Padres News: Expert Disses Xander Bogaerts, Places Him Among Overhyped Stars

Is Xander overrated, underrated, or just right?

Your San Diego Padres opened up the 2023 season against the Colorado Rockies and came away 2-2 in the four-game series. One of the bright spots in this opening series was the Padres' newest star, Xander Bogaerts. 

Bogaerts looked quite impressive in front of Frair fans, and even after a really good four games, Xander found himself on a list that may be a bit unfair at the moment. 

MLB lead writer for Bleacher Report, Zachary Rymer, listed Xander as one of eight players who believes he is the most overhyped stars this season. 

Rymer first said that Xander's contract is well deserved considering he's been really good in his first ten seasons in Boston, but then he says his new ballpark may not be too friendly to the righty slugger.

It's alarming that the 30-year-old Bogaerts

outperformed

his expecting batting average by 48 percentage points last season, but a bigger concern is how his power will adjust to life after Fenway Park. Boston's home stadium is, after all, notoriously friendly to right-handed hitters with pull power.

It's encouraging that Bogaerts has already collected

his first

and

his second

career home runs in San Diego, but it nonetheless bears noting that Petco Park is

the opposite

of Fenway Park regarding friendliness to right-handed hitters. If that proves to be a drain on Bogaerts' slugging, he'll devolve into a singles hitter who's

merely playable

at shortstop.

 This sounds a bit hater-ish to me, but the numbers are there. Nonetheless, Fenway park or Petco Park, I believe Xander could hit anywhere, and he's shown that throughout his entire career.  

He is a .292 hitter and has 158 homers in a span of 11 seasons. I wonder if he will last the span of the contract, as he will be 41 by the time it's over, and he is playing the most challenging position in the infield. However, 2023 won't be the year Xander is viewed as overhyped because he will win, which will be one of the main reasons why the Padres will be successful.