Why the Padres Might Be Struggling Against Left-Handed Pitching

The San Diego Padres have an enviable stash of right-handed hitters. Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Ha-Seong Kim have all collected MVP votes in their careers. It stands to reason that the team would be doing well against left-handed pitching.

So far, that hasn't been the case. Whether by batting average (.202), on-base percentage (.289) or slugging percentage (.343), San Diego has been a bottom-five team against southpaws through Monday's game against the Rockies. So, what's up?

That very question was recently put to Padres manager Mike Shildt, who offered his own theory in response.

“We haven’t seen a lot of left-handed starters, and people aren’t running out a bunch of left-handed relievers against us,” Shildt told reporters, as reported by MLB.com. “So we just haven’t seen as many lefties.”

It's a sound idea in theory. In practice? The Padres entered Tuesday's game against Colorado with 404 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers this season — right around league average. While a small sample size over a month's worth of plate appearances might help explain much of what's happened on an individual level, the team-wide picture is more complicated.

Start with the successes. Veteran Jurickson Profar has been a pleasant surprise in most situations. His .278/.381/.556 slash line against lefties is perhaps no surprise considering his hot bat overall. Arguably the team's only better hitter against lefties this year, 24-year-old Eguy Rosario, was optioned to Triple-A on May 5. Without his bat off the bench, perhaps the Padres' struggles in this area are no surprise.

Xander Bogaerts has been the opposite of Profar: a disappointment in most batting situations regardless of the pitcher. His .205/.296/.333 triple-slash against lefties is in line with his overall .212/.264/.318 line. Bogaerts' struggles go beyond any subset of pitchers.

Where the analysis defies explanation is with Tatis, Machado and Kim. Historically, the three have hit left-handed pitching well. This year has been an enigma.

Kim (5 for 32, two extra-base hits), Tatis (6 for 36, one extra-base hit) and Machado (4 for 29, three extra-base hits) simply aren't landing hits against lefties. Each has had a small enough sample of at-bats against lefties that there's no real cause for alarm yet. As far as these three hitters are concerned, Shildt has a point when he downplays a month's worth of results as atypical.

And, realistically, these three are exactly who the Padres should want to be facing left-handed pitchers as often as possible given their track record and their importance to the lineup. Unfortunately they just haven't put it together yet.

Bogaerts' struggles are so pervasive, it's hard from a distance to suggest where he might start to course-correct. In the case of Kim, Tatis and Machado at least, shoring up their performance against lefties seems like a good place to begin. As they go, the Padres' overall numbers against left-handers should follow.