Padres News: MLB Insider Believes Batting Order Change Will Help Juan Soto
We all knew that the return of Fernando Tatis Jr. would bring a number of changes and nobody was complaining. It's clear that the San Diego Padres need some sort of jolt on offense because not many players, outside of Xander Bogaerts, have seen a lot of success at the plate.
His biggest impact will come at his at-bats without a doubt seeing that he is coming off of a super hot streak with the El Paso Chihuahua's where he's hit six home runs over just the past few days. However, El Nino's implication into the lineup means that he will now be batting third and Juan Soto will shift to the second spot.
Soto made it clear that he will do whatever is best for the Friars but also revealed that he prefers to be at the third spot in order to bring runners in. He went as far to recall how he would get into arguments with the manager of his previous team, the Washington Nationals, whenever he got moved to bat number two.
Speaking of his time in Washington, The Athletic's Jayson Stark brought some numbers to light from then that show the 24-year-old superstar may be better off batting number three in the lineup.
"Interesting stuff here from Ken on Juan Soto and his preference to hit 3rd.
Can I mention this as a reason Soto shouldn't be complaining too vociferously about leaving that 3rd spot:
Soto with the Nats: .291/.427/.538/.966
Soto with the Padres: .221/.379/.388/.766"
We sure hope this is the case because Soto has a number of factors in his career right now that will be impacted based on how he performs this season. The Padres are obviously not looking elite right now and it's in large part due to his struggles.
The Friars have also been quite hesitant to fork over an extension to him out of all of their other stars. It's great that he's open to this batting change because he doesn't have much leverage here.
