Padres' Left Field Urgency Reaches A New Level

The San Diego Padres are in need of a left fielder who contributes to the team's offense. Gavin Sheets had been one of the team's best hitters through the end of May. He can technically play the outfield. It wasn't a difficult puzzle to solve. But, of course, solving said puzzle reveals the massive caveat that is Gavin Sheets in the outfield.

It was a caveat Mike Shildt was willing to confront, though, given the circumstances. Including Sunday's series finale vs. Pittsburgh, Sheets had started five of his last seven games on the outfield grass. He'd hit a pair of home runs over that stretch. By the middle of that game, though, we got a little taste as to why Sheets was always going to be a temporary solution.

The Padres went down 4-1 early against a lackluster Pirates squad. Part of that deficit was due to Sheets taking a bad angle on a Spencer Horwitz double in the third inning that became a run. In the fourth, however, is when the real damage came. Adam Frazier hit a leadoff home run that just barely cleared the wall, with Sheets colliding with the wall in pursuit. It was a result that probably doesn't occur for an experienced left fielder. Regardless of the particulars, it appears that Sheets is set to miss some time. 

On the play, Sheets suffered a head contusion, a sore hip, and a jammed wrist & thumb. He's also in concussion protocol. Take your pick as to which could land Sheets on the IL, but the Padres now find themselves going back to the drawing board in attempting to drum up any sort of offensive production from that specific position. 

Jason Heyward is still on the IL with an oblique injury. Although the team wasn't receiving regular production from the veteran, it's an injury notorious for its ambiguity in terms of timeline. This means that, for however long Sheets & Heyward remain out, the team will likely be forced to press the likes of Brandon Lockridge and Tyler Wade into left field duty. 

To date, the only team getting less production out of left field is Pittsburgh. The Padres' 51 wRC+ from that position ranks 29th, with a bottom-six strikeout rate (19.7 percent), a bottom-seven walk rate (6.4 percent), and bottom-five power output (.097 ISO). It's unlikely that either Lockridge or Wade stands to change that. 

Lockridge has wRC+ed 51 through roughly 70 plate appearances. He hasn't provided much in the way of on-base presence (.258 OBP) and even less on the power side (.066 ISO). Wade has managed to compensate for a strikeout rate lingering around 30 by walking 13.8 percent of the time and, subsequently, reaching base at a .345 clip. Unfortunately, the impact he provides is even less than Lockridge (.045 ISO). 

The best-case scenario is that Mike Shildt can deploy each in such a way that you can attempt to leverage Lockridge against lefties and hope Wade continues his steady on-base presence against right-handed pitching. The latter would, at least, let the top of the order swing back around with him already there. But beyond that, the picture in left field looks to be at its worst. 

Tirso Ornelas continues to hit well in Triple-A (.384 OBP, 15 extra-base hits), but mustered just one hit across 16 PA last time he was up. Would the team give him more of a run considering the absence of any other upside? Tim Locastro could also serve as an option (.390 OBP, 13 XBH), but would have to be added to the 40-man roster. That's kind of what you're looking at, though. You're exercising patience with limited big-league experience or hoping to continue maximizing the talents of fringe big-league players. 

Either way, it's a situation that continues to escalate. While the offense has improved since their late May swoon, there are still players who aren't quite back to full strength in production. Without a stable presence in left field, you're unable to combat that to a degree that you would be if you had a regular there. 

This means that the team's need for a left fielder has just become even greater. The whole league already knew it. And when the whole league knows you need something, you're less likely to make a viable move for fear of an overpay. A solution isn't likely to come soon. But it likely needs to.