chicago the last couple of years, it was an encouraging first year in San Diego for Sheets.

Ramón Laureano: B+

Laureano appeared in only 50 games for the Padres following the trade with Baltimore, but he showed enough to get a crack at a regular gig with San Diego in 2026. His slash came in at .269/.323/.489 with a 127 wRC+ and 0.7 fWAR. Perhaps most importantly is the slugging number, where he provided the Padres with a rare source of power in the second half of the year. The steadiness he offered over that stretch was certainly missed in the wild card series.

Laureano isn't the rangiest corner outfielder in the sport, as he finished the full season with a -9 OAA across all three outfield spots and a -3 mark in left field specifically. Where his value comes in, though, is in the arm. He finished 92nd percentile in arm value and 85th in arm strength. 

Carrying that $6.5 million club option, it should be a given that we see Laureano resume his post in left in 2026 after that finger heals up completely. A team that had to cycle in so many different players before getting to Sheets and, eventually, Laureano should have some stability for at least one more year after what we saw in August & September.

The Bench: D-

The following players saw time in the outfield (beyond the regulars) for the Padres in 2025: Tirso Ornelas, Trenton Brooks, Connor Joe, Jose Iglesias, Oscar González, Brandon Lockridge, Bryce Johnson, Jason Heyward, Tyler Wade, and Ryan O'Hearn. Johnson's 0.5 fWAR paced that group, with most of the rest out of the organization by the time the season was over. Most of the names presented there were only around for a handful of plate appearances, but such volume and turnover speaks to the depth the team lacked in their outfield. It's an area you don't necessarily think you need considering two of the three starters are Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill, but when the latter struggled to stay healthy and left field was a revolving door until the Sheets emergence and Laureano trade, the need becomes clear.

While the team will have a solid trio to start the year and Sheets as a fourth option, it's a clear area of need at both the major league and Triple-A levels for next season. You never know when you'll need a just-in-case option, and one hopes that A.J. Preller will be better prepared for it ahead of 2026.