Padres News: Xander Bogaerts Places Friars' 2023 Failures Solely on Offense

It's a frustrating time for the Padres
Padres News: Xander Bogaerts Places Friars' 2023 Failures Solely on Offense
Padres News: Xander Bogaerts Places Friars' 2023 Failures Solely on Offense /
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The San Diego Padres season seems to be going on a downward spiral. The Friars are struggling mightily to get a winning streak under their belt, and a ton of it has to do with their offense. 

Yes, the offense. The team, loaded with superstar players at almost every position, is struggling to produce runs on a consistent level. It's very frustrating to witness, especially for the players in the clubhouse like shortstop Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts hasn't been the same player from the start of the season, where he looked like an early season MVP. Xander is tired of it and placed the blame on the offense for their first half-season woes. 

“The pitchers have been so good for the whole year,” Bogaerts said. “One start where a starter was cruising and he ran into some trouble in one inning and the bullpen came in and couldn’t (finish) the job, you can’t fault them for that. The whole topic the whole year, pretty much, it’s been on the offense. I mean, if you’re gonna be real about it, it’s been on us. The pitching has nothing to do with it. They’ve been excellent. They’re gonna have days like this because that’s how the game is.”

(via San Diego Tribune)

Xander is right; the pitching has been lights out all season long. Michael Wacha has been great, along with Blake Snell as of late, Joe Musgrove, and the bullpen. The arms in the rotation and bullpen are why the Friars aren't as far off as they probably should be.

The offense has been quite the opposite. San Diego ranks 24th in batting average, 20th in runs per game, 27th in hits per game, 11th in HR per game, and 24th in runners left in scoring position per game. Those numbers aren't ideal and are unacceptable with the type of talent they possess. 

Manny Machado spoke on the struggles a couple of days ago and said it's not on the coaching staff but on the hitters. It's nice that they're holding themselves accountable, but you want to see changes instead of them taking the blame after a while. 

San Diego needs to get it going on the offensive end soon; if they don't, they could find themselves only playing in 162 games. 


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Ricardo Sandoval
RICARDO SANDOVAL

Baseball Enthusiast