San Diego Padres will post winning second half
It’s hard to call a season “disappointing” for a team that nobody was expecting much out of to begin with. But the 2017 season has been a letdown for the Padres.
Wil Myers is on a similar pace to what he did in 2016. He has good power but hasn’t developed into a better on-base guy. Star prospect Hunter Renfroe has 16 home runs but has struggled to a .236 average and .293 OBP. Fellow star prospect Manuel Margot doesn’t have Renfroe’s power and has only worked his way to a .279 average and .327 OBP. It’s not terrible, but you want more out of a guy who’ll do well to hit 10 home runs on the season.
Still, we have to remember that Myers is only 26. Aside from a brief run in September of 2016, Renfroe and Margot are in their first go-arounds as MLB players. Don’t let what guys like Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger are doing fool you. Rookies tend to struggle.
But Margot has improved as the season as gone on. Renfroe has been a little more erratic, but his power isn’t going anywhere. In fact, San Diego’s power has been decent. The Padres have as many guys with double-digit home run totals as the Nationals.
Look for these guys to put something together to spark this team in the second half. That doesn’t mean that the Padres will be playoff contenders. That’s well out of the realm of possibility. But look for them to put a good second half together and give the fan base genuine hope for 2018.