SEATTLE — It was, evidently, just a day off.
Luis Arraez did not start Wednesday, meaning someone else moved into the No.2 spot in the batting order.
That someone was Ramón Laureano, the Padres’ hottest hitter this month.
“The lineups are always fluid,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “I know people like to think about them. Rightfully so. Louie got a day today. Came off the bench, good teammate. But, you know, Luis Arraez still (has) the fifth-most hits in the National League, second most multiple-hit games and is a big part of our club. We’ll continue to look at it. But, I mean, it was a good chance for (Laureano) to get back a little bit higher. And we also talked about balancing our lineup out as well. So there’s always that.”
Laureano entered Wednesday batting .330 with a 1.004 OPS in 24 games since joining the Padres at the trade deadline. He went 0-for-4 in the 4-3 loss to the Mariners, though he did score the Padres’ first run after being hit by a pitch leading off the sixth inning.
Even though he alluded to a lineup’s fluidity, Shildt went on to repeatedly indicate that he does not intend to move Arraez down in the order.
Wednesday was a scheduled day off for Arraez that also served the purpose of giving Jose Iglesias his first start in a week. The right-handed hitting Iglesias started at second base, while Jake Cronenworth moved to first.
Arraez, who grounded out as a pinch-hitter for Iglesias in the ninth inning, has been the Padres’ primary No.2 hitter, batting there in 110 of the 127 games he has played. He had been there for 18 straight games and 42 of 43 leading up to Wednesday.
It has been a confounding season for Arraez, who is batting .283 with just a .313 on-base percentage. Those numbers are well below what he did the past three seasons (.328 and .371) and are even down from last season, when he had the lowest numbers (.314 and .346) of any of the three straight years in which he won a batting title.
He has gone hitless 39 times this season, three off his career high set in 2021. Yet he also ranks fifth in the major leagues with 42 multi-hit games, and his 15 games with at least three hits are third most in the majors.
While Arraez has endured the second-worst extended stretch in his career, batting .213 with a .242 on-base percentage over his past 21 games, there has been talk internally (and far more vehemently from the outside) regarding the merits of dropping him in the batting order. However, the lineup is Shildt’s to make, and he has showed zero inclination to move Arraez.
Even as Arraez and No.3 hitter Manny Machado have largely struggled the past three weeks, the Padres have gotten a boost from the bottom of the order while going 15-10 in August and ranking 11th in runs scored and 12th in OPS during the month. And Laureano, who generally bats seventh, has arguably been the biggest factor.
“Our offense is in a great spot,” Shildt said “However you want to slice it up, carve it and analyze it, which clearly we do, I do, quite a lot. … We’ve got a deep lineup, and everybody continues to take quality at-bats. We feel good about where everybody’s hitting.”
Bogaerts banged up
Xander Bogaerts fouled a ball off the top of his foot near his left ankle in the ninth inning Wednesday and had X-rays taken after the game.
“Got him good,” Shildt said. “He’s a tough, tough guy. (But) he wasn’t going to go back out (if) we were going to tie the game.”
Shildt said Cronenworth would have moved to shortstop in Bogaerts’ place.
“We’ll see tomorrow,” Bogaerts said. “I thought it was better than it didn’t get the ankle…. I feel better than probably how I should, I guess.”
There was bruising in the area where he got hit. But he was walking unimpaired, and the swelling seemed minimal.
Merrill update
Center fielder Jackson Merrill, on the injured list due to a sprained left ankle, did some light work on the field for a second straight day.
He is eligible to come off the injured list on Saturday, and he appears to be tracking toward a return this weekend.
Originally Published: August 27, 2025 at 6:24 PM PDT