Good morning,

There was a lot going on yesterday.

You can read (here) in my game story from the Padres’ 4-1 victory over the Rangers last night about how Fernando Tatis Jr.’s plans for next week changed and how he delivered a game worthy of an All-Star.

I also wrote yesterday (here) about what Jason Adam was doing when he found out he had made his first All-Star team.

Additionally, there is a possibly resurgent offense to talk about.

But nothing that happened yesterday was as significant as the confirmation that Yu Darvish will start tonight’s game against the Diamondbacks.

We have talked about Darvish’s rehab a lot, and I wrote about it again (here) yesterday.

This is one of the two returns the Padres have been waiting for in the starting rotation. They are increasingly optimistic about Michael King coming back from the pinched nerve near his shoulder, as well, though that is not happening until at least next month.

Darvish (and later, King) returning has the potential to alter the Padres’ season and help stave off a shortfall of quality innings that seems to be looming due to young pitchers filling the final two rotation spots and Dylan Cease having a down year (so far).

Darvish will likely have a ceiling of 75 pitches tonight in his first start since Game 5 of last year’s National League Division Series. Provided things go as expected, he would also pitch again this weekend before the All-Star break.

Ryan Bergert is eligible to come off the injured list Thursday but will not do so until at least Friday against the Phillies, as Randy Vásquez has already been named the starter in Thursday’s series finale against Arizona.

The way left-hander Kyle Hart pitched last night (11 up, 11 down) could make him a possibility against the lefty-heavy Phillies.

Darvish and Nick Pivetta are presumably going to start Saturday and Sunday, respectively, though the Padres have some flexibility given the four days off at the start of next week.

Stephen Kolek is not an option unless someone gets hurt.

The right-hander, who is in his first season as a starting pitcher in the major leagues, was sent down to Triple-A yesterday for what Padres manager Mike Shildt described as “a little bit of a blow.” Kolek has already thrown 21 more innings in the major leagues this season than he did out of the bullpen in 2024. His 92 innings between the majors and Triple-A this season are his most since he threw 143 ⅔ innings in Double-A in 2022.

Tatis’ case

The story posted yesterday about Adam and Tatis joining Manny Machado as All-Stars, includes some justification for Tatis being an All-Star despite his struggles the past two-plus months.

“I’ve been playing good baseball, man,” Tatis said last night. “… Details. It’s just a really good combination of base running, defense. Obviously, we know I can be a way better player offensively. But at the same time, I’m trying to do everything at the same time.”

While Tatis will happily forego the R&R he had planned for next week, he will not participate in the Home Run Derby.

“I wish,” he said. “But I’ve been getting cramps (around) my obliques. So I’m not going to take the chances. I feel like it’s more important for me to stay healthy. Now it’s going to be really three more months of baseball where we can turn things around and make this thing special.”

More All-Star stuff

If you’re not one of the players who got “snubbed” or a close friend or relation of one of those players, it seems sort of silly to get too worked up over All-Star selections.

That said, there are almost always a few good debates.

We deal with the Padres here. So let’s talk about their relievers.

The argument, of course, could be made that Robert Suarez was snubbed, given that his 25 saves are five more than any other NL reliever. However, he has been no better than the Padres’ third-best relief pitcher.

Here is a look at their four higher-leverage relievers, in alphabetical order:

There is also the matter of a Padres starting pitcher who merited All-Star consideration.

And given the likelihood that multiple starting pitchers drop out due to scheduling or workload concerns, Pivetta could be named to the NL team if he is available to pitch.

That would likely require the Padres going with an alternate plan Sunday.

Maybe …

Stop me if you have heard this before, but the Padres’ offense is showing signs of life.

Last night was their third consecutive game with 10 hits. They had not had double-digit hits in three straight games since doing so April 29 and 30 and May 2.

On May 10, in their 38th game of the season, they had their MLB-leading 20th game with at least 10 hits. From May 11 through Wednesday, they had reached double digits nine times in 48 games.

What the Padres are also doing lately is walking more.

They walked five times last night after doing so four times Saturday and five times Friday. That followed their walking nine times in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader in Philadelphia.

The Padres’ 7.9 percent walk rate since the start of last season (the Victor Rodriguez era) is ninth lowest in the major leagues.

The Padres saw 4.24 pitches per plate appearance last night. That was seventh most this season.

“We continue to be stubborn,” Shildt said last night. “We’re going to be an aggressive team. We’re not looking to be a non-aggressive, passive kind of club, but we’ve got to be more stingy about what we’re swinging at.”

Still, the Padres scored just 11 runs in the three games against the Rangers. They hit two home runs, doubled twice and tripled.

They are making opposing pitchers go inside the strike zone more. What they need to do now is do more damage on pitches in the heart of the zone.

