The San Diego Padres’ 5-5 start to the season has, predictably, featured a lot of ups and downs from the veteran-laden roster A.J. Preller put together.<\/p>\n
On the good side of things, Randy V\u00e1squez is pitching like an ace, leading all pitchers with 0.9 bWAR through two starts. Likewise, Manny Machado is on a heater to open the season, while Jackson Merrill is finally starting to look like his rookie self<\/a> again.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Walker Buehler looks lost on the mound while a huge chunk of the lineup is underperforming. In particular, Jake Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts have been a mess<\/a>, contributing -0.1 fWAR each to the cause.<\/p>\n However, if there’s one player that needs to take on a brunt of the blame for the Friars’ middling start, it’s Fernando Tatis Jr. The 27-year-old is the face of the franchise, but he’s currently leading all Padres hitters with 11 strikeouts. If the lineup is going to start scoring more runs on a frequent basis, they need their leadoff (or No. 2) hitter to start making a bigger impact.<\/p>\n Fernando Tatis Jr.’s slow start is fueled by contact issues, but Padres should see a light at the end of the tunnel<\/p>\n Through the team’s first 10 games of the year, Tatis has struck out in 25% of his plate appearances and whiffed on more than 30% of his swings. Both figures are well below league average, which is a troubling trend for someone who has had serious swing-and-miss issues in the past.<\/p>\n That being said, Tatis’ overall numbers — he owns a .566 OPS and 70 wRC+ through 44 plate appearances — betray the underlying data<\/a>. Though he needs to make a lot more contact overall, he’s actually been quite prolific when landing the bat on the ball. His hard-hit rate sits at an off-the-charts 70.4%, and he remains above average in barrel rate, swing speed, and exit velocity.<\/p>\n