Spring Temperature Check: Who's Hot and Who's Cold in Padres Camp? (March 16-19)

Suddenly, the San Diego Padres have just four Cactus League games left. The dog days of spring were covered up by the World Baseball Classic, but now everyone is focused on the finer things in order to get ready for Opening Day.

That includes a couple of split-squad games Friday before wrapping things up with their co-tenant at the Peoria Sports Complex, the Seattle Mariners, on Monday. Then, the fateful return to San Diego.

As a reminder: Don't take anything too seriously in this recap. It is only spring training, where exhibition games often devolve into minor-league scrimmages. The information below is meant as basic information, not necessarily hardcore analysis.

The Friars won three in a row to improve to 14-11-1 in the Cactus League, beating the San Francisco Giants 3-1 Monday, the Seattle Mariners 9-6 Tuesday and the Chicago White Sox 13-6 Thursday.

Who's Hot? 🔥

Walker Buehler

With the door clearly open for a spot in the Opening Day rotation, the two-time World Series champ is doing his best to walk through it. Buehler had his best outing of the spring, going five shutout innings against the Giants, allowing three hits and two walks, while striking out seven. He threw 45 of his 77 pitches for strikes and got 11 swings and misses, all while topping out at 94.4 mph on his four-seamer. Buehler's numbers from 2025 weren't pretty, but he was much better in his final seven games as he completed his first full season after Tommy John surgery.

Matt Waldron

The right-hander was the subject of a lot of jokes when he required hemorrhoid surgery early in camp. While that threw off his chances of making the Opening Day rotation, he has come back and showed his value in what is a crucial season for him. Waldron threw two innings vs. the Mariners, allowing one run on two hits with no walks and two strikeouts. He was optioned to Triple-A this week, where he will build up his innings before a potential call-up. Waldron was a key part of the rotation in 2024, but only appeared in one MLB game in 2025.

Rodolfo Duran

An afterthought as camp began, the 28-year-old catcher has played quite a bit during Cactus League action. That is in part to Blake Hunt, who likely entered spring as No. 3 on the depth chart, sustaining an oblique injury. Duran, yet to make his MLB debut, has seized the opportunity with a .263/.462/.632 slash line in 14 games and 26 plate appearances. He has a pair of homers, six RBIs and six walks. With Luis Campusano's iffy defensive skills and spring struggles, does Duran make the Opening Day roster as the No. 2 catcher? At worst, he'll head back to Triple-A as the next man up.

Who's Cold? 🧊

Michael King

Still in the mix to be the Opening Day starter, the right-hander gave up six runs in five innings vs. the White Sox. Three came in the first and the other three in the fourth. King gave up three home runs, a pair to LaMonte Wade Jr. and the other to Curtis Mead. He allowed nine hits while walking two and striking out three. It was the second game in a row King allowed six runs, leaving his ERA at a problematic 10.19 in five games, with opponents hitting .351 against him. This cannot continue into the regular season if the Friars want any chance of surviving the NL West gauntlet.

Ramon Laureano

To be fair, the left fielder hasn't struggled that much, but he does lead the team with 15 strikeouts this spring in 33 at-bats. When he does make contact, he has put up a .273/.368/.515 slash line with one homer and three RBIs. The Friars would certainly take that average this season, especially if he can repeat his 24 homers, which tied his career high, from a year ago. Laureano will be a key to how the bottom half of the order performs this season, perhaps hitting as high as sixth and being counted on to drive in runs.

Manny Machado

After going 6-for-20 in the World Baseball Classic for the Dominican Republic, the superstar third baseman returned to the Padres and has picked up right where he left off before the WBC. In other words, he has not good. Machado had been just 2-for-9 this spring (both hits homers in a single game) before the WBC. In his first game back, Machado went 0-for-3 and is now hitting .167 this spring. That was just one game after his two-week stint with the Dominican Republic, so hopefully the bat shows some life this weekend as Opening Day approaches.