Catching up

The Padres decided quite a while ago to try to add a catcher at the trade deadline if at all possible.

However, a few times this season it has looked as if Martín Maldonado is cooked — and then he does something like what he did last night.

Maldonado entered the game hitless in 10 at-bats over his previous six  games but had two hits that both helped the Padres score.

His two-out single kept alive the fourth inning, and Tatis followed with an RBI double to give the Padres a 2-1 lead. And Maldonado’s single in the sixth inning drove in the Padres’ third run.

There is a split in the organization regarding the importance of the defense Maldonado brings, considering that he carried a .172 batting average into yesterday’s game. But Shildt has made it clear he does value what happens behind the plate to a great extent and credits Padres catchers with helping guide a pitching staff that has MLB’s eighth-best ERA.

“We’ve led the league in shutouts,” Shildt said. “The catchers are a huge part of that. We’re one of the better staffs in a lot of different things that get measured in this league. Pitchers get ultimate credit. The catchers are a huge part of that. … When you start to see a game from a catcher’s lens, like I was raised to do in player development and the big-league level, you can appreciate the value of that and where the outs are and how they get (pitchers) through it. So that value is extremely high for me.

“And then, listen, we’re not going to say we don’t want any offense from the catching position. And clearly, contributions from all parts of the lineup are huge. … And so those guys being able to contribute absolutely helps out

Last night was the first time in six starts in which Maldonado was not pulled for a pinch-hitter.

The .206 average and .594 OPS that Maldonado and Elias Díaz are collectively putting up rank 26th and 27th, respectively, among all teams’ catching corps.

With the belief a catcher might not become available until right before the July 31 deadline — or might not become available at all — the Padres have also discussed bringing up Luis Campusano to see what he can do playing regularly after he struggled at the plate while getting limited plate appearances in two call-ups this season.

Getting ready

With the draft beginning this coming Sunday and the trade deadline at the end of the month, A.J. Preller’s closest lieutenants are in San Diego rather than spread around the country looking at big-league and amateur players.

The Rangers just left town, and you have to wonder if any of their players might be back in a few weeks. Word while they were here was that there aren’t too many players on their roster that aren’t available.

The Padres, as has been the case since May, are looking for a right-handed batter (or two). At least one would likely play left field and/or serve as designated hitter.

Teams continue to ask the Padres about their young relief pitchers — both in the major leagues and minor leagues. But the Padres seem more inclined to add to that strength than deal from it.

K mark

Luis Arraez struck out last night for just the ninth time in 364 plate appearances this season.

He still has a chance to do something that has not been done in the major leagues in 32 years and has been done by just one Padres player ever.

Not since the Cardinals’ Ozzie Smith in 1993 has a player with at least 300 plate appearances reached the All-Star break with fewer than 10 strikeouts. Tony Gwynn did it once, in 1992.

Those are the only two players to accomplish the feat since 1977. Both had nine strikeouts at the break, Gwynn in 366 plate appearances and Smith in 345.

Tidbits

  • Arraez was 2-for-4 last night and is now batting .292, his highest average since he was batting .299 on May 23. Arraez is batting .355 (27-for-76) over his past 18 games.
  • Gavin Sheets was 1-for-3 with a walk last night and is batting .300 (24-for-80) with a .374 on-base percentage over his past 21 games. His hit last night was off left-handed reliever Jacob Latz. Sheets has nine hits in his past 18 at-bats against lefties and is batting .267 against them this season. That is 99 points higher than his career average against left-handed pitchers coming into 2025. I wrote (here) a couple weeks ago about what he is doing better and more consistently when facing lefties.
  • Morejón worked a scoreless eighth inning last night to run his scoreless streak to a season-high 12⅓ innings. That is one inning shy of his career-high streak set in 2022.
  • The Padres improved to 9-4 this season in “rubber match” games. They had lost their past two, in Philadelphia and Cincinnati.
  • The series win over the Rangers (43-46) means the Padres are 13-1 in series against teams with losing records. They are 3-11-1 in series against teams with winning records.
  • The Padres are 17-17 when their opponent scores first. They are the only team in the major leagues that does not have a losing record in such games. Their 31-24 record in games in which they score first is better than just the White Sox (24-24) and Rockies (10-18).
  • The Padres improved to 27-15 at home this season. They are 21-26 on the road. The 196-point differential between their winning percentage at home (.643) and on the road (.447) is fourth highest in the major leagues. Only the Pirates (.280), Mets (.270) and White Sox (208) are higher.
  • Last night was the 15th straight crowd of more than 40,000 at Petco Park and the 38th “sellout” in 42 home games this season. (While Petco Park now holds more than 47,000 after last year’s Gallagher Square expansion, paid attendance of 40,000 or more is considered a sellout.)

All right, that’s it for me.

Talk to you tomorrow.